Panel proposes parking pilot in downtown Lewes

Lewes Mayor and City Council has gotten its first look at a comprehensive pilot program to manage in-town parking.

The Lewes Parking Working Group presented its proposal at the April 22 council work session.

The citizen-led panel, overseen by Councilman Joe Elder, has come up with a three-phase approach to find and better tailor parking space for property owners, employees and visitors. It’s the first result from the initiative that Elder named Squeeze the Balloon.

Elder said the city has tried to fix parking four different times in the past, but all of the plans failed.

Ideas ranged from small stickers to expensive parking garages. The Lewes Line shuttle bus, a pilot aimed at getting cars off the street, was scuttled in 2024.

The working group did the math and found the city has 1,150 parking spaces. Of that, 353 are residential, leaving 797 available for businesses to dedicate to visitors or employees. About 100 of those spaces are metered.

The pilot only covers three streets: Chestnut, Market and Mulberry, between Third and Fourth streets. Second, Third and Fourth streets are not part of the pilot.

The first phase includes redesigning the parking lots on Schley Avenue and at Otis Smith Park, with the goal of creating 140 employee-only spaces. 

Residents living on the three pilot streets would receive a maximum of two parking passes – two if they do not have off-street parking, one of they have one space and none if they have two off-street spaces. The passes would allow parking in a zone, but not create reserved spaces in front of homes.

The first phase calls for council to amend city code to establish a three-hour parking limit across the city, except at the beaches. It also proposes a Parking Implementation Team, comprising business owners, residents, law enforcement and city staff.

In the second phase, the team would identify additional parking spaces on those pilot streets; designate smaller spaces for scooters, golf carts and bicycles; remove unauthorized signage; and develop a street-marking and spacing plan.

The working group would also present council with a Parking Solutions Master Plan.

The third phase would see the pilot rolled out in steps, along with monitoring and enforcement.

Elder said the pilot would be free, but some fees might be needed in the future.

Joe Stewart, who owns several businesses and commercial properties in town, urged the city to hire a professional parking consultant and not miss opportunities to generate revenue from the plan.

Kerry Tripp, a member of the working group, said they are addressing Airbnbs, which she called the 500-pound gorilla. Those short-term rentals often draw multiple vehicles that take up several spots for a single unit.

“Our formula is mindful that the parking team will need to allot a percentage to additional groups, like residents, visitors, guests, relatives and tenants,” Tripp said.

Another elephant in the room, if not a gorilla, is a parking garage.

Larry Franz, the working group member who crunched the numbers, has said a parking garage would be the only real solution.

“If a parking garage is not built on Schley, this whole strategy goes away,” Franz said at the April 17 meeting.

The concept of a garage has been floated before, said Bob Ciprietti, owner of Touch of Italy on Second Street. Ciprietti served on a previous parking committee a decade ago.

“We presented to a previous administration a two-story garage on Third Street. I paid for the preliminary engineering out of my pocket. We created 135 spots for the community, but the city didn’t want to pay for it. I offered to pay for it for 10 years, but the city didn’t take us up on it. We tried to implement a valet-type system for restaurants and merchants, and that was ignored,” Ciprietti said.

The working group discussed making resident parking license plate-based, meaning it could only be used by one vehicle.

“What made me nervous was that you are considering having nontransferable resident parking,” said Lisa Decker, who lives on West Fourth Street. “If it’s not going to be transferable, your guest can only park there for three hours – it’s a mistake.”

Councilperson Tim Ritzert said he has concerns about improvements at the Schley Avenue and Otis Smith Park lots.

“What you’ve not included are costs associated with bringing those lots up to standard. That would not only include paving, but also proper lighting, pedestrian safety, making sure sidewalks are in good repair and are ADA compliant for employees and visitors who are walking into town,” Ritzert said.

Lewes City Manager Ellen Lorraine McCabe said the current budget includes $490,000 for parking lot upgrades.

At the April 17 meeting, the Rev. Jeff Ross, pastor of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Second Street, said he is not convinced the pilot will benefit his congregation.

He said there had been two handicap-accessible parking spots outside the church, but he said the city removed them. Ross said he is not asking for special preference, just help for his aging congregation.

“Permits restrict parking and prevent people from using the spaces. Not having handicapped spaces is a significant barrier,” Ross said.

Elder assured him the pilot would not harm the church.

“This is not a trick. This is designed to bring positive change,” Elder said.

“Historically, I’m not optimistic,” Ross said. “It’s onerous and difficult to work with the city. I can’t even put a cross on my church without approval. It is my sacred responsibility to protect the church.”

At the April 22 work session, Dave Shook presented a separate proposal that would allow street spaces that are too small for cars to be used for scooters and mopeds.

Mayor and city council will set a date for a formal public hearing on the parking pilot at the May regular meeting.