The BeachWalk development appeal to Rehoboth city commissioners is coming up Friday, Jan. 26.
We live in the neighborhood adjacent to BeachWalk. Our lives will be profoundly affected by whatever development is approved. Most if not all in our neighborhood are supportive of the redevelopment of this property which has been an eyesore for many years.
However, the developers want to build 58 single-family homes and five townhouses with 20-foot-wide streets and two parking spaces for five- and six-bedroom homes. We and some city officials (police and fire chiefs) have serious concerns about the current design.
Among them are density, traffic, parking, fire safety, the capacity of the Newbold pumping station to accommodate this development, and the impact on Silver Lake and other environmental concerns. The planning commission rightly addressed all of these issues by ruling that the development is a major subdivision and the developer should submit an updated proposal using those parameters.
A major subdivision is defined as "Any subdivision containing eight or more lots, parcels, sites and other divisions of land."
The development of a parcel of land this big could not be called anything other than "major subdivision." Requiring anything less than major subdivision standards would jeopardize the safety and security of the neighborhoods around BeachWalk. It's important that the city commissioners uphold the decision by the planning commission.
Larry Shaw and Richard Freitag
Rehoboth Beach
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