At the request of the town, the Dewey Beach Charter and Code Committee is drafting a set of minimum property standards that would function much like HOA-style rules. Under these proposed standards, homeowners could be ticketed for issues such as very low weeds and plants – with fines eventually leading to liens against their property.
The town’s current code already addresses this issue, limiting weed height to 12 inches. Yet the committee has discussed lowering that limit to just 4 to 6 inches. To justify the change, the town cited two properties it described as in disrepair. The town didn’t give the committee the background, so I looked into it. One property belonged to a resident who was in hospice and passed away that June, with the town’s notice arriving in July. The other is owned by an approximately 84-year-old resident.
Should two isolated and unfortunate circumstances really be the reason every property owner in Dewey faces new, stricter and potentially punitive rules? Even more concerning, the town’s stated rationale for starting over is that there is nothing in the existing code. That’s simply not true. Dewey already has a property maintenance code, which it used to send those very letters. Instead of making small, sensible updates to what’s already on the books, the committee appears to be rebuilding from scratch, risking duplicate or conflicting regulations.
Separately, another town policy deserves similar scrutiny. Dewey currently requires any homeowner in a flood zone to file a building permit for any work – even something as minor as replacing a door knob – based on communications with FEMA dating back roughly 20 years. The previous building official did not enforce that interpretation, and the policy doesn’t seem right. The town commissioners have since tasked the building official and assistant town manager with confirming what FEMA actually requires today. Yet, according to a recent FOIA, there has been no outreach to FEMA. Instead, the town is now guessing the threshold is $1,000. Rather than guessing, staff should contact FEMA directly to verify the current policy. The website indicates FEMA is looking for development and substantial improvement indicating Dewey's proposed update doesn't follow FEMA guidance and is too low.
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