Reduced parking OK’d for Boardwalk hotel

Almost a year after voting in favor of the original site plan for the One Rehoboth Hotel, the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission approved an amendment to that site plan that reduces underground parking to one level.

The 60-room hotel will stretch the width of the block from Rehoboth Avenue to Baltimore Avenue and front the Boardwalk. The original site plan, approved in January, called for 62 parking spaces on two levels of parking.

Citing unknowns about the foundation of The Admiral on Baltimore, the neighboring hotel to the west, the development team went before the planning commission in October to request the amendment, which moves the western wall of the foundation 5 feet from the neighboring hotel and uses a lift system to stack cars so the required number of parking spaces can be met.

The development team – a partnership between Grotto Pizza and Onix Group, a real estate developer from Kennett Square, Pa. – went back before the planning commission Dec. 12.

Wally Funk, an architect for NORR, the Chicago-based architecture firm that designed the project, confirmed for the planning commission that everything above grade will remain the same.

Corey Shinko, director of the city’s planning, zoning and development department, recommended the minor amendment be approved.

Commissioner Mike Strange abstained from the vote. He said he didn’t necessarily want to vote against the proposal, but as an engineer, he didn’t think the lift system would work as designed.

Commissioner Julie Davis voted in favor of the amendment, but not before voicing concerns about what may happen when the lifts don’t work or they don’t have the staff to run the valet operation. These are legitimate concerns about backup plans, she said.

Commissioners set a number of conditions as part of the approval, including that the hotel must get a city-required permit for the valet parking operation, and it must reconcile differences in submitted plans related to the removal of a wall adjacent to the loading area. The developer has previously agreed to remove the wall to improve maneuverability for delivery vehicles.

Following the favorable vote, Jonathan Silver, Onix Group vice president, said he was happy the amendment was approved, and he didn’t know when demolition of the two remaining structures on the property would begin. There’s some coordination left with the city, but it could be by the end of the year or shortly after, he said.

Belhaven, 330 Rehoboth Ave.

The planning commission also took action on two other large redevelopment projects.

The first decision was related to the Belhaven Hotel, a 105-room hotel that stretches the width of the block from Rehoboth Avenue to Wilmington Avenue, and also fronts the Boardwalk. As part of the site-plan approval process, the developers – the father-and-son team of John and Alex Papajohn – had to consolidate the three lots where the hotel is going to be built.

The planning commission conducted a preliminary hearing of the lot consolidation at the Dec. 12 meeting. After a brief presentation by Belhaven attorney Hal Dukes, the planning commission voted in favor moving the request to a public hearing in January.

The planning commission then approved the subdivision of 330 Rehoboth Ave. after conducting a public hearing.

The lot is about 42,500 square feet, of which about 23,000 square feet along Rehoboth Avenue is zoned C-1 commercial, and about 19,500 square feet along State Road is R-1 residential.

As approved, the residential space would be subdivided into three parcels – two rectangular single-family home lots facing State Road and one irregularly shaped pentagon that abuts the commercial portion.