The Rehoboth Beach Board of Adjustment approved a request made by the City of Rehoboth Beach for a special exception to city code that will allow the city’s contractor to keep a trailer on site at the beach patrol construction project.

It’s unusual for the city to be an applicant, said Fred Townsend, the board’s attorney, during a hearing Feb. 24.

“I don’t know if we’ve heard a special exception in the years that I’ve been here,” said Townsend. 

City commissioners approved a code change in October that eliminated the storage of trailers on city streets and private property. Long before the change in code, the city’s contractor, Delmarva Veteran Builders, had been storing a trailer behind the construction fence along the Boardwalk, near the Atlantic Sands. Code allows for a special exception, but it has to be granted by the board of adjustment.

City Planning and Community Development Director Mary Ellen Gray said after the code was changed, city staff took an inventory of trailers around the city that were in violation. The city noticed there was a trailer at the beach patrol site and decided to go through the process, she said.

Delmarva Veteran Builders Superintendent Frank Berterman said the trailer is needed because it has all the necessary permits posted and contains all the construction documents. He said there are meetings held in it, safety equipment is located inside and it’s where his office is.

Prior to the favorable vote, board member Jan Konesey said she walks the Boardwalk often and didn’t realize the trailer was there. 

As approved, Delmarva Veteran Builders will be allowed to keep the trailer on site until the project is complete or until it is no longer needed.

The meeting marked the first for the board’s newest member, Rick Perry, who was appointed by city commissioners in January. He is filling the seat vacated by Mark Saunders, who is now a city commissioner. Saunders was appointed in early December after former Commissioner Don Preston resigned in late November.

No temporary restrooms

Last summer, in response to the beach patrol construction, the city moved the lifeguards to a parking lot and installed temporary bathrooms on two city-owned parcels immediately north of the One Virginia condominium building at the north end of the Boardwalk.

The expectation is that the lifeguards will be back and the restrooms will be open at Baltimore Avenue this summer. As a result, the city does not plan to bring the north Boardwalk restrooms back this summer. There had been discussion about bringing them back during a budget meeting Jan. 17. It would have cost about $90,000 between rental ($75,000) and cleaning services ($13,500), but that line item had been removed in advance of a second budget meeting Feb. 10.

Based on feedback from commissioners, it was removed from the budget, said Lynne Coan, city spokesperson. The exception will be the use of porta-potties for the July 4 fireworks for a very short period, said Coan.

If the beach patrol facility’s May opening is delayed, Coan said the city has a contingency plan in place to utilize one trailer at that location temporarily. However, the city does not anticipate it will be necessary, she said.