Rehoboth library renovation heading to site-plan review

After more than two years of work, renovation plans for the Rehoboth Beach Public Library are set to be reviewed by the city’s planning commission. The city issued a notice Aug. 27 that a preliminary site-plan review has been scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26.

It’s exciting, said Kay Wheatley, library board president.

“We don’t anticipate any problems,” said Wheatley.

The announcement of the preliminary review wasn’t a surprise to the planning commission. During a commission meeting Aug. 25, Building and Licensing Interim Director Corey Shinko said the city had received a full and complete application package from the library. Staff are working through the plans and will have a report to the planning commission in a timely fashion before the meeting next month, he said.

Progress on the library’s renovation project has been slow but steady ever since early 2023, when library officials announced their intentions to renovate the existing building and to also build a new library on Warrington Road outside the city. Soon after that, a task force was formed to help guide the library through the process of deciding what to have at the downtown facility.

A little over a year ago, the task force reached a consensus about what a downtown renovation should include – a second restroom, more employee space, a smaller circulation desk, a retractable wall added to the second-floor meeting space, three small study rooms that each hold four people, and a larger meeting room that holds 16 people. This interior work would keep the library within the same footprint.

In late 2024, the library’s board of trustees decided to go with Whiting & Turner as the construction manager overseeing both legs of the project.

Earlier this summer, library officials learned they had secured the full amount – $3 million – of its funding request from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act money.

Wheatley has been consistent in saying the renovation project needs to be completed by the end of 2026. There was a bit of a delay getting the plans done, but the library will be working with the contractor to speed things up when possible, she said.

In addition to the ARPA funds, the library has received $3 million in the state’s Bond Bill. The remaining portion, estimated at about $2 million, will be acquired through fundraising.

The library has started aggressively fundraising, said Wheatley. The goal is to get this project done without any debt, she said.

At the conclusion of the preliminary review, the planning commission has the opportunity to send the plans to a public hearing, which would likely take place at the commission’s October meeting.

If that timeline is met, the plan would be to start construction soon after in November, said Wheatley.