Rehoboth OKs second hotel plan change

The developers of the One Rehoboth Hotel project received a second amendment to its site plan during a Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission meeting April 24. The approved change moves the underground garage farther away from the neighboring hotel’s foundation and adds one spot by using more car lift systems.

The hotel has been working its way through the city’s approval process for years. The development team is a partnership between Grotto Pizza and Onix Group, a real estate developer from Kennett Square, Pa.

When complete, the 60-room hotel will stretch the width of the block from Rehoboth Avenue to Baltimore Avenue and front the Boardwalk. The footprint includes four commercial structures – the former Dolle’s Candyland property on the Boardwalk and Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard on Rehoboth Avenue, the Grotto Pizza on the Boardwalk and the Sirocco Motel on Baltimore Avenue. The restaurant and motel were demolished around this time last year.

About 15 months ago, the planning commission approved a site plan with two levels of underground parking. Citing unknowns about the foundation of The Admiral on Baltimore Avenue, the neighboring hotel to the west, the development team came back to the planning commission looking to move the hotel’s western foundation wall farther east and to use a lift system to stack cars so the required number of parking spaces can be met. The planning commission approved those changes in December.

Corey Shinko, director of the city’s Planning, Zoning and Development Department, reviewed the proposed changes associated with the second amendment. Compared to the first minor amendment, he said, the new plans reduce the garage footprint, increase west-side clearance from the Admiral, raise the garage floor to a uniform elevation, eliminate the internal ramped parking field, increase the lift count from 24 to 30, remove the 11 conventional surface spaces, relocate the ADA/passenger-loading configuration to the east wall, relocate a set of stairs, add a utility room adjacent to those stairs and increase the total parking from 62 to 63 spaces.

Attorney Vince Robertson is representing the developers. He said since that December approval, the One Rehoboth team has been able to examine the neighboring hotel’s foundation, and new information has led to the redesign. Had the development team known what the foundation of the Admiral looked like, they would have submitted these plans earlier, he said.

Through the original site-plan approval and the first amendment, the planning commission has set a number of conditions. New conditions were added as part of the latest approval. They include: The hotel must follow city code related to valet parking, which says, among other things, city parking spots cannot be used for the valet service, the hotel must notify customers that roof racks are not allowed for the garage valet parking, and the hotel must monitor guest vehicle type to avoid more than 30 vehicles that exceed 70 inches in height.

None of the planning commissioners voted against the changes, but Commissioners Michael Strange and Julie Davis abstained. Commissioner Nan Hunter was absent.

Strange said the applicant has shown good faith in doing the right thing, but he’s concerned there will be significant safety issues. There’s a large problem, he said.

Davis said she would prefer to see the conditions in writing first, with a chance to review them, before voting. This is a good project and she would like to see it built, but given the magnitude, she said she wasn’t prepared to vote.

Looking forward, not much work is expected to happen at the site before the end of the summer. 

There had been some expectation that the two remaining commercial structures would be demolished at the end of last summer season. However, the development team announced at the beginning of the year the two remaining buildings won’t be demolished until September.