The following letter was sent to Rehoboth Beach commissioners with a copy provided to the Cape Gazette for publication.
I am writing in regards to the upcoming vote about installing parking meters at the Deauville Beach parking lot, thereby eliminating free parking for residents at the lot. My husband and I have been coming to Rehoboth Beach for more than 40 years and have owned our home for 25-plus years. We enjoy all that Rehoboth has to offer – our beautiful beaches and green spaces, Boardwalk and thriving downtown. However, in the last several years, our quality of life in Rehoboth has diminished as we see more visitors coming to our town who pay our reasonable parking fees, enjoy the beach for the day and return home. They are not investing in our town the way the residents and property owners do. They are not paying increased fees to ensure our town maintains its beauty and character for visitors, residents and property owners alike. Each of you has at one time stated how you want to maintain the unique character and brand that Rehoboth is known for; however, there have been no actions by the board to do so. We see businesses leaving Rehoboth. Even our library has threatened to leave town, and they all point to a similar problem – traffic and parking.
Instead of approaching the traffic and parking problems in a holistic way by looking at ways to get people out of their cars, increasing the parking fees including demand parking, and expanding the time of year that parking rules are in effect, you are nipping at the edges by installing parking meters at the one place in town that has never had meters. The decision was made to move forward on an ordinance without doing the appropriate research, without a lot of hard data and leaving many unanswered questions. And, in doing so, you are taking away a perk that residents have come to enjoy over the past several years. No solutions were offered to address free parking for residents. Other beach communities have found a way to offer free parking to residents as a nice perk for putting up with the inconveniences that the summer brings. At the January workshop, Commissioner Don Preston even noted that Provincetown, Mass., offers free parking to residents in all of its parking lots, but any thoughts of developing a solution for residents fell on deaf ears.
I urge you to reconsider this decision and discuss a viable solution for residents before moving forward on this ordinance.
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