Rehoboth weighs changes to seasonal restrictions
On the advice of a city committee, Rehoboth Beach commissioners are considering the possible synchronization of several seasonal prohibitions to mirror the parking season and also making some seasonal prohibitions year-round.
The Rehoboth Beach Streets & Safety Advisory Committee made the recommendations. It’s the first issue commissioners will be voting on since the committee began meeting a couple of months ago.
Commissioners discussed the recommendations during a meeting Jan. 5. Commissioner Mark Saunders chairs the advisory committee.
The city’s parking season runs May 15 to Sept. 15. However, said Saunders, dogs are currently prohibited on the beach and Boardwalk annually from May 1 to Sept. 30. As proposed, code would be amended to say May 15 through Sept. 15, he said.
There are a few streets on the south end of Rehoboth – Queen Street, Prospect Street and Lake Drive – with seasonal restrictions similar to the dog restrictions. As proposed, these areas would also have restrictions in place May 15 to Sept. 15.
Saunders said there are three items that are prohibited for six months – left-hand turns off Rehoboth Avenue onto First and Second streets, sleeping on the beach and smoking on the beach. There would be no changes to the wording, but the recommendation is to make them year-round, he said.
The only issue that seems to be controversial is the turns, said Saunders. No one objected to changing the dates to match parking dates, but they did object to doing away with them completely, he said.
Related to seasonal left-hand turns, resident Carolyn Diefenderfer said she thought the problem was vehicles making U-turns on Rehoboth Avenue at the intersections of First and Second streets. People are doing it without acknowledging the red light, she said.
Commissioner Suzanne Goode said she had concerns that adjusting all seasonal prohibitions to match the current parking season would in turn make the parking season more difficult to change. She said she would like to see the parking enforcement season be separate from the other prohibitions.
At the end of the discussion, City Manager Taylour Tedder said he and staff members would talk internally and prepare ordinances to approve if they’re needed at the commissioner meeting Friday, Jan. 16. Those documents are available for review on the city’s government portal, cityofrehoboth.civicweb.net/portal.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
