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State legislators announce $300,000 grant to Clear Space

Funds will go toward building of new theater
July 15, 2021

Clear Space Theatre Company got some good news July 13 when it was guaranteed $300,000 in state funds toward the completion of a new theater. 

Clear Space had asked for $100,000 in funds to help its capital campaign toward building a new facility. The $300,000 in state funding, presented by Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth, and Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes, is guaranteed wherever Clear Space builds, whether at its proposed site at 413-417 Rehoboth Ave. or elsewhere.

Clear Space Executive Director Wesley Paulson said, “Clear Space thanks Sen. Lopez and Speaker of the House Schwartzkopf for securing this significant capital contribution from the Delaware General Assembly. Their generous funding has increased our capital campaign response to over $1 million, which is just under 25 percent of our campaign goal. We are grateful for the continued state support of the arts in Delaware as demonstrated by this grant and many other programs offered by the Division of the Arts.”

The donation will help Clear Space finish planning its proposed two-building complex, which includes a 14,968-square-foot, 256-seat traditional theater and a 9,979-square-foot rehearsal theater.

The new theater project has been a point of contention in Rehoboth for years now. The theater currently operates at 20 Baltimore Ave. but has been seeking to construct a larger facility. The planning commission originally approved a site plan in August 2020, but after an appeal by citizens, the commissioners sent the matter back to the planners for further review. In February, the planners again approved the site plan, and again residents appealed. On June 30, the commissioners overturned the planning commission’s decision. 

The city commissioners’ rationale for overturning the decision was the planning commission’s approval of the site plan without actually reviewing a code-compliant set of project drawings, the planning commissioners’ lack of discussion on the theater’s educational component, and a misinterpretation of code-mandated parking requirements related to the project’s square footage.

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