Rehoboth planners recommend rezoning of Sussex St. lot

In an effort to bring an entire property under one uniform zoning category, the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission has recommended the rezoning of 60 Sussex St. from residential to commercial.

The property in question is the back side of the commercial lots on Rehoboth Avenue that make up the Shops at the Pearl Mall, where the Cultured Pearl restaurant is located. Prior to the mall, the property was the decades-long home to Quillen Hardware. The Quillen family still owns the lots.

There’s been a memorandum of understanding between the city and the property owners since 2006 recognizing the historic use of the lot as commercial on an otherwise residential street. The Sussex Street lot used to be zoned commercial, but it was rezoned in early 2006 as part of a larger rezoning effort on Sussex Street to make sure those lots were developed as residential in the future.

Attorney Vince Robertson, representing the Quillen family, went before the planning commission Aug. 22. Describing the request as corrective rezoning, Robertson said the property has recently changed generational hands and the family wants to now clean up the zoning. Additionally, there are issues related to commercial financing in the future if the property continues to be split-zoned, because it’s unknown how a commercial lender would react to the MOU, he said.

“This is not in any way, shape or form the result of some future plan for this property or redevelopment of the property. It’s just to clean this up after 20 years,” said Robertson.

The planning commission generally agreed with the argument.

Planning Commissioner Michael Strange said the request is clarifying a physical reality, which corrects the record and makes it better for everybody.

Looking forward, commission Chair Michael Bryan said city council will be the ones making the decision after holding a public hearing.

There was a brief moment where it appeared the recommendation might not get the favorable recommendation because the number of planning commissioners available to vote was limited. Three commissioners were absent, and Commissioner Susan Stewart recused herself because she will have been sworn in as a council member by the time the request makes it to city council. Commissioner Nan Hunter said she had planned to abstain, but decided not to because that would have left four planning commissioners voting, which wouldn’t have been a majority.

This rezoning request is well over a year in the making and would require an amendment to the future land-use map in the city’s comprehensive development plan. The proposed future amendment triggered a Preliminary Land Use Service review, which took place in February 2024. There were no comments or objections to the map amendment by any of the state agencies that participated in the PLUS meeting.

Lot consolidation

The planning commission voted unanimously in favor of moving to public hearing an application to consolidate two lots on Stockley Street Extended.

The property is located at 517 Stockley St. Ext. As proposed, the action would combine a lot that’s 100 feet deep and 75 feet wide with a lot that’s 100 feet deep and 25 feet wide, which would make a single lot that’s 100 feet by 100 feet.

The public hearing on this consolidation was set for the planning commission meeting in September. 

The agenda also included a preliminary review of a partitioning at 1001 Scarborough Ave. Ext., but that was removed in advance of the meeting and will be rescheduled as appropriate.