Saving Rehoboth, Preserving Dewey, Bettering Sussex!
REHOBOTH BEACH ~ It is hard to please everyone and in Sussex County, many of those upset by government rulings have formed citizens’ groups as a way of making their voices heard.
Sussex residents and property owners have been taking a strength in numbers approach to get through to elected leaders and state administrators. The groups have formed over specific issues, like fighting state transportation officials on a proposed highway, and for broader causes, such as preserving Rehoboth Beach’s small-town charm.
Some have found success quickly, such as a Dewey Beach group who helped get three candidates elected to the Town Council just a few months after coming together. For others, accomplishing their goals takes longer, such as one group that endured a four-year struggle to add two additional seats to the Sussex County Council.
“(These groups) can be a valuable asset,” said Dewey Beach Commissioner Dale Cooke, whose town has multiple groups.
From blogging to petitioning for a referendum, they seem to always be in the background fighting for a cause.
The citizens’ group “Save Our City” is, according to their mission statement, comprised of full and part time Rehoboth Beach residents concerned about “over-development of townhouses and out-of-scale residential homes” in the city.
They formed about five years ago, said organizer Nancy Martin, when city officials were working on the Rehoboth Beach Comprehensive Development Plan, a road-map for the city’s future growth.
With concerns over plans for a residentially populated, but commercially zoned section of Columbia Avenue, Martin said she started reaching out to Rehoboth property owners to inform them of potential changes.
“I was using an e-mail system to get the word out,” Martin said.
Her efforts lead to more people getting actively involved with the process and the area being rezoned residential to preserve the smaller-scale construction already present. Their actions showed, she said, that people can make a difference in government decisions when they are properly informed.
In 2005, “Save Our City” became more formalized, Martin said, with Rehoboth’s annual elections and the group’s support of three candidates who backed the Comprehensive Plan. They were all subsequently elected.
A lot of development issues hinged on that election, Martin said, spurring the group’s “loosely organized, but very active group of citizens” to voice their stance that Rehoboth’s residential and commercial developments should be kept in check.
“Townhouses could have swarmed over our tiny commercial district,” Martin said.
Groups like “Save Our City” are important, she said, because the city’s leaders have a huge workload and should know that their constituents are engaged and involved.
As for the future, with the city currently working on a state-required revision of the Comprehensive Plan, Martin said “Save our City” will continue to actively participate in the process.
“I can guarantee “Save Our City” people will be there giving their views,” she said.
Last year, in Dewey Beach, a development group proposed the construction of a 68-foot-tall luxury resort on the site of Ruddertowne, a popular collection of bayside shops and nightspots.
Spurred by their belief that city officials were not listening to the public who opposed the structure’s height — which was nearly twice that of the town’s 35-foot limit on new construction — a handful of concerned residents and property owners banded together and formed “Citizens To Preserve Dewey.”
“We focused mostly on maintaining the 35-foot height limit,” said co-founder Joy Howell.
The group also created an informational network that aimed to keep non-resident property owners informed through a Web site and regular mailings and petitioned for a referendum on the height issue. That petition, Howell said, was signed by more than 800 people.
“We were amazed when the Town Council voted not to put a referendum on the ballot,” Howell said.
Their next move, she said, was to find candidates for the annual election who would listen to the people, which included group co-founder Rich Hanewinckel, member Diane Hanson and Dewey Mayor Dell Tush. All three, who pledged they would listen to the will of the people when it came to Ruddertowne, were elected in a landslide victory.
With their election, Hanewinckel said he and Hanson are no longer active with the group for ethical reasons.
Howell, who has a public relations firm that lobbies on consumer rights issues, said grassroots campaigns like the one in Dewey are not new to her.
“That’s pretty much the most direct form of democracy you can have,” she said. “(Citizen participation) is really the healthiest form of government —- rather than officials just making decisions in a vacuum.”
While the Ruddertowne developers have reduced the size to comply with existing zoning regulations, Howell said “Citizens To Preserve Dewey” are still active in ensuring the height limit remains as is on the books.
They may still get their referendum too, as Hanson has sponsored a proposal for it to be discussed at the next Town Council meeting.
“Citizens for a Better Sussex County” formed from some coastal residents’ concerns that they were not being listened to when county officials made land-use decisions. To be heard, they felt they needed stronger representation on council.
According to group founder Joan Deaver, the votes were stacked against those who resided in coastal Sussex County and council members from the west were making decisions on issues that did not directly affect them.
In response, the group came together four years ago when Deaver began lobbying to get either two at-large seats added to the County Council or create a county executive branch to ensure greater checks and balances.
Now, she said, a bill for adding the two additional seats has passed the state’s House of Representatives and is in the hands of the Senate.
“We’re not against development,” Deaver said. “We wanted representation.”
“Citizens for a Better Sussex” has also aligned itself with other similar groups, Deaver said, to raise awareness on the need for clean power and other quality of life issues.
More recently, Deaver formed the “Coalition of Plantations Road Homeowners” with local resident Betty Deacon. The group is opposed to a locals-only parkway currently being designed by state transportation officials.
Deacon said she is taking the coalition’s organizational model on the road, teaching others how to make their voices heard by local leaders. After all, she said, the purpose of these groups is to get more people involved.
“We’re not going out asking people to vote against a councilperson or anything like that,” Deacon said. “It’s (about) raising awareness.”
By Daniel DiVilio, Staff Writer DelmarvaNow.com
ddivilio@dmg.gannett.com