Representative Charges Interference
Dewey Beach’s controversial 35-foot height limit charter change moves forward in the General Assembly – the passage, however, is fraught with contention between Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, and Citizens to Preserve Dewey, a civil action group composed of property owners.
Schwartzkopf, House majority leader, said Citizens to Preserve Dewey (CPD) takes an overactive role in the passage of the height restriction, submitted to the General Assembly as House Bill 50. A zoning change belongs in a town’s code, Schwartzkopf said, where a citizen can appeal a zoning restriction to the board of adjustment. A charter change is state law, immune to board of adjustment appeals.
While placing a zoning law in a charter is not illegal, Schwartzkopf said, denying the right of a board of adjustment appeal violates title 22, section 321 of Delaware state law.
“I’ve said all along, you can have it in the charter, It just needs an amendment.”
~ House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf
Schwarzkopf said his early allegations that HB50 is unconstitutional were inaccurate. It’s not unconstitutional, he said – just improper.
CPD sought to cement the restriction into the charter in order to make it more difficult for a future commission to overturn the limit. CPD member Rick Judge said town council and the board of adjustment alike could fall under developer influence.
“We need to protect it from the whim of the commissioners,” Judge said. He said a charter article requires a referendum to overturn it; Schwartzkopf, however, said the Dewey referendum that approved the charter change with 86 percent of the vote was non-binding, and could be overturned by a commission.
“It would be political suicide,” he said. “But it’s possible.”
Schwartzkopf said HB50 is clearly designed to attack Dewey Beach Enterprises (DBE) and Harvey Hanna, which originally proposed a 68-foot structure for its Ruddertowne property. In targeting the developer, Schwartzkopf said, CPD harms the ordinary citizen.
“They are trying to put something in place to stop Hanna by taking away your rights,” Schwartzkopf wrote in an email to a Dewey citizen. “They have thrown you under the bus trying to advance their own agenda. I am not going to let that happen.”
CPD member Marcia Shieck said they’re not trying to harm the little guy– conversely, she said, they’re trying to protect the little guy from the big guys, the developers.
Schwartzkopf accused CPD of attempting to involve itself where it shouldn’t.
“They always say ‘our bill, our bill.’ It isn’t their bill. I’m dealing with elected officials, not a civil action group,” he said. He added that he doesn’t broker deals with unelected groups: “I don’t negotiate with them. I negotiate with the mayor.”
Judge defended CPD’s right to involve itself in the legal life of HB50. “This is not meddling,” he said. “This is the democratic process. We wear a white hat. We support a good cause. Even if we didn’t wear the white hat and have a good cause at heart, we are a citizens group and deserve to be recognized.”
When HB50 first came under scrutiny in March, Mayor Dell Tush cautioned CPD against its usual course of aggressive political action. Shieck said this is the quietest the group has been since its inception.
“When you look at the whole history of what we’ve done,” she said, “this is the most quiet we’ve ever been.”
Despite tensions, HB50 progresses with an amendment providing Dewey residents and businesses the right to appeal the 35-foot limit before the board of adjustment.
Town attorney Glenn Mandalas isn’t bothered by the amendment.
“The right of appeal is, in a sense, detail,” Mandalas said, noting that the board of adjustment only grants variances in instances of hardship.
In an earlier interview, Tush said she doesn’t see hardship in the case of DBE and Harvey Hanna.
Judge was reassured by Mandalas’ endorsement of the amendment.
“If Glenn is happy with it, that’s good to hear,” he said. “It’s better than nothing.”
Schwartzkopf said CPD’s involvement frustrates him on a personal level.
“Everybody in the General Assembly comes to me and says, ‘Pete, what’s going on in Dewey?’” Schwartzkopf said. “They’re used to doing things in Washington, D.C. In Delaware, we do things differently.”
Though Schwartzkopf said CPD has strained relations between Dewey and the General Assembly, he said the potential for reconciliation exists.
“Sure,” he said. “We can fix it.
By Rob Kunzig | Cape Gazette Staff
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rep. Schwartzkopf has accused Dewey Beach homeowners of not knowing what we voted for on the 35 foot charter change, of “meddling” by trying to talk with him and other legislators about the bill, and of being outsiders, even though we are all homeowners. Although we had two strong legal opinions submitted to Rep. Schwartzkopf that disputed the need for an ammendment, he would not allow a vote on our bill without an amendment.
We are analyzing the amendment that he attached to our charter change bill before it passed the House to see who benefits from the Schwartzkopf Amendment.
~ Citizens to Preserve Dewey