Bunting Holds Bill, Waits For 2010
The fight for a 35-foot height limit in Dewey Beach’s charter is on hold, at least for now. Under pressure to approve a balanced budget, the Senate did not vote on the charter change, designated House Bill 50, before the legislative session ended Wednesday, July 1.
HB50 sponsor Sen. George Bunting, D-Bethany Beach, thinks delay is for the better.
“I don’t think they had the votes,” Bunting said. Bunting asked President Pro Tempore Anthony DeLuca, D-Varlano, to hold HB 50 until the session resumes in January 2010.
“I’d hate to see the bill go down in defeat,” he said. “And this keeps it alive.”
While HB 50 cleared the House with a unanimous vote, Bunting said it met different circumstances in the Senate. The Senate was under immense pressure to pass a balanced budget, and Bunting said any debate about HB 50 was likely to be short and fruitless. Lobbying and word-of-mouth discussion had exasperated the already overwhelmed legislators, he said.
“People were a little frayed over that bill,” he said. “When it got to the Senate, the issue had percolated. There was really intense lobbying from both sides.”
Citizens to Preserve Dewey (CPD), a civil action group, sent dozens of emails to senators in support of HB 50. Developers Harvey, Hanna & Associates (HHA) and Dewey Beach Enterprises (DBE) – the primary targets of HB 50 – hired lobbyists to make their case. Robert Byrd of The Byrd Group represents HHA, and Scott Kidner of CS Kidner Associates represents DBE.
Bunting said Byrd’s presence in the General Assembly is pronounced and his influence deep.
“I knew it was going on,” he said of Byrd’s lobbying. “I knew his influence. You have lobbyists sometimes who are bigger than senators.”
Byrd did not return calls for comment.
CPD member Joy Howell said she’s disappointed that the bill didn’t pass, but she prefers delay to defeat.
“We’re a little disappointed, of course,” she said. “But the bill is not dead. We’ll have the next year’s session to work on it again.”
CPD’s tactic of en-masse emails provoked ire from Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, when the measure came up in the House. Howell said the tactic was ultimately useful and would likely be resumed in 2010.
“I think that was very helpful, overall. Did it overcome the deep-pocketed lobbying that DBE brought to the battle? Obviously not,” she said.
The bill was released from the community and county affairs committee June 25. Committee member Sen. Colin Bonini, R-Dover, voted against releasing HB 50 on principle – he opposes any bill he said is sponsored and supported primarily by nonresidents.
“I have some philosophical concerns with small towns allowing nonresidents to vote,” he said.
He also said the bill would set a dangerous precedent over-involving the state in municipal land regulation.
“It sets a dangerous precedent in making permanent zoning restrictions in the General Assembly, instead of allowing the local officials to do that,” he said. “We should not be in that business.”
He said the strongest lobbying came from CPD.
“The email traffic on this particular issue was overzealous, to say the least,” he said.
Committee Chairwoman Sen. Bethany Hall-Long, D-Glasgow, said she, like Bonini, heard less from the developers than from CPD. She heard from other municipalities, she said, voicing their concerns about the potentially precedent-setting HB 50.
Hall-Long voted to release the bill from committee.
“I do have personal concerns with setting precedent,” she said, “But Sen. Bunting’s efforts were a big help. I do wish that we’d heard sooner from residents.”
Mayor Dell Tush said she wanted a vote but trusts Bunting’s judgment. She said the strength of Dewey’s support will pass HB 50 next year.
“We had a referendum vote,” she said. “How can you go against that?”
Commissioner Rich Hanewinckel said he wishes Dewey had united in its support of HB 50.
“I wish the town had made a more coordinated effort,” he said.
Bunting said holding the bill was his only choice to ensure the bill’s survival; ultimately, he said, there’s only so much he can do.
“I can’t just ramrod this thing through,” he said.
By Rob Kunzig | Cape Gazette
