Lobbying Intensifies As HB50 Sits In Committee
Dewey Beach town attorney Glenn Mandalas has kept a low profile regarding the controversy surrounding the town’s 35-foot height limit charter change, submitted to the General Assembly as House Bill 50. On Saturday, June 20, Mandalas defended HB50 in an email to Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, a member of the committee currently considering HB50.
Mandalas responded first to the assertion that the existence of pending litigation disqualifies HB50 from consideration by the General Assembly. The first suit is an appeal filed by Dewey Beach Enterprises (DBE) against the Dewey board of adjustment’s decision to affirm the town’s denial of a building permit for a 35-foot mixed-use structure.
Mandalas wrote the building permit was denied for reasons of density of development, not height. The building plan submitted by DBE complied with the 35-foot height limit, he wrote.
“Since the proposed plan complies with the 35-foot height limitation, the General Assembly’s adoption of the proposed charter amendment would have no impact on the litigation or its outcome,” Mandalas wrote.
The second suit, also filed by DBE, attacks the town’s new zoning code, established in January 2009. Mandalas wrote that while the zoning code does relax bulk standards in the district where DBE’s Ruddertowne property is located, it does not specifically address a height limit higher than 35 feet.
“As in the first suit,” Mandalas wrote, “the second suit does not address the 35-foot height limitation and consequently, it should have no bearing on the General Assembly’s action on the proposed charter amendment.”
Mandalas wrote it was suspicious that the General Assembly should consider abandoning legislation because of unrelated lawsuits.
“It seems that would provide an easy way to hinder legislation if a simple filing with one of our courts would effectively veto any proposed legislation,” Mandalas wrote.
He also addressed concerns that HB50 contradicts the town’s comprehensive plan, passed in 2007. Mandalas wrote that the comprehensive plan does not provide for a building height higher than 35 feet in DBE’s district and is thus irrelevant to HB50.
“It is simply an uninformed position to suggest that the charter amendment should not move forward because it is inconsistent with the comprehensive development plan.”
Some Dewey residents asked at town council meetings what Mandalas was doing to support HB50 in the General Assembly. Mandalas acknowledged his reticence, saying the town’s legal budget restrictions prevent him from acting without explicit orders from the commissioners.
“The truth is, Dewey Beach has a difficult time managing its legal fees. I’m not going to step out and act on my own unless they tell me to. I serve at the pleasure of the commissioners.”
Sen. George Bunting, D-Bethany Beach, said Mandalas’ email could have helped HB50 more had it come sooner.
“It would have helped,” Bunting said.
Opposed Coalition Speaks Out
David Sills, treasurer of DBE, wrote a letter to the Cape Gazette saying HB50 would threaten 1,000 new jobs in Sussex County.
“If enacted,” Sills wrote, “HB50 would likely forfeit a $100 million project that would provide more than 1,000 construction and permanent jobs in Sussex County to appease a Washington, D.C. special interest group at the expense of working families in Delaware.”
Sills wrote he represented a coalition formed in opposition to HB50. Passing HB50, he argued, would be foolhardy in light of the budget crisis, and send a message that Delaware is anti-business.
“Enactment of HB 50 would send a clear message that Delaware is ‘closed for business’ at a time when economic development could not be more critical to the state’s future,” Sills wrote.
Meanwhile, DBE has hired lobbyists to press its case in Dover. Scott Kidner of CS Kidner Associates said he assists DBE with a variety of legal issues, including HB50. He said he can’t add anything to assertions already made by the company itself.
“It’s all so much water under the bridge, you know?” Kinder said. “I’m not sure I can add much.”
Bunting said lobbyist Robert Byrd is also working on behalf of Harvey, Hanna & Associates, a New Castle-based developer and partner in DBE’s Ruddertowne project.
“He’s connected,” Bunting said of Byrd. “He’s been around the building a lot.”
Byrd heads The Byrd Group LLC, a Wilmington-based lobbying firm established by Drinker Biddle, the firm representing DBE. Byrd was unavailable for comment.
HB50 remains in the Community and County Affairs Committee, where it must be approved before heading to the Senate floor for a vote.
By Rob Kunzig | Cape Gazette