Dewey Beach Town Council to Meet at 9 a.m.
DEWEY BEACH ~ A proposal that failed to pass during a nearly seven-hour Dewey Beach Town Council meeting last summer is coming back before town officials for another try.
If it were to be put on this year’s ballot, the resulting vote would not require any action for the town council. It would strictly be considered advisory to the town officials.
The referendum previously came before the town commissioners last July, though it failed to pass due to a tie vote, with Commissioner Dale Cooke abstaining.
Dewey Beach property owner Vivian Barry said she believes, the referendum is being brought up again as a continued effort to keep Ruddertowne’s owners from building the taller structure on the property they proposed last summer.
“We already have structures that are more than 40 feet high,” she said.
Cooke had said his reasons for abstaining, and effectively killing the original proposal, were that a lot of people seemed to want the referendum, but he did not believe that every town issue should necessarily be put to the public to decide.
“I don’t have any real problem with it,” he said of the proposal’s return. Cooke said he would like to see some options attached though, such as whether it should just be applied to certain zoning districts.
Dewey Mayor Dell Tush, who had voted in favor of the referendum last year, said she thinks she will probably vote for it again. While the referendum would be non-binding, she said, it would give people a chance to really make their opinions known on the matter.
“I think I’ll probably vote for it again,” Tush said, “because that’s what the people want.”
Also being placed before the town commissioners for discussion and possible vote is a new town wide floor-area ration ordinance. The proposal aims to create a FAR of 1.2 to go into effect while Dewey’s planners work to rezone the town in compliance with the Dewey Beach Comprehensive Development Plan.
The proposed FAR is a good thing, Barry said, for keeping more McMansions from being built in Dewey, but should not necessarily be applied to the town’s business districts.
“In the commercial area, there should be a little more leniency,” she said.
Tush said she is has not made up her mind yet on the FAR and hopes to have a better of idea of it after hearing the proposal from the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission representatives.
The commissioners also plan to discuss and possibly vote on a new ordinance regulating commercial signs and displays and on referring to the Planning and Zoning Commission a proposal adding two additional seats to that committee.
By Daniel DiVilio, Staff Writer DelmarvaNow.com
ddivilio@dmg.gannett.com