By Alex Ruoff | Mar 22, 2010 | Daily Times
DEWEY BEACH — The effort to create more public parking spaces in Dewey has stalled as elected leaders have sent planners back to the drawing board.
In October 2009, a draft ordinance aimed at regulating the placement of driveways and mailboxes to maximize on-street parking was presented.
In January, a similar ordinance was presented, defining which objects are permitted along Dewey’s right-of-way, the portions of the street owned by the town.
Neither ordinance was approved and both were based on recommendations and studies from the town Planning and Zoning Commission that revealed the possibility for hundreds of new public parking spaces.
To handle the amount of comments the town received from property owners following the introduction of the ordinances, officials scheduled a series of public meetings, the last of which has been canceled in favor of further study.
Town officials say they want to avoid confusion over how reclaiming portions of public property will affect property owners. Planners are expected to review the matter in the coming weeks.
“Our main concern is that the public knows what we are trying to do,” Town Manager Diana Smith said. “There’s been development with the (parking space) delineations and landscaping in the right-of-way, and those are aspects that need to be addressed.”
According to David King, vice chairman of the planning commission, his group is expected to hold a series of meetings on the matter, the first of which will deal with public input.
“I think the first will have to deal with any new information that needs to be considered and then we can talk about drafting (new recommendations),” he said.
Meeting dates have yet to be scheduled.
aruoff@dmg.gannett.com 302-537-1881, ext. 201