By Eddie Phillipps, Cape Gazette Staff Writer
A new structure, 20 feet shorter than the original 68-foot hotel/hybrid condo proposed by Harvey, Hanna and Associates, was presented to the Dewey Beach planning and zoning committee at its Saturday, Oct. 6 meeting.
All that was revealed during a PowerPoint presentation by company attorney Shawn Tucker was a tentative 48-foot building. The structure would consist of 120 suites, 48 condominiums, a roof deck, 48,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage with about 481 spaces.
The Baycenter, Lighthouse bar and restaurant and Crabbers Cove would all remain. Tucker said a baywalk and public restrooms are still in the plans. Two hotel companies are interested in the project, he said.
Last week, Harvey, Hanna and Associates President Thom Harvey said Marriot was interested in the proposal.
In a phone interview on Monday, Tucker said 48 feet is the lowest the project will go. A 7-2 vote by the Ruddertowne Architectural Committee in June to move the project forward was basically a blessing to build at 68 feet, Tucker said.
Tucker also cited a survey taken by McBride & Ziegler listing 22 structures over the 35-foot limit. Some structures are more than 50 feet high, even in the least dense residential district.
Harvey, Hanna and Associates cites the 42-foot-tall Best Western, across the street from where the company plans to build. The Ruddertowne complex is located on Rehoboth Bay and its elevation is five feet lower than the center of Route 1 or the Best Western.
That hotel, according to Tucker, is in the resort business-2 zone, which should have a lower density than the resort business-1 overlay.
It consists of 75 units covering two parcels and 21,871 square feet.
Tucker said the Ruddertowne land, with 102,801 square feet, should have a higher density.
“We must be the most dense and intense. That’s the way [the comprehensive plan] reads,” Tucker said. “When you’re trying to determine the most dense and intense, you have to take into consideration these other buildings.”
Although the company has reduced the height of its proposed building, there is still public outcry to maintain the town’s 35-foot height limit.
“What they’re doing now is still trying to jam their hotel project down our throats,” said Joy Howell, a member of Citizens to Preserve Dewey PAC. She pointed out a public petition circulated by the Citizens to Preserve Dewey that garnered more than 800 signatures and a landslide victory of three candidates opposed to relaxing current height standards. Howell said the people of Dewey clearly do not want another large building.
“We have a huge amount of public sentiment against this,” Howell said. “We’re not speaking, we’re shouting.”
~
Brady: No 90-day extension
Citizens and a few planners say more review is needed of plans to develop Ruddertowne, and they’ve asked for an extension of the 60-day time limit that began Aug. 23.
Harvey, Hanna and Associates, which intends to own the parcel by the end of October, requested the same extension at the Saturday, Oct. 6 planning meeting through a letter presented to the planners by attorney Shawn Tucker.
But nobody got what they wanted.
After Tucker proposed the extension, town attorney John Brady called for an executive session to give the planners legal advice. Before going into executive session, Brady said a request for an extension would have to be sent to the state and it could be sent back or a lawsuit could ensue. Brady could not recall an instance to show a precedent for granting such a request, so he said the existing schedule should be followed.
The planners have until Tuesday, Oct. 23, to make recommendations to the town council regarding a large density structure in the Ruddertowne parcel. The original concept was a 68-foot resort complex, but the company is now seeking a 48-foot structure.
At the Sept. 28 planning and zoning meeting, Joan Claybrook of Citizens to Preserve Dewey PAC submitted a letter to the committee recommending that planners reject the proposal. From that letter, dated Sept. 28, Claybrook read: “By any measure, 60 days (now less than 30 days) is far too short a time for any commission, no matter how dedicated, to recommend complex zoning changes for a brand new zoning category in the newly adopted Town of Dewey Beach comprehensive plan, particularly given the enormous importance of the use of this land in this new zone to the people of Dewey Beach.”
Tucker said the public outcry was one of the reasons the company wanted an extension.
Tucker said the company has been hearing since May from Mayor Dell Tush and from Citizens to Preserve Dewey members Marcia Schieck and Joy Howell that the project should slow down. “We welcome the public input. We’ve never been in a hurry,” Tucker said.
The planners have extended from three meetings – as originally planned – to four to make a final recommendation to the town council. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, the planners will hold a workshop in which there will be no voting or public forum. A final meeting that will feature voting on rezoning issues will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19.
Contact Eddie Phillipps at eddiep@capegazette.com