While a lawsuit is still hanging over the head of the return of miniature golf to Bethany Beach, members of the public had no objections to mini-golf becoming a flatly permitted use in the town when offered their opportunity to speak about a proposed zoning ordinance on Thursday, April 12.
Coastal Point • M. PATRICIA TITUS:
Construction is well under way on the controversial mini-golf course in Bethany Beach.
Contrasting a Board of Adjustments hearing last year specifically on the proposed Captain Jack’s Pirate Mini-Golf, which is now under construction on the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Central Boulevard, there were no neighbors — or, indeed, other citizens — present this past week to object to the notion.
Two families who did object to the Board of Adjustments’ decision to permit Captain Jack’s to be built under existing town code — requiring a special-use approval — have filed an appeal of that decision to the state’s court system. But construction began on the site in recent months as action was awaited in the case.
The suit stems from the Board’s determination that miniature golf is a use that can be granted a special-use approval by the Board of Adjustments, on the grounds that it is a “game of skill” similar to the specifically mentioned bowling and pinball that already are included in a section of town code regarding special uses.
That bit of code has been the basis for granting permission for such businesses in the past, and the board was heavily advised by Town Solicitor Terence Jaywork and Building Inspector John Eckrich on that issue when it became clear that opponents of Captain Jack’s were involving legal representation and might pursue an appeal of a Board decision in property owner Carol Schultze’s favor.
In the end, the board made that decision and the two neighboring property owners — three and five houses away from the property — did pursue an appeal. They had cited concerns about noise, possible damage to property, safety on the busy street corner and detriment to their residential properties due to the proximity of the latest proposed commercial use. (The site in the past has been used as the location for a liquor store and rental shop.)
Lawsuit pending, ordinance proposed
In contrast, immediate neighbors have generally supported Schultze’s plan to bring miniature golf back to Bethany Beach, a little over a year after the town’s lone remaining course was closed and razed for development as a restaurant location.
Those adjacent neighbors did ask for limits on hours of operation; for a requirement for fencing to protect the properties from noise and errant golf balls; and restrictions on noise and lighting — but they did not oppose the project itself. The Board of Adjustments acceded to each of those requests from the immediate neighbors, with the willing cooperation of Schultze.
Those constraints, however, did not assuage the concerns of the more distant property owners who had opposed the decision — leading to the legal challenge over the Board’s ruling.
Since then, the town’s Planning Commission has discussed a possible amendment to the existing zoning code for the C-1 commercial district.
The two proposed options for that change would have either: (1) formally added miniature golf to the list of “games of skill” that are permitted with a Board of Adjustments ruling for the special use; or (2) made miniature golf a “use by right,” meaning that no Board hearing would be required for future miniature golf businesses in that zone, just the routine issuance of business licenses and building permits.
Under both possibilities the town could institute restrictions on such businesses, as they did with Captain Jack’s through the Board of Adjustments ruling. In the first case, the restrictions could be determined on a case-by-case basis. In the second, they could be developed to apply to all miniature-golf businesses.
The latter was the recommendation of the Planning Commission, which acknowledged the longstanding use of some commercial property in the town for miniature golf. Restrictions on noise, lighting and hours of operation were just a few of the possible limitations they put forward with their recommendation to the town council, mirroring those placed on Captain Jack’s.
With that Planning Commission recommendation, the issue advanced to a public hearing — held on April 12 — and a possible council vote to adopt the proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance. That vote is now set for the council’s regular meeting, on Friday, April 23.
Proponents favor mini-golf’s return
The Board of Adjustments had heard input in favor of Captain Jack’s when the hearing on the issue was held last year. Many favored the notion as another way the town could live up to its family-friendly “Quiet Resorts” image, noting that they missed the courses the town used to offer.
That contingent was the only one present in the public sphere on April 12, with friends and associates of Schultze speaking vocally in favor of the project, while property owner Lois Lipsett offered general praise for the idea.
“I think it would be a wonderful addition to the town,” said resident of Joan Thomas, who identified herself as a friend of Schultze. “As a parent and grandparent, I look forward to using it. We don’t have many things in town for kids, except for food and the beach,” she added.
Rick Schoellkopf, who said he had become acquainted with Schultze through her research on the project, noted he has some 40 years of experience in the mini-golf industry and praised Schultze’s efforts at researching “all the best builders” for what he said was “a wonderful job.” He predicted Captain Jack’s would be “fun” and “spectacular” when completed.
Attempting to assuage concerns about any problem clientele, Schoellkopf said he believed the businesses’ customers would be families and grandparents with grandchildren. Some understanding of that was lacking from opponents, he said.
“I wish the people who are not happy with this would just go play a round of golf on our course, or go and watch people play,” Schoellkopf said, praising miniature golf as a low-cost activity that doesn’t require so much skill as remove the fun factor for young children. “This could be a real asset to the town,” he added.
Lipsett, who lives nearby, said she had made a point to go by the construction site every day and was amazed at the quality of the design and construction. “This is going to be a great addition,” she said, noting the she was already looking forward to walking past the working business and seeing families playing the course. “I think we need it,” she concluded.
Schultze herself emphasized the general appeal she’d tried to instill in the course, noting that the first nine holes will be handicapped-accessible and that miniature golf was simply a normal beach activity.
“I can’t think of a better activity in a town where families vacation together,” she said.
Late-night business a concern for councilman
The only voice of opposition at April 12’s hearing was Town Council Member Wayne Fuller, who cited concerns about late-night operations and safety.
Fuller said there had been some incidents of violence when the basketball court on property owned by the Bethany Beach Christian Church had been lighted at night. He said the court — being the only lighted one in the area — had drawn people from as far away as Seaford, and they’d been forced to remove the lighting after weapons had been produced in conjunction with those users of the court.
There had been no problems since, he said, supporting the curtailing of business at mini-golf courses after 9 p.m. and indicating his plan to vote against a use-by-right that might allow operations into the late evening.
Schultze said she felt Fuller’s concerns were misplaced. “Basketball at night appeals to an entirely different population,” she noted, adding that she’d found that children stay up later these days and that late-evening miniature golf could provide a safe, fun activity for families with children to do as the sunlight waned.
Mayor Carol Olmstead also said she felt the circumstances were not comparable, noting that — unlike the basketball court — the mini-golf business would be staffed during all hours of operation, with the ability for employees to ask disruptive people to leave the premises.
Outcome all but guaranteed
While Schultze and her supporters were the main voices to speak at the April 12 hearing on the proposed ordinance, the outcome of the planned April 23 vote by the council on that ordinance would not directly affect Schultze’s case.
Were the council to rule in favor of the change, it would only apply to future commercial plans that are brought to the town. Schultze’s plan is already in the pipeline, and would be dealt with under the appeal process in the state court system.
However, Eckrich told the Coastal Point that a positive council vote on April 23 could render the plaintiffs’ case in the appeal essentially moot.
Were the appeal to be sustained and the council to adopt the proposed ordinance, he said, Schultze could simply file a new application under the new ordinance, in which she would be guaranteed the use by right. If the appeal were to be denied, the ruling would sustain the Board of Adjustments’ original ruling for the special use, in Schultze’s favor, and allow her to continue work on the project unabated.
The only case in which work on the project might be halted would be in a double loss for Schultze — with a negative council vote and a ruling for the plaintiffs in the appeal.
Eckrich noted that Schultze had been exemplary in her efforts to work with the town on all concerns expressed and to develop the project in a way that both officials and neighbors could support.
Lighting and signage meet requirements
Those efforts included a meeting with the town’s Design Review Committee on April 13, in which members reviewed the proposed lighting and signage for Captain Jack’s.
The DRC was not truly designed for oversight of miniature golf businesses, having purview over the exterior of structures – of which there is only a small one on the property. Though specific provisions for mini-golf may come in the future, committee members previously approved the small sales building for the site, with room to host small parties upstairs.
Eckrich described the April 13 meeting on signage and lighting for the site as being scheduled “out of an abundance of caution” as the Planning Commission is considering a major overhaul of related ordinances but the project falls under existing, less exacting, controls.
The building inspector noted in his review of those plans that not a single light source was casting more than the permitted amount of light across the property’s boundaries. A few feet away from its edges, he said, most lights cast a mere 3 foot-candles or less of lighting — well within restrictions. Schultze said she’d had her lighting contractor re-do the plan about 10 times, to ensure no strong light would fall outside the property and bother neighbors.
The only strong lighting on the site is, in fact, over the surrounding sidewalk, which Eckrich said was of safety benefit to the town. There is no flashing or other attention-grabbing lighting on the plan. Lighted palm trees are included on the plan, but the LED bulbs used on the trees don’t even register on the foot-candle scale.
As far as signage, Schultze has planned a sign on the cave element planned for the course, with the additional available square footage under town code to be allotted to one or two signs on the sales structure. Schultze said she was looking at having that signage created with a logo of a skull and crossbones wherein the bones are replaced with golf clubs. The skull wears a pirate’s hat and eye patch, in keeping with the course’s theme.
Committee members approved the signage concept and left it to Eckrich to approve the signs that Schultze eventually supplies for the project.
On that subject, Eckrich noted that he had issued permits at the Connor property for two smaller signs to replace a larger sign that once hung over the larger liquor store space, as the space is reorganized to house two additional shops. The existing pole sign is to be redesigned but to remain, despite proposals to phase out all pole signs in the town within 10 years. Committee members indicated support for shortening that timetable further.
Eckrich also noted work on the previously approved Raskauskas property on Route 26, which now houses a relocated bicycle shop and a downsized beach supplies store. New lighting has yet to go up on the site, but signage is on the way and a fence is being replaced, he said.