The Bethany Beach Town Council met Monday, Dec. 17, in a workshop to discuss future developments through town, concerning water issues and spending, as well as the status of the former Christian Church/Neff property.
“There are three particular items that we need to take a look at concerning our future finances,” said Councilman Joe Healy, a semi-retired accountant. “The first are the normal capital purchases, which includes approved purchases and upkeep, such as police cars, the trolley and things like that, which fall under the normal course of what we do.
“The second issue,” he said, “falls under longer-term items, such as the Church/Neff property and things like that. The real issue comes down to the third: infrastructure items, which includes the water plant and Pennsylvania Avenue.”
The timing on these items is critical, he said. “It’s also important that we give some direction to the budget financial committee so that they’re able to start to look at what funding we can get into place.”
“The pipes under the streets are broken or need repair, and that would help alleviate water damage. We need to figure out when we could start this project,” Healy said, adding “There are other stormwater projects out there that we need to be aware of and maybe start taking a closer look at.”
Town Manager Cliff Graviet said he hopes to reformat the town’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee to advance on the stormwater and water project issues. The dilemma with most of the concerns comes down to financing.
“These are topics that could go back to the state level,” said Graviet. “We’ve never made this sort of initiative in the past. We took responsibility for Pennsylvania Avenue from the state, and maybe we should go back to see what they might be able to do to help.
“The pipes under Pennsylvania Avenue have been the way they are for a decade,” Graviet noted. “Once we can receive help from the state, we can look then at our funding and where things are on our priority list.”
As for the water tower, “One of the things that was brought to our attention was the responsibility of filtering and changing the medium of the filter to something newer and high-tech, which will make the need for a water tower less dramatic,” Graviet said. “We can replace the current filter with in-kind medium for about $200,000. We can upgrade the filter for approximately $1.2 million to a membrane-type system.
“This will kill the immediate need for a water tower and improve our business practices,” the town manager pointed out. “This will allow us to gain interconnectivity to surrounding communities because we would no longer need to treat our water the way we need to now.”
Problems with contaminants arising due to interaction between the town’s former chlorine water treatment system and its water supply forced it to switch to a chloramine-based treatment system, which could make it unacceptable for interconnection to towns that previously had an arrangement with Bethany.
Graviet suggested that more analysis be taken before appropriating funding for these projects. Further action toward addressing the town’s water management issues will be discussed at the town’s January council meeting.
The town manager continued with a presentation of the current status of the former Church/Neff property, sitting just northwest of Garfield Parkway and Coastal Highway.
For some time after the town acquired it, the property has sat undeveloped, though new proposals for action were presented in hopes of transforming the area into an accommodating park, through a gradual process Graviet had previously proposed to the council.
“I think what we need to do is go through some mild enhancements of the property,” said Graviet. “We should go through the property with an arborist and remove what he refers to as ‘junk trees,’ ones that are impacting the growth of more desirable trees and allow the sunlight get through the property.”
Another idea Graviet mentioned is raising the soil level on the property to help improve aesthetics.
“We can’t do anything in terms of filling the property unless we do it very slowly. The soil level can’t increase more than and inch and a half to two inches a year without killing the trees. Any filling of this property that will bring it up to a level where we can utilize it more is going to take time.”
Graviet further suggested, pending the water system status of the town, that a water fixture of some sort be considered as a centerpiece for the town. Council agreed that, presently, little can be done on the project due to improvements already planned to take place there and ongoing financial restrictions. But they voted to have minor improvements begin throughout the property.