Life in Bethany Beach is nearly back to normal after the May 12 nor’easter that severely damaged the town’s new dune and stripped away a widened stretch of beach. Town Manager Cliff Graviet reported at the town’s June 20 council meeting that work to restore the hard-packed dune crossings was to begin on June 23, after getting a go-ahead from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractors on the joint federal-state project.
Graviet noted that the tide pools created by the storm between the crest of the beach and the foot of the dune had not be filled in, per a mandate from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, with expectations that natural processes will smooth the beach out over time. Some of the wayward sand can be seen in sandbars just off the town’s shoreline, while more is still sitting off Sea Colony and South Bethany.
ERM — the same contractor engaged by the Corps to restore the dune crossings and missing dune fencing — is also being engaged by the town to perform enhancements to the land side of the dune, as well as to work on the “bump-outs” at the top of the dunes on all streets adjacent to the boardwalk.
Other dune crossings already have those bump-outs, and the town now plans to place benches in the bump-outs that will serve as a resting point and viewing spot for beach-goers.
Since the start of the season, the town has had a number of beach-goers planting their chairs atop the dune crests in the walkways — a statement of need for a closer-in vantage point of the water that the town has heeded with its new plan for the benches.
However, once those benches are in place, the town plans to put an end to anyone setting up chairs or beach blankets inside the crossings, to avoid hindering movement to and from the beach. They will have to use the benches instead, or head onto the beach itself.
Graviet noted last Friday that ERM representatives had told the town they would prefer to do the two sets of work — for the town and the Corps — concurrently. But that prospect was rejected by the Corps, which told ERM it wanted its portion of the project completed before any work for the town is begun.
The timetable for restoration of the dune crossings now lists a completion date prior to July 4, when the town will host its annual Fourth of July parade, concert and beach-front fireworks display. Graviet said that completion deadline for the intermediate fixes has been assured by all involved in the restoration.
Visits to the town and its beach are believed to be up over last year, Graviet reported on June 20, citing traditional measurements of parking, trolley and water usage.
Trolley ridership is up 10 to 11 percent above the rate in 2007, with parking at a similar rate as last year. Graviet said he and other town staff felt the weekdays so far in the 2008 summer season may have been a little slower than usual, but a big Memorial Day weekend had offset that.
The town’s year-to-date revenue and expenditures are very similar to those in 2007, according to Council Member Jerry Dorfman. The town had collected 43.6 percent of its projected annual revenue between April 1 and May 31, compared to 44.7 percent in 2007. It has spent some 13.3 percent of its planned expenditures for the fiscal year, compared to 13.9 percent in 2007. The town’s revenue is exceeding its expenditures thus far in the fiscal year.
No changes to Route 26 traffic anticipated
After discussing during their May workshop ways in which the town might work with state agencies and neighboring Ocean View to help reduce westbound traffic backups from Route 26 into Bethany Beach and even onto Route 1, council members were clearly disappointed on June 20 to be told that all response from Ocean View officials had been in opposition to any changes to the traffic light system at West and Central avenues.
Mayor Carol Olmstead said she was told that the Ocean View Town Council still supported the way the two lights are laid out and timed, as they were designed to reduce accidents in the area and reportedly have done so.
Graviet again noted that state transportation officials had told him that no changes to the light system were likely to be made without the support of Ocean View.
With that being the case, Graviet said he did not expect the council’s hoped-for course of action — official correspondence on the matter between the Bethany and Ocean View police and Delaware State police — to be pursued.
Councilman Tracy Mulligan said he would still like to see the issue pursued with state agencies in time for some kind of change to be made for the summer of 2009.
“The time for this has come — has passed,” Mulligan emphasized.
Graviet said he would recommend the Bethany Beach and Ocean View town council meet together to discuss the issue.
“We’d have to convince Ocean View that it’s in the best interests of Ocean View,” commented Council Member Steve Wode, who owns property in both towns.
Council updates code on non-conformity
The council adopted a number of ordinance amendments during their June 20 meeting, including a revised ordinance on non-conforming uses, structures and lots that generated extensive discussion as Wode went through individual elements of the ordinance that would apply to existing non-conforming duplexes.
Wode said he favored tailoring the ordinance in a way that would support the continued existence of a variety of types of structures in the town, including the duplexes, which can no longer be constructed under town code. He said he wanted to be sure such provisions were actually in the amended code.
The code, Planning Commission Chairman Lew Killmer has emphasized, is intended to not encourage non-conforming elements to remain over time. But controversy over the changes has focused on whether older, historical or traditional styles of Bethany Beach homes would be permitted to be maintained and repaired, or even upgraded.
Council Member Bob Parsons offered an amendment to the proposed legislation last Friday, suggesting that the council’s statement of legislative intent be reworded to state that the council would “not encourage the survival” of other non-conforming structures/uses but would “neither encourage nor discourage the survival” of non-conforming duplexes.
The code changes behind those words allow the expansion of existing duplexes up to the lot’s setbacks and the town’s standard lot coverage limit of 40 percent, permitting owners of existing duplexes to expand them and, likely, obtain the benefit of a larger dwelling space without razing the structure in favor of a traditional single-family dwelling.
The ordinance also permits existing guest homes in garages to remain but would allow only the primary house on such a lot to be expanded. The garage apartments could be made no larger, and the lot coverage limit would remain in force. Non-conforming lots that are lots of record in the town will also remain buildable lots of record.
The council unanimously agreed to Parsons’ change in wording for the legislative intent. But Wode voted in opposition to the adoption of the ordinance as a whole in the first vote by the council last Friday, saying he still had additional questions he wanted answered, though Olmstead had called for the vote after extensive discussion on a series of Wode’s questions.
Permitted to complete his questions, Wode again voted against adoption of the changes to the code on non-conforming uses, structures and lots. It was adopted on the 6-1 vote.
The council voted unanimously on June 20 to adopt an updated official zoning map, which now includes the new Municipal, Open space, Recreational and Educational (MORE) district and the new R1B residential district for the Sea Villas. An official copy of the map will be maintained at town hall, with duplicates added to the town’s comprehensive plan and made available to the public.
Another unanimous vote last Friday made changes to the town’s requirements for street ends, opening up the options from a cul-de-sac to include a fire marshal-approved T-shaped street end and other designs.
Voters to get election instructions by mail
Bethany Beach voters received instructions from the town on its new voting procedure last summer, prior to the September 2007 council elections. That mailing came as a result of major changes to election rules as mandated in state law adopted in 2006.
The effort left Mulligan supporting the town continuing such work to inform its eligible voters, so on June 20 he proposed that the council include provisions for such a mailing to take place every year – including a list of council candidates and being mailed just after that list was finalized, each July.
Other council members said they were concerned about whether the potential benefit of such a mailing was worth the effort and cost. The council had not fully supported the mailing in 2007, and no appreciable increase in turn-out was noted in 2007’s elections, despite emphasis by the town that non-resident property owners are eligible to vote in Bethany Beach.
Mulligan, however, said he felt that an ongoing outreach effort might, over time, improve voter turnout.
Dorfman pointed out that the town had also included the voting information in its newsletter last year, again without significant impact on turnout.
“Many non-residents don’t vote,” he said, “even if they know they can vote.” He asked whether the town would really find sufficient value for the approximately $2,500 the mailing would cost it.
“The cost is minimal compared to the available budget,” Mulligan countered, “and other things the town council has approved.”
“We should do everything we can do to keep people informed,” added Parsons. “What they do with the information is up to them.”
The council voted to send the mailings this year, with the impact of the mailing to be judged after the elections. A second vote unanimously assured the continuation of the program through 2010, with its long-term fate to be determined after an evaluation done after that year’s elections.
Mulligan said he would have a draft of the mailing ready for town staff on July 18, in time for a list of candidates to be added after the 4 p.m. candidate filing deadline on July 22. This year’s council elections are set for Saturday, Sept. 6, from noon to 6 p.m. at the town hall. Four council seats, each with a two-year term, are up for election.
Property owners in the town, regardless of where they reside, are not required to register to vote. Residents who are not property owners must register by Aug. 6 to vote this year. Registration for state or other area elections does not qualify those non-owner residents to vote in Bethany Beach.
Also on June 20:
• The council unanimously approved a contract for $28,474 for a 2008 GMC Sierra work truck for the public works department. The truck will replace an older truck, and the expenditure had already been planned in the town’s budget.
• Council members also unanimously approved $12,499.92 to be spent on the continuation of its phragmites control program on the former Natter property — now the Bethany Beach Nature Center — by sole-source contractors Envirotech. Graviet noted that the bulk of the invasive reeds have been eradicated by Envirotech but that a two-year program of maintenance was needed, the first year of which was covered by the approved figure.
• Council members approved further appointment of Charles McMullen and Harvey Leighty as aldermen for the town. The appointments are sent each year to the governor for her approval. McMullen is also the building and administrative official for the Town of Ocean View.