14 - CAPE G ZETrE, Friday, February 23. February 29, 1996
Sussex Planners mull two projects at Rehoboth's front door
By Michael Short tion on properties in the Rehoboth velopment." County Planning and Zoning of- Granke said she hoped the plan-
Rehoboth Avenue Extended Beach zip code. Rehoboth Shoppes would be 1o- rice gave sketchy details of the hers would defer action temporar-
took center stage on Thursday,
Feb. 22 as Sussex County Plan-
ning and Zoning considered two
projects at the entrance to Re-
hoboth Beach.
The Planners were expected to
reconsider a request for a six-unit
motel proposed by Samir Ghabra
as well as a proposal for Rehoboth
Shoppes. Both are within site of
the turnoff from Rt. 1 as you ap-
proach the city.
Rehoboth officials have recent-
ly asked to work more closely
with Sussex County when it
comes to projects in the Rehoboth
Beach area. The Rehoboth Plan-
ning Commission already sent a
letter to county officials demand-
ing notice of applications for re-
zoning, site plan approvals or ac-
Lewes BPW
Continued from page 1
we're coping with a trusted, valu-
able employee who has undergone
a serious change in lifestyle. He's
an experienced individual who
has exercised experienced and
wise judgement in the past in
dealing with high voltage. When
facts and data about the matter be-
come available, we will deal with
them at that time. But now we
have an all-consuming concern
with the care of Dave Pavlik and
his family," said Hood.
BPW member Mike Hill said he
expects Pavlik to continue super-
vising a reconfiguration project
that is converting the capacity of
Lewes's electric lines from 4,160
volts to 12,000 volts. "Dave's just
as valuable to us now as ever,"
said Hill. "He's very much need-
ed and we want him back as soon
as possible."
Donovan said he plans to pre-
sent to BPW members safety pro-
cedures presently in place and rec-
ommendations for anything else
he feels should be done. Donovan
said he has met with other Board
of Public Works linemen - "three,
four, five times" - since the acci-
dent to discuss safety and other
matters. He added that the acci-
dent involving Dave Pavlik is still
under investigation and that safety
procedures being" followed at the
time remain to be seen. (The
Board of Public Works Electric
Department, said Donovan, fol-
lows recommendations as out-
lined in a book put out by the
American Public Power Associa-
tion.)
Pavlik, 36, was up in a utility
truck bucket trying to rectify an
imbalance in electricity going out
over three wires on a power pole
at the time of the accident. It's be-
lieved that he received a jolt of
electricity in excess of 4,000 volts
when he came into contact with
two of the wires.
He was flown from Beebe Med-
ical Center by helicopter to the
burn treatment center at Crozer-
Chester Medical Center in Up-
Officials mentioned Rehoboth's
current efforts to develop a long-
range plan as one of the reasons
for better communication between
the city and Sussex County. Fol-
lowing that letter, a second letter
was sent on Feb. 20.
That letter from Rehoboth Plan-
ning Commission Chairperson
Mary Campbell suggested that the
six-unit motel proposal be re-
duced in scope. "The size, config-
uration and location at an already
heavily trafficked and dangerous
intersection place constraints on
the development of this land," ac-
cording to the letter. "In view of
the above considerations the Plan-
ning Commission would suggest
if approval is granted that it be for
a four-unit rather than six-unit de-
land, Pa. where he continues to be
treated. Hospital officials report-
ed his condition as "stable" on
Wednesday, Feb. 21. Sources
close to the Pavlik family said the
burns to his arms were so severe
that his hands and a portion of his
arms below his elbows were re-
moved by surgeons at Crozer-
Chester. He is in a daily program
of therapy and his arms are being
prepared for prosthetic devices to
replace and provide as much man-
ual dexterity as possible under the
circumstances.
Donovan said Workers' Com-
pensation and other insurance pro-
grams are covering all of Pavlik's
salary and health care costs at this
time. There has also been an out-
pouring of help for his family and
collections are being taken up in a
variety of places by people con-
cerned about helping in any way
possible.
The reconfiguration program
for the Lewes power system
Pavlik has been supervising -
which had nothing to -do with the
accident - is a five year, $4,
070,000 project scheduled for
completion in 1999. Pavlik, ac-
cording to Donovan, prepared the
plan for the reconfiguration and
with his line crew was well into
the process of hanging new wires
and doing other tasks related to
the reconfiguration.
A consulting firm estimated the-
cost of the reconfiguration at $6.8
million several years ago, accord-
ing to Mike Hill. Lewes Board of
Public Works expects to save mil-
lions of dollars by having the pro-
ject done by its own crew and ex-
pects to save close to $100,000
per year in reduced line loss be-
cause the 12,000 volt system will
be so much more efficient than the
existing 4,160 volt configuration.
Maintenance of the system is also
expected to cost less because two
of the town's existing four substa-
tions should no longer be neces-
sary following reconfiguration.
"David knows how to do what
has to be done and he knows
where we're going," said Hill.
"There's no doubt in my mind he
will continue to supervise this
project."
cated on Rehoboth Avenue Ex-
tended and Rt. 1 next to the Sus-
sex Family YMCA at the location
of the former Frances Ann Motel.
The burned motel property was
recently purchased by Frank and
Michael Vasilikos, who also own
the Sand Palace Motel in Dewey
Beach.
Plans on file with the Sussex
Rehoboth Shoppes project. But
they said the project calls for
11,800 square feet of retail store
space on 1.33 acres of land and
would include 65 parking spaces.
The plans did not mention a spe-
cific number of shops. The plans
show an entrance and exit to the
property from Rt. 1.
Rehoboth Planner Mabel
ily on the project Thursday. "You
don't permit or go ahead with
something until you have all the
'comments from agencies and in
this case, from the city."
Granke said on Wednesday that
she supported deferring the pro-
ject in order to examine the en-
trance design and make sure safe-
ty is considered.
Sussex Lan 2 Use Plan staggers off to slow start
Sussex County's efforts to de-
velop a comprehensive land use
plan got off to anything but a ro-
bust beginning Wednesday.
The first of four workshops to
help develop such a plan drew an
audience of perhaps 30 people to
Del Tech in Georgetown. "We
were hoping for 200," said County
Administrator Bob Stickels.
County officials were reduced
to urging the audience to pick up
extra copies of questionairres and
tell their friends and neighbors.
County Consultant Tom Shafer
pledged to take the process on the
road to whoever will listenmto
groups ranging from the inland
bays to the grange. "We are still
going to try to reach out and get as
many people as we can."
Although the turnout was light,
the stakes are huge. By the end of
the year, Sussex County is re-
quired to have a comprehensive
land use plan. That plan will con-
sider everything from transporta-
tion to zoning issues. Required by
state law, the plan will not be a pa-
per tiger, according to Sharer.
That separates this plan from
previous efforts which were con-
sidered guides. The plan is expect-
ed to consider a diverse range of
topics, including mobile homes,
farmland preservation, transporta-
tion, zoning, growth, infrastruc-
ture and sewer needs.
The plan is also expected to
bring together the two existing
county land use plans, effectively
bridging the differences between
the western and coastal plans.
Members of the audience were
asked to fill out a questionnaire.
After an introduction, county offi-
cials and planners broke into five
groups and fielded questions and
comments. The groups were: in-
frastructure, transportation, zon-
ing and housing, agriculture and
economic development.
This was only the first of four
such workshops and additional
public meetings are expected to be
held later this year.
Stickels said one of the most in-
teresting issues is likely to be that
of manufactured housing and
whether mobile homes can be
placed in residential areas like any
other type of housing. But the
housing has changed and mem-
bers of County Council were plan-
ning to tour a Skyline Home plant
in Pennyslvania on Thursday.
Stickels said Sussex will be
looking at items like the pitch of a
home's roof in determing poten-
tial standards for Sussex County.
The seven page questionnaire
asks people to rate issues by im-
portance. Sample issues include:
building new roads to keep up
with growth, ways to preserve
farms, establishing passenger rail
service, upgrading hurricane
evacuation routes, where sewer
districts should be created, eco-
nomic development priorities,
whether property assessments and
taxes should be determined by
zoning category and not land use
and how affordable housing can
be provided in Sussex.
The schedule for the remaining
three workshops (all are from 7 to
9 p.m.) is Rehoboth Beach Con-
vention Center on March 7,
Seaford Municipal Banquet Hail
on March 20 and Del Tech (High-
er Education Center) on March
27.
SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE. SOLD AS IS.
NOT RETURNABLE. CASH & CARRY.
Besche Bros.
Furniture
