CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, May 30 - June 5, 1997 o 17
Auction brings $178,500 for Lewes deepwater docks
By Dennis Forney
Five deepwater docks and a par-
cel of Open Space-zoned land
along Lewes's fabled canal bank
Dockhouses
Continued from page 1
houses or support houses in the
land zoned open space along Pi-
lottown Rd.
Members of the committee, in-
cluding Pratt, Cliff Diver, City
Solicitor Tempe Steen, Bisbee and
Building Inspector Bill Massey
have been meeting for two years.
Their job is to rewrite the town's
zoning laws to conform to the
Long Range Plan adopted by the
town over two years ago. At a
previous meeting when the open
space zoning was discussed,
members agreed that gazebos,
dock houses and support houses
should no longer be permitted us-
es in lands zoned open space.
The issue arose a number of
months ago when permits were is-
sued for new dockhouses that
were built on land along the canal,
though attached to docks. Pratt
said that up until the late 1980s,
the state allowed construction of
dock houses and gazebos on
docks over water and over the past
several decades there have been
numerous dockhouses built along
the canal in Lewes over the water.
However following a controver-
sy that arose in Oak Orchard in the
late 1980s, the state passed new
regulations prohibiting the con-
struction of dockhouses or gaze-
bos or other related structures
above subaqueous lands con-
trolled by the state. That meant
new dockhouses had to be built on
land adjacent to docks.
Lewes law permits such struc-
tures in open space as long as they
are part of a dock. However with
new structures being built over the
actual land, questions began to
arise over whether they were com-
patible with the spirit of Lewes's
Open Space zoning. Discussion at
previous committee meetings also
centered on the question of just
how far up the canal bank a struc-
ture could be built if it were at-
tached by a boardwalk to the
dock.
Fences also discussed
The committee also discussed
fences along the canal's Open
Space lands and how to address
concerns that fences could eventu-
ally block all view of the canal to
travelers on Pilottown Road.
Committee members discussed
placing a limit on the percentage
of coverage of a fence and plan to
include that in their final zoning
recommendations.
If the moratorium proposal is
passed by Lewes Council, Pratt
said it could head off a rush of ap-
plications for permits by those
concerned about the proposed
zoning change. Pratt mentioned
the recent auction of five deepwa-
ter docks on Pilottown Road at the
drew a high bid of $178,500 from
Randall Rollins of Lewes and At-
lanta, Georgia in an auction held
Saturday, May 24.
made him think about the need for
a moratorium. He held up a poster
for the auction which noted that
the property held the potential for
a dockhouse. "I'm not sure this is
the message we want to be getting
out there," said Pratt. He said
that's why he was suggesting a
letter to Mayor George Smith.re-
questing the moratorium.
If passed, the moratorium could
hold until October which commit-
tee members felt might be the ear-
liest opportunity for passage of
new zoning for Lewes.
"I think about 98 percent of our
work on converting the Long
Range Plan to new zoning is com-
plete," said Pratt. "After a couple
more meetings I think we'll be
ready for a public workshop on
the proposed new zoning which
would be an interactive session
when the people of town could
comment on the work we've done.
Then based on that meeting, prob-
ably in August, we could make
any changes we feel are necessary
before sending the document on to
Lewes Council for setting a for-
mal public hearing in September
followed by a possible final vote
in October."
Two concerns deferred
Two zoning concerns raised by
citizens at the Wednesday, May
28 meeting and at a previous
meeting were deferred following
some discussion. Lewes Beach
resident Tom Fiore presented a
letter with a number of signatures
asking the zoning drafting com-
mittee to consider rezoning the
200 and 300 blocks of Savannah
Rd. on Lewes Beach from R-2
residential to a commercial/resi-
dential mixed use zone. "We
think that would be more consis-
tent with what's in that area now,"
said Fiore.
And there was also some dis-
cussion about a letter sent from
Mike Tyler, innkeeper of the Wild
Swan Inn, regarding laws regulat-
ing bed and breakfasts in Lewes.
Tyler questioned whether changes
in bed and breakfast regulations
should be addressed in the zoning
changes being considered by the
committee.
Cliff Diver, who served as co-
chairman of the Long Range Plan
implementation committee, said
the ad hoc committee's job was to
simply codify the work presented
by the Long Range Plan commit-
tee. "It's not our job to change
what that committee presented to
us," said Diver. "There will be
plenty of time after the zoning is
passed to come back and fine tune
and make changes through the
normal process."
Pratt concurred. "We take up
matters like that every month at
Lewes Council meetings," said
Pratt. "Our goal now is to get this
new zoning passed so we can start
"There's no better town than
Lewes for an auction," said auc-
tioneer Butch Emmert who con-
ducted the bidding. "Lewes loves
an auction and people always
come out. They're interested and
they bid."
Emmert said the auction drew
about 150 people with at least sev-
en bidders. "It was a who's who
of Lower Delawareans. We also
had several offers that came in the
day before the sale."
Emmert said the bidding started
out at about $100,000 and went up
quickly from there.
"I was very pleased with the re-
suit. I think the sale held up
Lewes's values. We really didn't
come out too far below the prop-
erty's listed price of a little under
$200,000."
The property with its five deep-
water docks was owned by Rick
Mazol of Frederica who owns
RAM Construction Company."
RAM specializes in marine work
including docks and also builds
bridges, often for the state.
Continued on page 18
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