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10 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, June 7 - June 13, 1996
Hyde, Kane board shoe-ins; Cooper to face Bahan in Rehoboth
By Trish Vernon
All attention will be focused on the may-
oral race in Rehoboth Beach this summer,
as only two candidates, incumbent Jack
Hyde and Betty Ann Kane, filed petitions
by the June 1 deadline for the two commis-
sioners seats up for election Aug. 10. The
only names that will be on the ballot now
are those of incumbent Mayor Sam Cooper
and his challenger, Bill Bahan.
There was no election three years ago,
when the candidacies of Cooper, Hyde and
incumbent Commissioner Jack Salin went
uncontested. However, there was general
surprise expressed that Kane would take
over the reins from Salin, who declined to
seek re-election due to recent health prob-
lems, without a fight.
"I guess I laid the groundwork last year,"
said Kane earlier this week, of her unsuc-
cessful campaign for a seat on the board in
1995. "I had all my T-shirts, posters and
signs ready to go."
In a hard-fought election last summer,
Kane came in a healthy third in a field of
five candidates for
two open seats. Since
then, she was appoint-
ed to the Rehoboth
Beach Planning Com-
mission and was high-
ly favored in many
circles to win a seat
this summer. This
will be the In'st time in
the city's history that HYDE
three women will be
serving on the seven-person board at one
time, as Kane will join Jan Konesey and
Bitsy Cochran.
Kane is a resident of Washington, D.C.,
who heads up Betty Ann Kane and Compa-
ny, specializing in government and commu-
nity relations. She has owned a second
home in Rehoboth Beach since 1988.
Local barber Jim Burdette, who also ran
unsuccessfully last year, picked up a peti-
tion but never filed it.
This is the second time in a row that
Hyde has been maintained his seat without
opposition and will be
serving his fourth
term of office. An at-
torney with a private
practice in the Re-
hoboth Beach area, he
has served as vice
mayor for the past
four years, chairing
the Personnel Com-
mittee and sitting on KANE
the Street and Light
Committee.
"The voters must think we're doing a
pretty good job," Hyde said of his lack of
opposition.
Cooper won't be afforded the same ease
at retaining his seat. Bahan, a permanent
resident of Rehoboth Beach since 1991,
said when he filed May 1 that he has re-
ceived a lot of encouragement from a num-
ber of people who would like to see a
change of command.
Bahan, who is retired after 35 years of
employment in the computer industry, be-
lieves he can bring potent organizational
skills and new leadership to the mayor's
post.
A member of the Rehoboth Beach Board
of Adjustment and Cable Television Com-
mittee, Bahan served on the Long Range
Plan Committee and the group that fash-
ioned the newly-implemented residential
parking permit system.
Cooper, who served eight years on the
board before being elected mayor six years
ago, is a Rehoboth Beach native with an en-
gineering background who now operates
family rental units and is a partner with his
cousin in a Dewey Beach motel.
Standing on his record, Cooper said it is
his concern that city government remain
above board and not be run from the back
room that leads him to seek re-election.
The deadline for voter registration is Fri-
day, June 14. In order to be eligible, one
must be a permanent resident of the city, a
property owner or leaseholder of record and
at least 18 years old. Absentee ballots will
be available beginning Thursday, June 27.
Rehoboth Main Street seeks ban on commercial "garage" doors
Burnell hired as first
program director
By Trish Vernon
The fledgling Rehoboth Main
Street continued to make strides at
its May 5 meeting, as it introduced
its first program director, Ann
Marie DelleDonne Burnell, and
decided to back a concerted effort
to ban the installation of any more
roll up garage doors in all com-
mercial areas except the Board-
walk.
Main Street President Kathy
Kramedas came before the Re-
hoboth Beach Board of Commis-
sioners at the June 3 "listening
post," requesting the city place a
moratorium on replacing conven-
tional storefronts with roll up
doors.
Noting that one T-shirt shop on
Rehoboth Avenue has installed
such doors and others may soon
follow, Kramedas said, "I'm not
sure they fit into the ambiance and
charm of Rehoboth Beach." She
told them that National Main
Street is sending her guidelines
for possible ordinances the city
could enact prohibiting such
doors, with Commissioner Bitsy
Cochran calling the new trend in
doorways "scary".
At the June 5 Main Street meet-
ing, the matter was broached
again, with Kramedas noting that
the city is hesitant in imposing
Rehoboth Long Range Plan
goes to public hearing June 24
By Trish Vernon
The public will have a final
chance to comment on the pro-
posed Long Range Plan for Re-
hoboth Beach during a public
hearing set for 7 to 9 p.m., Mon-
day, June 24. There's a distinct
possibility that the plan will be
adopted the same evening, al-
though it may end up on the agen-
da for the regular Friday, July 12
meeting instead.
Despite the fact that the Re-
hoboth Beach Planning Commis-
sion held three public hearings on
the plan, which has been in the
works since 1993, it was decided
at a May 3 meeting devoted to dis-
cussion of the Long Range Plan
that another hearing be held.
Planning member Betty Ann
Kane gave the board an overview
on May 3 of the work the commis-
sion has accomplished before for-
warding the final draft to the
board in November of last year.
"The Planners believe that they
have completed their task, which
ends with the board adopting the
plan that would serve to guide the
city in a consistent and focused
manner in the future," a charge
approved by the board in Decem-
ber of 1992.
With the guidance of profes-
sional planner Bruce Galloway,
the study committee fashioned a
plan which has been fine-tuned by
the Planning Commission and
considers short term, intermediate
and long term goals in terms of the
oceanfront, business district, resi-
dential areas, outlying areas, etc.
The final version features a va-
riety of action plans under each
targeted area's vision, which are
proposals by the Planners on how
the visions can be implemented.
With the passage of the plan, it
Continued on page II
moratoriums except in the case of
an emergency. But during the
June 3 meeting, Commissioner
Rich Sargent said that businesses
could be put on notice that if they
do impose an ordinance banning
the doors, the city could forego
the grandfather clause for doors
already in place, which may dis-
suade them from installing them
before an ordinance can be enact-
ed.
Cochran has also suggested that
merchants could be forced to re-
move any such doors after five
years.
At the June 3 meeting, Commis-
sioner Jack Hyde suggested that
rather than enacting a ban of the
doors due to aesthetic reasons, the
board could cite concerns with the
health, safety and welfare of the
public, as it would be difficult for
firefighters and police to see if
there are problems within of there
is a solid doorfront when the busi-
ness is closed.
During the Main Street meeting,
Kramedas said that other mer-
chants have voiced concern over
these doors, and a committee was
formed whose mission it is to en-
sure the city adopts new guide-
lines.
This committee is headed by
Frank Grossi,
owner of
Bayside
Builders, who
was appoint-
ed that
evening as
the new
chairman of
the Design
Committee, GROSSI
replacing
Wayne Sharp. He is being assist-
ed by Cochran and former city
commissioner Dick Darley, who
was also appointed that evening to
fill the position of the recently re-
signed Irene Simpler as historian.
The committee plans to urge
Mayor Sam Cooper to request that
City Solicitor Walk Speakman be
given the National Main Street's
guidelines for a proposed ordi-
nance and perhaps fashion one for
Rehoboth Beach Commissioners
to consider at the regular monthly
meeting on Friday, June 14.
Contacted June 5, Building In-
specter Susan Frederick said she
is of the understanding that a par-
ticular T-shirt store in the first
block of Rehoboth Avenue is
planning to follow the lead of a T-
shirt store across the street which
installed the roll up door. She has
yet to receive a request for a per-
mit to have the door installed and
said she will consult with the
mayor and Speakman before issu-
ing the permit.
"I own the building where
Thrasber's is and I've told them I
wouldn't raise their rent if they
make sure their store doesn't look
like it's closed in the off-season,"
advised Main Street member Jeff
Zerby, of possible incentives to
stave off the trend toward roll up
doors.
Burnell, who officially takes on
the role of
program di-
rector on June
17, will be
working out
of the old Re-
hoboth park-
ing meter de-
partment at
city hall,
which had
BLL
housed the
now defunct Rehoboth Downtown
Business Association.
A Rehoboth Beach native, Bur-
nell is a 1985 graduate of Cape
Henlopen High School and a 1989
graduate of Marymount College
in Arlington, Va., with a bachelor
of science degree in interior de-
sign and marketing. Until a year
ago, she spent the past six years in
Philadelphia working for a man-
agement training and consulting
firm, coordinating training pro-
grams.
"My husband and I decided to
move to the Rehoboth area perma-
nently a year ago," Burnell said,
adding she has been employed
most recently at Creative Con-
cepts. "I'm very excited about
taking on this Rehoboth Main
Street position and I look forward
to the challenges ahead," Burnell
said.
Expressing his embarrassment,
Main Street secretary Martin Dus-
biber apologized that evening for
not sending the Rehoboth Beach-
Dewey Beach Chamber of Com-
merce a response concerning the
request to place an information
kiosk near the Boardwalk on Re-
hoboth Avenue.
Chamber representatives had
come before the board of commis-
sioners this spring seeking ap-
proval for the kiosk and were in-
formed to go before Main Street
for input before a decision would
be make.
While Main Street officials said
they still had concerns and ques-
tions upon presentation of the lat-
est information the Chamber
passed along, they admitted to
dropping the ball in the correspon-
dence over the matter.
"I take the blame," Dusbiber
said, explaining that Main Street
members were asked for their in-
put, which was faxed to him by
Kramedas and Main Street mem-
ber Bill Richardson. Dusbiber
promptly filed the information,
unaware it was his responsibility
to relate it to the chamber.
It was the latest chamber
newsletter update on the kiosks
that brought the gaff to their atten-
tion, "and we can't sweep it under
the rug," Dusbiber said. "We will
send a letter with our remaining
questions and concerns."
However, both Cochran and
Main Street member Dennis Diehl
both believe it is basically a "dead
issue" for the summer of 1996,
due to time constraints.
Continued on page 11
