16 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, August I - August 7, 1997
Lewes board approves Medical Arts Building height variance
By Dennis Forney
Members of the Lewes Board of
Adjustment unanimously ap-
proved a 15 foot height variance
for the proposed Lewes Medical
Arts Building following a hearing
on Tuesday, July 29.
The 55 foot tall building, which
will replace the existing Edgehill
Drugs store on Savannah Road
next to Beebe Medical Center,
will include a new and larger
Edgehill Drugs as well as several
medical offices. Beebe Medical
Center officials say there is al-
ready a demand for the offices
which will be located adjacent to
the medical facility.
Preston Dyer of Ed Med Proper-
ties L.L.C., the subsidiary of
Edgehill Drugs which is develop-
ing the Medical Arts Building,
said the variance approval means
final planning can begin for con-
struction of the 36,000 square foot
building. "I'd say the new build-
ing will be up within a year," said
Dyer following the hearing. "It
will go up behind the existing
drug store which will then be
razed to make way for a streetside
parking lot."
A two story parking garage will
also be built behind the new three
story building to serve the medical
offices. During the hearing for the
height variance, which drew no
comments from the public, Dyer
noted that the
most visible
horizontal
line along the
top of the
building will
be at a height
of 43 and a
half feet.
"The gables
added at the DYER
suggestion of
and the parapet that are above the
40 foot limit are similar features
to chimneys and spires."
He noted further that the new
building will be the first building
of the medical complex seen by
people coming in town on Savan-
nah Road and that it would pre-
sent a pleasing appearance which
would also block view of the
parking garage serving the med-
ical center.
Cupp cites convenience
In voting for the variance,
Board of Adjustment chairman
Harvey Cupp noted that Edgehill
Drugs is the sole facility of its
type in Lewes for the elderly pop-
the Commercial Architecture Re- ulation. "And we are increasing,"
view Commission (GARC)to
make the building fit in better aes-
thetically with the community are
what take the height to 55 feet.
The extra height does nothing to
add to the usable interior space of
the building."
Dyer also noted that the zoning
ordinance allows certain architec-
tural features such as chimneys
and spires to go above the C-2
zone's 40 foot height limit. "And
it could be argued that the gables
he said. "Without this drug store
we'd have to go out on Route 1.
Hopefully by allowing this ex-
panded facility it will help with
procurement of health-related
items like stools for bathing and
rails. It will be closer than the
Love Creek store where people
have to go now for those types of
items. The building will also be a
better looking view than the park-
ing garage."
'q'his project started out within
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This artist's rendering shows the front of the new EdgehiI!
Pharmacy and Lewes Medical Arts Building as it faces Savan-
nah Road.
the 40 foot height limit but was el-
evated at the request of CARC to
improve the appearance," said
Board of Adjustment member Joe
Stewart. 'laat helped create the
problem we're addressing today
and I see no reason for denying
this variance." Board member Bill
Stevenson noted that part of Ed
Med Properties's need for the
height variance relates to its at-
tempts to align its building, on a
bit of a hill, with the first floor of
adjacent Beebe Medical Center.
"That makes sense to me as do ef-
forts to incorporate this project in
with the Beebe complex. I think
the efforts to meet the height re-
quirements originally should be
recognized and agree that the pro-
ject will improve the streetseape.
So I support granting the variance
as well." The land where the
building will go up was zoned
Community Facilities District un-
til earlier this year when Lewes
Council approved a change of
zone to C-2 commercial which
members felt more accurately fit
the property.
Rehoboth
planners to
collaborate with state, UD on Long Range Plan
By Trish Vernon
Anxious to "get off the dime" and begin a
concerted effort to implement the Long
Range Plan adopted last year, the Rehoboth
Beach Planning Commission is calling on
professional planners to help them reach
their goal.
The planners have called a meeting for 7
p.m., Monday, Aug. 18, which they expect
members of the city's Board of Commis-
sioners to attend, so all may benefit from
the expertise of planners from the Universi-
ty of Delaware and the Office of State Plan-
ning Coordination.
Planning Chairperson Mary Campbell
wrote to Jerome Lewis, director of the uni-
versity's Institute for Public Administration
in June, seeking assistance in developing a
site plan approval process for the City of
Rehoboth Beach.
Lewis replied to Campbell that he dis-
cussed this request at length with his of-
rice's principal planner, Linda Raab, Re-
hoboth Planner Mable Granke and Director
of the Office of State Planning Coordina-
tion Dave Hugg. "We feel the best ap-
proach is to explore a variety of resources
that could be brought to bear in order to re-
solve the needs for site plan approval, as
well as consider the overall vision for the
future of the City of Rehoboth Beach," he
wrote.
The points they would like to explore in-
clude:
• A group facilitation process in which
they help bring to the table various interest
groups and official decision-making parties
in the city to develop a consensus approach
for site plan approval. They have profes-
sional facilitators on their staff who could
help with this process.
• Develop a task group which would
bring expertise from Hugg's and Lewis's
offices, as well as the Delaware Chapter of
American Planning Associations and other
towns in the state which have experience
with site plan approval.
• Work on an approach whereby his staff
and other experts could provide technical
advice to the planners which could be fur-
ther developed and written by the planners
themselves.
During the planners' July 30 meeting,
Campbell discussed Lewis's reply with fel-
low members, noting that there seems to be
interest in starting with the area around Bal-
timore, Maryland and Olive avenues.
have "derailed," due to the lack of a profes-
sional facilitator to keep them on track.
"Lewis said Rehoboth Beach is not a 'po-
dunk' city - it represents how many people
across the nation view Delaware - and they
don't want us to stumble," Granke noted.
Shreeve agreed, adding that while Re-
When pondering whether the Board of hoboth is a small town with a slim year
Commissioners would be willing to take
this approach, Planner Patti Shreeve re-
minded them that the board adopted the
Long Range Plan, and that they are "aware
of our frustration" in putting teeth into it.
Planner Bob Scala summed it up by say-
ing there's a "big picture and a little pic-
ture." The big picture is that the planners
admit the fact they lack the professional
planning skills themselves and there is no
one on the city staff with such skills the
planners can rely upon, so it was up to the
planners to identify resources available at
little or no cost.
The little picture is that previous meet-
ings between the planners and the commis-
sioners concerning the Long Range Plan
round population, the value of the land is
very high, "and it's ridiculous we don't
have a paid planner on the staff."
"Well, we've got to get started - this
could go a long way in protecting ourselves
and such an advisory committee could be
very important to Rehoboth Beach," Camp-
bell said.
Mayor Sam Cooper termed the pledge of
assistance from the state and university
"very exciting." Having attended work-
shops involving experts from both arenas,
Cooper said 'Tm impressed at being able to
bring together knowledgeable people from
across the state. They have good contacts
in the trenches who know what it's all
about."
New Rehoboth entrance, Route 1 alternative, park and ride get nod from group
By Michael Short
A committee studying ways to
improve Route 1 mobility and
safety is making progress, accord-
ing to members.
The group met on Tuesday af-
ternoon, the second meeting of the
committee, to discuss solutions
• ranging from revamping the en-
trance to Rehoboth Beach to lo-
cating new park and ride lots
along Route 1.
Mike Tyler, a member of the
committee, said no one left the
meeting "smiling and happy" and
no one left "growling and grum-
bling. We are trying to approach a
consensus," said Tyler. That con-
sensus has focused on relatively
small projects such as bike routes,
park and ride lots and alternatives
to existing roadways. There are no
superhighways being discussed in
the series of meetings, which will
include one more committee
meeting and two meetings for the
general public.
Eli Cooper, assistant director
for transit services development in
the planning division of
Delaware's Department of Tram-
portation (DelDOT) said "I think
we are still on target," By target,
Cooper means he still thinks rec-
ommendations from the commit-
tee can be made in September.
The next public meeting is expect-
ed in mid-August. Here are some
of the points committee members
showed support for on Tuesday,
according to Cooper and Tyler (no
decisions have been made yet).
• There is some support for a
Route 1 alternative, involving
some improvement or road con-
struction in the following areas.
Here is the rough location of
where the alternative could be lo-
cated. From Rehoboth Beach
northward, it would be east of
Route 1 and behind the outlet
malls (for easy access without
having to use Route 1). It would
cross Route 1 around the area of
Old Landing Road in order to
avoid wetland areas and would
then proceed northward along
Route 275 and west of Route 1,
more commonly known as Planta-
tions Road
• A possible entrance or exit to
Rehoboth Beach along the Lewes-
Rehoboth Canal near Delmarva
Power received some support.
• There remains interest in re-
vamping the entrance to Rehoboth
Beach so that a separate entrance
and exit could be created, thus
eliminating the single lane in and
single lane out of the main Re-
hoboth Beach entrance. Tyler said
the current entrance could be
made an exit and the entrance
could be in the area of the canal
and Delmarva Power and Light.
• There is support for both an
additional park and ride lot near
the old Stockley Cannery chimney
as you enter Rehoboth Beach and
for a park and ride lot at the pro-
posed Lowe's site near the Five
Points Intersection. Bill Lingo has
supported the park and ride.
• Wally Evans of the Lewes Fire
Department called for an entrance
to New Road north of Nassau
Bridge to route traffic to Lewes.
• Mike Tyler and others contin-
ue to call for a "rail to trail" line
along the old railroad line be-
tween Rehoboth and Lewes.
• A possible small access road
from Postal Lane through the pro-
posed Townsend Square Shop-
ping Center and the Rehoboth
Outlet Center housing L.L. Bean.
• Re-aligning some intersec-
tions, including Postal Lane and
Road 270 and Route 24. The later
re-alignment means a cemetery at
the corner of Route 1 and Road
270 would have to be crossed in
some fashion.
• A bike path behind the area of
the Camelot Shopping Center.
