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Tragedy strikes at Cape High. pg. 14
Delaware's Cape Region € Friday, June 9 - Thursday, June 15, 2000 € www.capegazette.com € Volume 8 No. 3
State may move ahead with bicycle rail trail
Even if route from Lewes to
Rehoboth has missing links
By Michael Short
A bike and walking trail along parts of
the abandoned railroad line between
Rehoboth Beach and Lewes could go for-
ward even though the state has not yet
acquired the entire route.
A major parcel of land at the Lewes end
is still in private hands and some relatively
minor right-of-way requirements must still
be met at the Rehoboth Beach end.
The state has been in the midst of a mas-
sive land buying program along the out:
skirts of the park in order to preserve open
space, which is under intense development
pressure.
That land west of the park will provide a
buffer for the park land, but it can also
incorporate the long discussed rail trail
route between the two towns.
Delaware now has bought up most of
that four-mile stretch of land, which clears
the way to begin moving forward on a trail
for biking, walking and jogging.
The state, in particular, has locked up the
center portion between Sussex 270 and
Sussex 271 and controls the two bridge
areas which any path would have to cross.
The long debated trail has been champi-
oned by many, but the land has been in pri-
vate hands. While it was considered less
environmentally sensitive than a route
through the park, the issue of not owning
the abandoned railroad line had always
doomed the project.
The parks division has since moved
ahead to create at least a part of a trail
through the existing park land, beginning
work on a controversial Gordon's Pond
area project.
Continued on page 17
Cape lighthouse
project tops out
at $10.6 million
Funding study is prelude
to blue ribbon committee
By Jim Cresson
Rebuilding the famed Cape Henlopen
Lighthouse to its full scale of 69-feet-3-
inches tall and with the same type of 1767
construction materials would cost $10.6
million, according to a study completed
June 7.
Sen. David McBride, D-Hawk's Nest,
obtained Bond Bill Committee funding in
the amount of $20,000 for the study last
year and championed the study to rebuild
the lighthouse as the first step toward recre-
ating one of the earliest and most famous
lighthouses in the New World.
McBride reviewed the lighthouse recon-
struction feasibility study prepared by
Wilmington architects Bernardon & Asso-
ciates, and said the cost may seem stagger-
Continued on page 11
Bob Bowden photo
A smile as bright as the future for graduating Cape High seniors
D'Anna Fluharty is all smiles Tuesday evening, June 6, as she and her classmates listen to commencement speaker
Bob Keeney, a retiring Cape High teacher, address the Cape High class of 2000. The Cape Gazette will publish a spe-
cial section featuring student photos and honors - Graduation 2000 - which will appear in the June 23 edition.
who said he had been approached by a
number of people in town who were con-
cerned about preservation. "We know
there are concerns and we want to hear
what the people of town have to say about
things," said the mayor.
City Manager Elaine Bisbee explained
that there ia set of historic preservation
regulations on the books in Lewes that
haven't been enforced for a number of
years. "There are regulations but no guide-
lines," said Bisbee. She said the regula-
tions in place discuss establishment of an
architectural review commission that has
the responsibility of approving demolition,
erection, reconstruction, alteration, restora-
tion or general exterior repairs to structures
located in the town's designated historic
district. That district, she said, includes
about two-thirds of the mainland side of
town including all of the homes between
the canal and McFee Street, inclusive; all
the homes along Pilottown Road out to the
Episcopal Cemetery; all the homes east of
Burton Avenue to the perimeter of Block-
, Continued on page 16
Mayor agrees to appoint
committee to review rules
By Dennis Forney
A group of Lewes residents heated by
historic preservation fever and clamoring
for government intervention filled a Lewes
Mayor and Council workshop meeting
Monday, June 5.
Concerned about older homes being
demolished and replaced with "inappropri-
ate" structures,' the crowd called on city
leaders to revive and begin enforcing his-
toric district regulations that were last dis-
cussed in 1988.
By the close of the hour-long meeting,
Mayor George H.P. Smith agreed to
appoint a committee at the July 10 meeting
of Mayor and Council to review the present
set of regulations and chart a path for future
preservation. He called on the crowd for
volunteers to serve on the committee and
several placed their name on a list.
Smith noted the meeting was called on
the initiative of Councilman Jim Ippolito,
Lewes residents clamor for historic district regs