The Dewey Beach Planning and Zoning Commission will send a revised parking ordinance to town council. Wilson, commission chairman, said planners will recommend painting white and yellow lines on roads to distinguish public parking from private driveways.

“We’re advising them to enforce the law,” Wilson said.

He said planners will also ask commissioners to consider an ordinance to remove obstructions from public rights of way. Wilson said shrubbery or mailboxes block potential parking spaces on many properties, especially in the town’s north end.

“Parking is always available in Dewey,” Wilson said. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say that. It’s not always convenient, but it’s there.”

Wilson, Vice Chairman David King and other planners walked Dewey’s streets with a tape measure and clipboard, taking an inventory of available spaces and potential spaces lost to over-wide driveways or blocked rights of way. The report, issued at the Friday, Oct. 16 meeting, concluded that 670 spaces were lost; 225 were lost to improper marking and signage.

“I’m glad we did the survey,” King said. “Those of us who participated certainly have a better feel for the situation.”

Dewey citizens pushed planners to investigate the parking problem further after roundly rejecting a draft ordinance at a July 10 council meeting. Planning and zoning’s original solution would have required all driveways to be one of two configurations: a single 20-foot-wide driveway, or two 10-foot-wide driveways separated by 20 feet of space for public parking.

Nonconforming properties would be required to conform by May 15, 2011 – no grandfathering, no exceptions. Because the ordinance gives residents an amortization period to come into compliance, commission attorney Kevin Baird said it can legally require properties to conform.

The ordinance drew fire from property owners. Former Mayor Courtney Riordan called it a revenue scheme; former Commissioner Claire Walsh said it was torturous.

“That amortization word?” Walsh later said. “That scares me.”

Former Mayor Dell Tush warned commissioners that eliminating grandfathering would invite lawsuits from property owners.

“There are an awful lot of people prepared to file suit against the town,” Tush said.

King said planners retracted the earlier measure after the survey. “I think we gained some perspective,” King said. “We did learn things.”

Wilson says their new solution isn’t weaker – it’s smarter. Driveways will be no wider than 20 feet; at 20 feet, 1 inch, where the yellow line ends, public parking will begin. “We’re only going to allow 20 feet to be blocked off for private use with yellow,” Wilson said. “This was the simplest measure to create more parking in Dewey.”

Wilson said he anticipates resistance and complaints, but he remains steadfast. When it comes down to it, he said, you either want more parking in Dewey, or you don’t. He said any claims of private ownership of public right of way will need to be substantiated.

“They’re going to have to come up with documentation to prove it,” Wilson said.

Walsh said she’s comfortable with planning and zoning’s revised recommendation.

“Areas need to be better marked,” she said. “I believe that is the appropriate starting point.” As for clearing out the rights of way, Walsh said she believes the town would be acting within its rights. “If they’re in the right of way, they’re in the right of way,” she said. “That’s public property.”

Wilson said he finds the trial-and-error process of tackling the parking problem therapeutic. “Each time you address it, you find something new,” he said. “Who knows? It could be dropped a third time. I don’t know.”