Those curious about seeing Rehoboth Beach’s new dead-end streets ordinance in action had their chance at a site visit by the planning commission on Friday, Oct. 2.
The visit, held on a perfectly crisp fall day, served as an information-gathering session and an opportunity to tour the site of a proposed major subdivision at the Oak Grove Motor Court.
The owners, the Lovett family, are proposing to divide the property into 15 buildable lots, ranging from 6,999 square feet to 5,020 square feet. Questions were limited to clarification only, with deliberations by the commission to take place at the planners’ Friday, Nov. 13 meeting.
The central feature of the visit was to see a proposed short, dead-end street that would serve the interior lots. The street, Jones Lane, would intersect with Sixth Street and have two one-way lanes with a cul-de-sac at the end. The traffic lanes would be 9 feet wide and have parking on each side. There would also be a crossover toward the end of the street allowing for k-turns by city fire and refuse vehicles.
The city recently passed an ordinance allowing for the narrower street, pending approval by the planning commission. The Lovetts wanted the narrow street to help save trees on the property.
To demonstrate whether the street would work, a city refuse truck attempted to drive along the street and make a k-turn. The large truck struggled to fit on the roadway as marked and also had trouble making the turn, partially because trees and telephone lines stand in the proposed street lane.
Co-owner Paul Lovett said, “The city has said that a trash truck must be able to do a k-turn at the end of this drive. What I would like the city to do is review that decision, because nowhere else in the city can a trash truck of this size make a k-turn on a short street like this.”
Lovett argued the city normally makes large trash trucks back into the street, instead of making a k-turn.
Lovett said with the new city code changes, Oak Grove would be able to save five trees and 5,000 square feet of tree canopy in the area where the street would be. All told, the Lovetts estimate preserving 61 trees on the property and removing 12.
After the truck demonstration, the commission took a tour of the site itself. If the subdivision is approved, the cottages and hotel on the property will be removed to make way for new lots. The Oak Grove cottages date back to the 1940s.
The visit then wrapped up with questions and comments from the planning commission and city engineers.
Besides the planning commission, various city officials such as Mayor Sam Cooper, City Solicitor Glenn Mandalas, Commissioner Dennis Barbour, building inspector Terri Sullivan and public works director Mel Craig also attended.
Further deliberation on the subdivision will be held at the planners’ next meeting, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13.
Oak Grove is off Canal Street behind Hamels (formerly McQuay's Market), just after the canal bridge.
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