Dewey Beach Enterprises (DBE) attorney Kathleen Jennings filed suit Oct. 14 in the Court of Chancery in Georgetown. The complaint alleges the zoning map, approved by commissioners on Aug. 14, is fatally inconsistent with the comprehensive plan passed in 2007.

The suit alleges the new map is defective because it fails to include overlay districts as mandated by the zoning code for contiguous tracts of land at least 80,000 square feet in area, such as Ruddertowne.

The complaint also revisits many of the allegations made in a suit filed in March, still pending in the Court of Chancery. Both suits claim the town’s new zoning code, adopted in January, contravenes the comprehensive plan by not providing for greater development density in Ruddertowne’s district.

Both suits also allege the involvement of planning and zoning Vice Chairman David King. The Public Integrity Commission advised King to recuse himself from any matters affecting Dewey Beach Enterprises. King has said he acted on their advice; DBE claims otherwise.

Though inextricable from the zoning code, Jennings said the map’s separate ratification required a separate lawsuit.

“It’s procedurally and substantively related to the first suit,” she said, referring to the March complaint.

Town attorney Glenn Mandalas filed his response in the Court of Chancery Tuesday, Nov. 3. In addition to flatly denying Jennings’ claims, Mandalas said her complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

Planning and zoning Chairman Harry Wilson participated in the creation of the comprehensive plan, the new zoning code and the amended map.

“The map doesn’t reflect the overlay districts?” he said. “That’s news to me.”

Wilson said he’s unsurprised and unfazed by the lawsuit.

“I figured it was coming. And I don’t think it’s going to fly. We relaxed the standards – we just didn’t go as far as they wanted.”