Board denies Nalu's parking variance

The Dewey Beach Board of Adjustment voted 5-0 to deny a variance request for the number of parking spots at a property that contains Nalu and Whiskey Beach.

The Nov. 10 decision came after a heartfelt story from owners Regan and Kimberly Derrickson. They said they want to combine the two restaurant spaces by removing a partitioning wall. The couple said their plan is to close Whiskey Beach and add patron space to Nalu.

The problem, the Derrickson’s said, is combining the two spaces triggers a section of Dewey zoning code that requires one parking space for every 200 square feet of patron space when a restaurant’s patron space is larger than 2,000 square feet.

Regan said Nalu has 2,000 square feet of patron space, while Whiskey Beach has 1,966 square feet. He said moving storage inside from the driveway behind the Route 1 property would make space for 11 parking spaces and reduce patron space to 3,360 square feet. This means, he said, the space still falls six parking spots short of a the code-mandated 17.

Regan said when the couple constructed the building in 2007, they purposely built the two spaces under the 2,000-square-foot trigger because of the parking requirements.

Kimberly said it was humbling coming before the board because it meant something wasn’t working. She said the couple thought Dewey would appreciate a fun-loving, frozen margarita Hawaiian environment at Nalu and a fine dining Hawaiian experience at Pono’s, the original restaurant in the space.

“We’re pretty much asking you to help kill one of our businesses,” Kimberly said. “We have to survive. We have to put our egos aside and not be arrogant about it.”

The couple received letters of support from the Starboard’s Steve Montgomery, Highway One’s Alex Pires and a few other members of the town’s business community.

However, there was opposition to the request. There were two letters, one from planning commission member Gary Persinger and one from former planning commission Chair David King, and members of the Carr family, owners of Two Seas, showed up in person.

The two letter-writers said the code was in place for a reason, and granting the variance opened the town to other restaurants asking for the same variance.

Ben Carr said he appreciated the hard work and dedication by the Derricksons, but he said granting this variance wouldn’t be fair to businesses, like his Two Seas, who accounted for the parking spaces.

“This is not a variance, this is an exception,” he said.

Jill Carr, Ben’s daughter, said Two Seas was going to ask for an additional six spots if the board granted the six-parking-spot variance to the Derrickson’s.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” she said.

Dewey building official Bill Mears, when asked if there are any other restaurants in town with a variance on parking, said there were none.

Ultimately, the board agreed, reluctantly, with opponents of the request.

Board member Rick Dryer said he was happy the couple didn’t have any intentions to sell the property, but they had brought the hardship on themselves because they knew the circumstances when they built the property.