Green space requirements approved in Dewey

After several months’ discussion on increasing green space and freeboard requirements, Dewey Beach commissioners voted unanimously Sept. 20 to set open-space parameters but tabled a freeboard vote until October.

Commissioners, committee members and residents have voiced concerns about property owners in the town’s north end using their front yards as parking lots and blocking people from parking in public town spaces.

By increasing green space requirements, town leaders seek to reinforce current driveway requirements, which allow for one 20-by-18-foot driveway or two 10-by-18-foot driveways. Property owners are also permitted to install a 4-by-18-foot front-yard walkway. Driveways will be marked by the town after streets are paved this fall.

The ordinance, effective immediately, applies only to new construction or significant expansions in the Neighborhood Residential District and increases the green space requirement of the property’s gross lot area from 15% to 25%. The entire front yard must now be green space, except for the permitted driveway(s) and walkway, and parking is now prohibited in all green space areas.

Remaining requirements must be distributed between the side and back yards, and existing areas covered with non-green space materials may remain. Driveways and walkways must have no-spill borders to contain materials.

Green space may include plant-based or artificial mulches and decorative rock or stone, but they must be applied around and between plants and can’t extend more than a 3-foot radius from the main trunk or stem of a plant. 

The current freeboard requirement is 1 foot for structures in a FEMA-designated flood zone, and the town’s 2018 comprehensive plan recommended an increase, said Commissioner Gary Persinger.

The climate change committee and planning and zoning commission also recommended increasing the amount, Persinger said, and council previously voted to require the new town hall not be below base flood elevation plus 3 feet of freeboard.

However, Persinger said he shared a concern expressed by planning commissioners that the public may be unaware of the magnitude of the change. Most property owners have no idea what freeboard is, he said, as the topic is only relevant during new construction or major renovation. 

Persinger questioned whether the town should implement a public awareness campaign about freeboard before taking action, or support the vote by launching the campaign afterward.

Commissioner Paul Bauer said he thought the town should educate the public first, to be open and transparent. The public may not realize how a 3-foot freeboard can impact design and aesthetics, Persinger said, noting that once the freeboard is increased, it can never be lowered.

Mayor Bill Stevens said town leaders have spent a lot of time examining the issue, and that such a campaign may lead to the same conclusion. Persinger said he hoped it would, and that the campaign could focus on the benefits of increasing the requirement by referring to information assembled by planning and zoning commission Chair Dave Lyons.

Commissioners plan to push out information to residents via the town newsletter, emails and at townofdeweybeach.com.

The item will be back on the October agenda for a possible vote, Stevens said.