One has to wonder if the members of the state-funded commission for shoreline management even visited our beach towns before writing their report.
If they had, they would know that the people who primarily benefit from our beaches are day trippers from northern Delaware and across the region, and also families who rent hotel rooms along Coastal Highway. Even a cursory look the numbers would make that clear. For example, the City of Rehoboth Beach has a grand total of about 3,000 housing units, but hosts between 7 million and 10 million visitors a year.
The beach towns already serve as the cultural hubs for the thousands who live nearby in unincorporated Sussex County. Their residents are immensely civic-minded, supporting our independent libraries, museums, the art league, and charities too numerous to list. To expect them to come up with the millions proposed by the state commission is neither practical nor fair.
Our beaches are a precious Delaware resource that we all share. The burden of maintaining them should fall on the state.
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