Milton council rejects measure to ban parking on Atlantic Street

Milton Town Council, by identical 6-1 votes, rejected a proposed resolution and ordinance that would have requested that the Delaware Department of Transportation ban parking on both sides of Atlantic Street.

The way council approached the measures at its Feb. 3 meeting was to first put a resolution on the table that would have requested DelDOT designate both sides of Atlantic Street as no-parking areas. The second part would have been to amend town code to include Atlantic Street on the list of streets in Milton where parking is not allowed.

Both these measures came out of recent controversy over the actions and reactions to Atlantic Street residents Joel and Kelly DeMott, who had grown so concerned about speeding that they established a website called miltonspeeders.com and began posting videos – gathered first from a Ring doorbell and more recently from a camera on the house’s front porch – of vehicles passing, some beeping their horns. Livestreams of the street were posted daily on YouTube. To try to slow the speeding, the DeMotts parked their cars on each side of Atlantic Street, forcing cars to slow down and maneuver around them. 

The DeMotts’ actions led to reactions from people honking their horns in front of their house, as well as complaints and threats on the Facebook page, Simply Milton Delaware. Mayor John Collier determined the situation was getting out of hand and stepped in. He agreed to take action to remedy the situation after a discussion with the DeMotts. In response, the DeMotts took down their website.

To try to pacify the situation, Collier proposed the resolution and ordinance. Collier said while he may not have agreed with the DeMotts’ tactics, he understood why they did what they did. He said the town, by law, cannot lower the speed limit to below 25 mph and does not have enough staff to put a police officer at every corner. Chief Derrick Harvey said in response to the DeMotts’ situation, he himself posted up at Atlantic Street for a few hours. People slowed down when they saw a police presence. 

Collier and by extension the town are limited in what they can do as far as traffic control. Most of the town’s major thoroughfares are maintained and controlled by DelDOT. While council members have said the department is responsive to the town’s requests, any proposed changes to speed limits, stop signs or anything else must be submitted as a request to DelDOT.

Collier said he asked DelDOT for an opinion on what it should do about parking on Atlantic Street and the response was to paint the curbs yellow, which means that while parking is not illegal, it is suggested that motorists should not park within the yellow curbing. Town Manager Kristy Rogers said if council had passed the resolution, DelDOT would have honored the town’s request and not allowed parking on Atlantic Street. 

The Feb. 3 council meeting was packed full at the start in response to the ongoing controversy about Atlantic Street. 

Joel DeMott said parking on Atlantic Street did not really interest him, as it was not the main issue.

“We pulled the stunt that we did, off and on for a week legally – there were no signs and no painted curbs – as an effort to show just how dangerous the speeding and the truck traffic has become,” he said. “I think it worked. This was after two years of trying to do things the right way, trying to be heard. There’s been no action, no change.”

He talked about the “Milton Mafia” online that suggested retaliatory actions and harassment against his family for the website. DeMott said he favored having an electronic speeding sign along Atlantic Street to slow speeders.

Collier said the DeMotts’ parked cars did create a safety issue where cars had to swerve into the center line of the road.

Kelly DeMott said she did not see the need for doing anything about the parking on Atlantic Street, since that’s not the issue. Speeding is the issue, she said.

Lindsay Deckard, one of the DeMotts’ neighbors, said she did not think council should unilaterally stop parking on Atlantic Street. She said some homes on Atlantic Street do not have driveways or have small driveways that cannot accommodate many cars. Deckard said delivery drivers also have the need to park on the street to be able to access homes for delivery. While she did not agree with the DeMotts’ approach to curtailing speeding, she did not think making parking harder was the solution. If anything, she said, not allowing parking may cause more speeding. Deckard said one solution would be to have police around every quarter or so with a radar gun to remind people to slow down.    

”I think it’s an over correction and an overreaction,” she said.

Part of the public comment period included five emails that were read into the record.

Representatives from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, who meet at the Golden Rule Lodge at the corner of Chestnut, Wharton and Atlantic streets, asked the council to reject the parking ordinance as parking is limited for people who come to events at the lodge.

Amanda Kilby wrote to ask council to pass the resolution, as cars parked along Atlantic Street, particularly where the DeMotts live, serve as a safety hazard.

Madeline Golden wrote in to say the DeMotts’ actions created more safety hazards than speeding and put motorists in harm's way having to go around their cars.

Marian Campo wrote to say what the DeMotts did was a menace, and created a safety hazard for motorists. She said the cars on the street were going to get somebody hurt.  

Councilwoman Randi Meredith said of the parking ordinance, “This doesn’t address the issue. The parking for one week was an issue, but it hasn’t been an issue, so this doesn’t actually address the problem.”

Councilman Scotty Edler suggested the town look at other places in town, such as where he lives on Union Street, where parking is only on one side of the street. Meredith said that is a conversation she would be willing to have. The only vote not to reject the resolution and ordinance came from Councilman Fred Harvey. 

Even though he wrote the resolution, and eventually voted for its rejection, Collier said the discussion needed to be had. He said the DeMotts have agreed to not do this again and spoke about keyboard warriors, and how this situation escalated.

“It needed to be discussed, and the public needed to wake up. The message that I want to send clearer than anything else is: Stop the dumb stuff out there with this social media war. It doesn’t speak well for the Town of Milton when it becomes news fodder,” Collier said.