Rehoboth commissioners set out to rewrite tree code

For more than three decades, trees and the canopy they provide have been protected in Rehoboth Beach by city code. Looking to continue that protection while also making it easier for the city to administer code, commissioners have recently undertaken the task of rewriting the tree code section.

The ordinance creating Rehoboth’s tree code was approved in July 1988, and while there have been revisions made, the code has remained relatively unchanged in the 33 years since.

Rehoboth began the rewrite process years ago. Over a period of more than a year, the law oversight committee examined the code, interviewed experts and made recommendations to how Chapter 253, the tree code chapter, should be updated. The committee submitted a report in July 2020 with recommended changes to definitions, appeal processes, fines, enforcement and more. 

During a special commissioner meeting March 23, Hoyte Decker, committee chair, said the goal was to make the code easier to use and still provide the city with flexibility in decision making.

There’s been a lot of turnover at the commissioner level in the past two elections, so commissioners are still in the getting-their-bearings phase of the rewrite. However, they unanimously approved a set of objectives during the March 23 meeting.

Prepared by Commissioner Susan Gay, rewrite objectives include: to establish responsibility for developing and maintaining a comprehensive urban forest plan; to establish a "right tree, right place" approach; to preserve, protect and conserve the appropriate abundant trees and plantings in the city; to maintain and increase, where geographically appropriate, the city's tree canopy on both private and public land; to address tree retention, tree replacement, reforestation, and preservation of individual trees and the urban forest as a whole; to encourage planting and preservation of appropriate trees through incentives and sensible regulations; to eliminate inconsistencies in current ordinance; to establish design standards to minimize hazards to streets and on private property; and to establish a comprehensive planting list of recommended native species, as well as a list of invasive species. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, Mayor Stan Mills tasked commissioners with studying the committee’s report, city code and other supporting documents in preparation for the next special meeting on the subject. Mills didn’t have a specific date for the next meeting, but he did tell commissioners to pencil in Tuesday, April 6.

Many of the documents the commissioners will be examining over the coming weeks can be found under the document center link on the city’s legislative portal at cityofrehoboth.civicweb.net.

Appointments made to Wilmington/Baltimore Avenue Streetscape Task Force

Prior to discussing trees, commissioners formally appointed a group of 13 residents, property owners and business owners to the city’s new Wilmington/Baltimore Avenue Streetscape Task Force, which was created to work through a new streetscape design for the two city streets. 

Appointed members include Joe Baker, Jenny Burton, Frank Cole, Frank Cooper, Daniel Fosnocht, Randy Haney, Patti Hoffman, David Mariner, Andy Meddick, Howard Menaker, Alex Moore, Elyse Moore and Bob Pomerantz. Mills is task force chair, and Commissioners Pat Coluzzi and Edward Chrzanowski are also members.

The task force is scheduled to hold its first meeting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, March 31.