Rehoboth considering increase to hotel parking requirements

While no final recommendations have been proposed, the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission has begun working on a possible change to city code that could lead to more parking requirements for new hotels.

The planning commission is taking up the issue at the request of city commissioners, because, from the Boardwalk west to State Road, there are a few hotels planned that include special-event and conference space, as well as first-floor retail.

Currently, city code requires one parking space per hotel room. However, said Planning Commissioner Susan Gay during a meeting Jan. 13, the code does not take into account additional uses within a hotel. Rehoboth Beach has one of the most generous codes in the country when it comes to parking requirements, and hotels are beginning to have an outsized impact on the city, she said.

“The code is out of date,” said Gay, who provided her fellow planning commissioners with a three-page comparison of parking requirements from municipalities across the country.

City Planner Nick Walls, an engineer for the city’s contractor Wallace Montgomery, helped Gay gather the parking requirement information. It's a complex issue, and a developer could be frustrated because it will add costs, he said.

The planning commission discussed requiring lessees of space within a hotel to also provide parking, but that didn’t go far.

It seems unfair to hold small businesses to these proposed requirements when they could be freestanding and not have the same rules, said Planning Commissioner Julie Davis. This should focus on things like event spaces and meeting rooms, she said.

There was discussion about addressing parking requirements for residential properties, but it was limited. City code requires two off-street parking spots for each residential dwelling unit.

The problem, said Planning Commissioner Michael Strange, is that all of the houses built in the past few years have five bedrooms, and the people renting those properties are bringing multiple cars that take up street parking.

Planning Commission Chair Michael Bryan and other commissioners generally agreed with the sentiment, but the discussion was quickly brought back to hotel parking. The city has to start somewhere, said Bryan.

The planning commission is expected to resume the discussion during its February meeting, with a specific recommendation from Walls and Gay for them to consider.