Rehoboth planning given interpretive authority over code
In what was more of a formality than anything else, Rehoboth Beach commissioners passed two ordinances March 11, giving the city’s planning commission, not the building and licensing department, interpretive authority over the zoning code.
City commissioners, planning commissioners and city building officials have been discussing this change for more than a year. It came to a head in late January, when representatives from the planning commission and the department made pitches to city commissioners during a joint meeting. About a week later, a majority of commissioners expressed their desire to move forward with a public hearing on only the ordinances granting the planning commission the interpretive authority. There was a second set of ordinances giving the city department the authority, but a vote to move them to public hearing failed.
The ordinances passed 4-2, with Commissioners Patrick Gossett, Francis “Bunky” Markert, Craig Thier and Mark Saunders voting in favor of the change.
The planning commission is made up of nine taxpayers who have skin in the game, said Saunders. They have more at stake and are organic members of the community, he said.
Mayor Stan Mills and Commissioner Edward Chrzanowski were the two no votes at the most recent meeting.
Mills said he doesn’t believe anything in the code supports what the planning commission wants. This is a demonstration of a power grab and puts the building inspector in a horrible position, he said.
Chrzanowski said he values the work the planning commission does, but there are no guidelines in place for their appointment to the commission. This is going to be problematic, and he sees nothing but litigation coming before the city, he said.
No one from the city’s building and licensing department spoke. However, Mills referenced an amicus statement prepared by the department’s attorney Lauren DeLuca in advance of a special appeal hearing related to the proposed Belhaven Hotel that’s taking place Thursday, March 20.
Urging commissioners to resolve the Belhaven issue by confirming that the responsibility to interpret and enforce the zoning code remains with the city department, DeLuca said prompt and clear resolution of land-use challenges is a bedrock principle of zoning law. A process that invites conflicting decisions with no clear decision-maker undermines this bedrock principle and leads to disruption, she said.
“The difficulty underscoring this matter, and the broader debate on whether the planning commission may overrule the building inspector in matters of zoning interpretation, has nothing to do with the qualifications and capabilities of the planning commission members. Nor does it have anything to do with the department’s confidence in the planning commission’s decision-making. The challenge is simply that the planning commission’s proffered process inherently invites conflicting and uncertain decisions on questions of zoning interpretation contrary to the above-referenced bedrock principle,” said DeLuca.
During the March 11 meeting, Max Walton, an attorney representing city commissioners, said the Belhaven hearing March 20 will be conducted under the old code previsions.
