Dewey tentatively approves budget, passes draft ordinances
Dewey Beach Town Council met Feb. 21 to discuss the town’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, the funding of several flood mitigation projects and a long list of draft ordinances.
Council unanimously approved a resolution, recommended by the infrastructure committee, to fund the Jersey Street flood mitigation project. It also approved $50,000 in funding for flood mitigation on Van Dyke Avenue.
Later in the meeting, council tentatively approved the FY 2026 operating and capital expenditures budget under the condition that a revised capital expenditure budget will be provided if surplus funds from FY 2025 are not sufficient to meet all obligations and projected capital expenditures for FY 2026. Additionally, council specified that the capital expenditures for 2027 and 2028 are projected expenditures only and may be funded at the end of 2026 and the end of 2027.
Council members also approved several draft ordinances recommended by the planning and zoning commission.
The first amends the town code to include a 2-foot freeboard requirement for residential structures, with the option to add additional freeboard, subject to Dewey’s building height restrictions. The second increases the town’s dry floodproofing requirement from 12 inches to 24 inches for commercial structures.
Several other ordinances were passed, including one that defines standard and cluster-style mailbox assemblies and incorporates specifications for the placement and installation of those assemblies, along with one that revises parking ticket fees, the timeframe for fee accrual and late fees for unpaid tickets.
The ordinances can be viewed in full on the official Dewey Beach website under the Feb. 21 meeting’s attachments section.
Council also approved applications from The Starboard owner Steve Montgomery for a temporary expansion of premises for the following events: Starboard opening weekend, Friday, March 14 to Sunday, March 16; Running of the Bull, Saturday, June 28; and Dewey Goes Pink, Friday, Oct. 3 to Saturday, Oct. 4.
Ellen McIntyre is a reporter covering education and all things Dewey Beach. She graduated with a bachelor’s in journalism from the Penn State Schreyer Honors College in May 2024, after which she completed an internship writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2023, she traveled to New Zealand to cover the Women’s World Cup as a freelancer for the Associated Press and saw her work published by outlets like The Washington Post and FOX Sports. She also has a variety of other reporting experience, covering crime and courts, investigations, politics and the arts. As a Hockessin, Delaware, native, she’s happy to be back in her home state, though she enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures. She also loves live music, reading, hiking and spending time in nature.
