In Rehoboth, parking for toilets debate continues

The Rehoboth Beach commissioners recently flushed a vote on an ordinance tying toilets into residential off-street parking spaces, but they plan to resurrect the measure at their Monday, Aug. 10 workshop.

The commissioners tabled the measure following an intense July 17 hearing, saying the ordinance needed more work.

As drafted, the ordinance would change the existing residential parking requirement of two spaces per home. The proposed ordinance would require two spaces for up to three toilets and an additional off-street space for each additional toilet, and off-street parking spaces cannot be considered as natural, unbuilt area.

The ordinance’s stated purpose is, “The desire to quell the proliferation of dwelling units of larger scale than those that have traditionally existed in the city in order to address traffic and parking congestion, noise and other undesirable qualities often associated with larger dwelling units.”

Mayor Sam Cooper was on the fence about the ordinance, saying while there is a need for parking at oversized houses, he was not sure toilets was the best way to address parking. He said at this point, he was more inclined to tie parking to either bedrooms or bathrooms, two ideas the commissioners have previously discussed.

Originally, the proposed ordinance tied required parking to the number of bedrooms, but the commissioners questions arose as to what defines a bedroom. An effort to tie parking to the number of bathrooms met with similar difficulties. At that point, the ordinance was revised to tie parking to the number of toilets, which can be counted on proposed plans.

Cooper said tying parking to toilets was a way to gauge the occupancy of a house because it is a good indication of the number of people likely to sleep there.

Cooper said the commissioners are in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation. He said the commissioners tried to be proactive about a rise in five to six bedroom houses, with five or six cars at every house, but the they have been met with stiff opposition.

Commissioner Patrick Gossett said what's needed is a measurement or formula that ties together density, natural area, green space and defined uses of a house. He said most other towns he’s researched use bedrooms to tie those factors together. He pointed out the commercial areas have guidelines tying parking to the number of rooms, which he said should apply, considering the residential areas have become more commercialized.

Commissioner Stan Mills said while there was a good rationale for tying parking to toilets, bedrooms may be a better standard. Mills said there was something off about the current code, where a large house and a small cottage both have to have the same amount of parking spaces. He said somehow the parking had to be tied to occupancy, whether its through bathrooms, bedrooms, toilets or lot size.

Protestors who opposed the parking-for-toilets plan held a rally before the July 17 meeting, at which some protestors testified that pools and toilets are not the problem. They urged city officials to focus instead on noise and occupancy limits.

Gossett said those in opposition to the parking ordinance need to take a longer view. He said the central issue is the changing use of residential neighborhoods and how that affects the town’s future.

“What do we want this town to be and continue to be?” he asked.