Rehoboth heads to referendum

The fate of Rehoboth Beach's recently passed zoning ordinance is now in the hands of the voters.

By a unanimous vote, the city commissioners sent the ordinance to public referendum, to be held Saturday, Nov. 7, at Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. An effort to repeal the ordinance was defeated by a 5-2 margin.

A petition seeking reconsideration of the ordinance, passed July 17, garnered 412 certified signatures, more than 40 percent of the 1,004 people who voted in the most recent municipal election. By city charter, that was enough signatures to force the commissioners to repeal the ordinance or take it to referendum.

"I don't feel the petition is representative of all the voters, and the only way to remedy that, in my mind, is a referendum," Commissioner Stan Mills said.

Commissioners Kathy McGuiness and Paul Kuhns voted in favor of repeal, saying the ordinance needs additional work and a task force should be formed to come up with a better product. McGuiness said a task force could save the city time and money that will otherwise be spent on a referendum and would bring different points of view to the table.

"What's the harm? There's no harm in involving the community," she said.

Commissioners Toni Sharp and Lorraine Zellers said the ordinance reflects what the commissioners intended for it to do: reduce the size of residential houses and increase the number of trees and the city's open space.

"The changes we have on the table are reasonable," Sharp said. "It delivers what we intended at the beginning of our discussion."

City Solicitor Glenn Mandalas said that if the ordinance were defeated at referendum, it will become null and void, and the old zoning code would be reinstated. He said if the ordinance is voted down, the commissioners could not bring the same ordinance back up for a vote again, although they could use it as a starting point for a new ordinance.

Mayor Sam Cooper said the referendum would be open to all registered voters and would be similar to a regular municipal election, unlike the referendum on the ocean outfall and City Hall projects. Cooper said people could register to vote up to two weeks before the referendum.

Considerable discussion was raised as to who could vote, given the controversy engendered by the city's six-month residency requirement, which is being challenged in U.S. District Court. Mills suggested having Mandalas research and put together a page on the city website clarifying who could vote.