Selbyville News

The Route 26 Mainline Improvements Project has long been a hot topic for locals living and working near the beach, and for visitors to the southern Delaware shore, as it is a main way to get to there.

The Selbyville Town Council held a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 2, to discuss the issue of short-term rentals within town limits. The hearing attracted a small crowd, drawing witnesses from the town itself and from surrounding areas. While the majority present seemed to be in favor of the new ordinance, there were a few opinions to the contrary.

In the Coastal Point office, tacked to a wall, is a diagram of the Indian River Inlet, labeled “Construction Update: Beginning May 2006.” The diagram marks areas of planned closure and construction for the state park, campground and marina area near the bridge over the inlet, as officials prepared for the planned replacement of the failing bridge.

There is no question that one of the biggest changes to the Delaware shore in the last five years is the completion of major reconstruction projects for area beaches. After years of suffering from beach erosion and risk to homes near the shoreline, all of the areas municipalities received new dunes and expanded beaches, thanks to the projects sought for years by local town councils and citizens.

The Delaware State Police are seeking the public’s help in locating a 41-year-old Millville man wanted in connection to a Failure to Stop at the Command incident and home-improvement fraud.

Issued by the National Weather Service, Philadelphia, Pa., 3:35 p.m. EST, Wed., Jan. 28, 2009
... Dense fog advisory now in effect until 8 p.m. EST this evening...

Although religion is a topic best left at the door when it comes to political discussion; for a second month in a row, the Salem United Methodist church’s chimes were once again the hot topic at Selbyville’s monthly town council meeting, held on Monday, Jan. 5. Ready to formalize last month’s decisions, council members offered an amendment to Chapter 108 of the town code, pertaining to noise, written up by the town’s legal team.

Like two excited kids with a science experiment, Carole and Ron Patten of Selbyville proudly check their electric meter every day to see how much it has electricity it has generated. After installing a 24-panel solar system last fall, they have already seen dramatic decreases in their electric bill and have generated 1,300 kilowatts of power.

Selbyville officials first came to the Sussex County Council with a request for upgraded wastewater outfall access nearly five years ago. At the time, the town – which owns and operates its own wastewater treatment plant – had already been granted an increase from 1 million to 1.5 million gallons per day of wastewater flow from its plant into the county’s wastewater outfall into the Atlantic Ocean.

It may not have even been half a year since Strawberry Liquors opened up in Selbyville, but the discount spirit store is already pulling in impressive business, and with the holiday season in full swing, they can plan on plenty more.

From the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City to stringing decorations on ones sitting in our homes, there’s little that resonates the spirit of the holiday quite like a sparkling spruce. But in the hustle and bustle of the season, fighting blistering wind and monotonous check-out lines, it’s easy to overlook what you could be doing to help the environment, even when it comes to your festive fir.

As far back as anyone can remember, Christmas has been a time of community. Whether fighting over the last Wii Fit or sharing hot chocolate, it is a season that is best celebrated in numbers. That is why this Friday, Dec. 5, the town of Selbyville will celebrate the holidays with their 48th annual Christmas Parade.

At the corner of Church Street and Church Avenue in Selbyville, there is a… well, a church. And in that church – Salem United Methodist Church – there is a bell. Well, these days it’s actually an electronic chime that makes the bell-like music that rings from the church’s bell tower over downtown Selbyville. And, for at least two people in town, that music has become enough of a nuisance to officially complain to the town about the noise.

Members of the Selbyville Town Council gathered for their regular monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 3, and quickly adopted an amendment to their 1996 zoning ordinance and map, changing the zoning designation of 35 parcels in the town’s R-3 zoning district to the R-4 district.

Organizers of Sussex County’s annual Return Day festivities in Georgetown confirmed Wednesday, Nov. 5, that Vice-President-Elect and Delaware U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be attending this year’s event.

The votes are in!

For more than 60 years, the town of Selbyville has celebrated Halloween with a parade, and this year is no exception. It’s time for the annual Spooktacular Parade.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, there will be food, fun and, of course, the timeless tradition of marching the streets of downtown Selbyville to celebrate the holiday.

What is a rain garden? How is it different than a pond? Who should plant one?

Sally Boswell, education and outreach coordinator for the Center for Inland Bays, answered all these questions and more for the Fenwick Island Environmental Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at town hall.

State transportation officials and engineers are gearing up for a series of bridge repairs in the Selbyville area, slated to start in the fall of 2009.

Selbyville Town Council members voted on Monday, Oct. 6, to add a new subsection D — Wells — to Chapter 195 of the town code, regarding water. The new code adds the ability for property owners to add or use private wells on their property for certain approved uses, with permission from the town and state environmental agency.

An unnamed storm that lashed the area with high winds and heavy rain late last week caused significant beach erosion and flooding along the Delaware coast and inland bays. The late-September storm, despite falling during hurricane season and exhibiting counterclockwise rotation, was not classified as a tropical system but as simply a low-pressure system and therefore was not named.

The Board of Directors for the Center for Inland Bays bypassed a resolution put forth by the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and instead passed a different motion, with a vote of 3-2.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Secretary Carolann Wicks, state and local officials, residents and others were on hand at a Sept. 17 event to unveil the design for a new bridge over the Indian River Inlet and present the selected design/build team — Skanska USA Civil Southeast — to the public.

Denise Curtis and her husband wanted to try something different when they moved to Delaware. Their children had attended public school in Montgomery County, Md., and although that public school system is noted as one of the best in the country and was part of the reason they had settled where they did, when they moved full-time to Delaware, they were ready to try something new.

The Sussex County Emergency Operations Center mid-week was monitoring a developing storm system off the eastern United States that threatened to bring heavy rain, gusty winds, and prolonged higher-than-normal tides to the region for the next several days.