South Bethany News

The last time many of South Bethany’s town council members saw Bob Stickels, he was the Sussex County administrator. But on Feb. 8, Stickels was in South Bethany to offer the town the services of his new employers, engineering firm George, Miles and Buhr LLC (GMB).

South Bethany is one step closer to a new town hall and police station, with the awarding of a contract for the project to DiSabatino Construction, Deputy Mayor Marge Gassinger reported at the town council’s Dec. 8 meeting.

On the heels of a Dec. 4 meeting with Paul Ordal of beach replenishment lobbying firm Marlowe & Co. and extensive erosion from a Thanksgiving storm that dramatically affected both towns, officials in Bethany Beach and South Bethany have had a decision to ponder: Do they want to sign on for another year of lobbying services with Marlowe, or is a change of course in order?

Bethany Beach resident Bob Parsons spent part of his Thanksgiving holiday taking photographs of beach erosion from the coastal storm that hit the area Thanksgiving Eve and continued through the weekend, wreaking havoc to dunes and boardwalk alike.

But it wasn’t a photographic exercise or to show to distant friends.

This Thanksgiving weekend will mark the 12th annual Southeastern Delaware Artists Studio Tour (SEDAST), when 15 of the top artists and crafters in the state open their studios to the public.

South Bethany Town Council members on Friday, Oct. 13, unanimously passed their proposed building permit fee increase — but it won’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2007.

South Bethany property owners are one step closer to knowing for certain when they have to cut their grass. Council members at their Oct. 13 regular meeting moved a revised ordinance forward from second to third reading.

South Bethany officials gave the preliminary go-ahead for the proposed York Road pedestrian walkway project on a 6-0 vote at their Sept. 28 special meeting/workshop.

The project would create a 2-foot-wide pedestrian walkway alongside the roadway on York Road, though the exact nature of that walkway has yet to be determined.

South Bethany Town Council members dove into a hefty sheaf of issues at their Aug. 24 special meeting/council workshop, addressing everything from fines for tall grass and municipal recycling to beachside smoking and planned canal dredge and tidal pump project bids.

When asked, only two people raised their hands Thursday night in support. Some 33 people then confirmed their opposition to the plan to subdivide 742 acres into 1,060 lots off of Camp Barnes and Double Bridges roads, near the Assawoman Wildlife Refuge, for a proposed development called The Estuary.

In a letter written by South Bethany residents Richard and Bonnie Kemske and addressed to Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission, the pair urged the county to deny approval of The Estuary subdivision partly because it will “overload the already crowded roads.”

Federal officials seem on the slow track to funding beach reconstruction in the one remaining unreplenished project area in Delaware, with just $3.3 million in federal funding appropriated for the Bethany Beach/South Bethany project in the 2006 fiscal-year budget and a similar amount initially included in the Senate version of appropriations bills for 2007.

The Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce was recently named as one of the best Chambers in the country by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, receiving a second-place award for excellence.

It’s become a tool of convenience. People use the Internet to buy shoes, check the scores of sports games, book plane flights and even compare hotels without leaving their homes.

Though there is local opposition to the proposed Estuary development off Double Bridges Road near South Bethany, the area is clearly marked for development in Sussex County’s land-use plan, as a portion of the Environmentally Sensitive Developing Area.

A beautiful summer Saturday afternoon might have seemed like an odd time to focus on stormy weather, but the Bethany Beach Police Department’s Capt. Ralph Mitchell said he’d planned the three-hour seminar on emergency preparedness to coincide with the height of the hurricane season, from August to October each year.

He may have lost his bid for a seat on the South Bethany town council this year, but Chris White succeeded in raising his profile in the town to the point where he became an appointee to one of the town’s other high offices.

More than three years after Sussex County Council denied the rezoning of a monstrous development — then named The Palisades — off Double Bridges Road in the “environmentally sensitive developing area” near the Assawoman Wildlife Refuge, the developers are back with another plan that is meeting little resistance at the state level.

South Bethany residents seeking convenient recycling options may want to go ahead and sign up for the Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s new statewide curbside recycling program.

Code enforcement issues topped concerns from citizens at the South Bethany Town Council meeting on July 14.

Kicking off the property-owners’ participation segment of the meeting, Resident Frank Fay inquired as to exactly how and when the town is enforcing grass-height regulations.

South Bethany officials moved one step closer to passing two ordinances, with second readings at a record-settingly brief 45-minute June 9 town council meeting.

It’s déjà vu all over again for officials in Bethany Beach and South Bethany, as far as the battle for federal beach replenishment dollars goes.

South Bethany Mayor Gary Jayne revealed a little-known fact at the town council’s reorganizational meeting on June 3: the town had gone without any mayor at all for two days.

For the price of a single meal at some local restaurants, area residents and visitors will be able to sample a wide variety of food and drinks and listen to jazz music on Sunday, at an event that is becoming an early-summer staple in the Bethany Beach area.

Absentee ballots made the difference in South Bethany’s May 27 town council election, with incumbent John Fields narrowly retaining his council seat by beating out challenger Chris White, with an 11-vote margin.