Dewey Beach officials may revise rules for the use of the bay beach, bay walk and gazebo.
Keeping track of people and trash at the end of Van Dyke Avenue in Dewey Beach will be a topic of discussion at the April 9 meeting of the Dewey Beach town commissioners at 4 p.m.
The commissioners have on the agenda to discuss and possibly vote to approve the revised draft of the rules for the bay beach, bay walk, and gazebo at the end of Van Dyke Avenue.
“We just don’t want to have conflicting events going on,” said Bill Zolper, Dewey Beach town manager. “Make sure nothing else is scheduled at that gazebo.”
It’s the same at the end of every street in the town, he said.
The gazebo area has been used by the town for candidate forums, by the local chamber for an Easter egg hunt and by local charities running events like 5k’s, he said.
Having a group fill out a special event permit form helps the town with scheduling as well as clean up. If a group leaves a mess now, the town takes on the cost of clean-up.
The permits can range in cost anywhere from nothing to $100 for a wedding to up to $2,500 if the event requires police assistance to manage traffic.
Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 11)
“This is not about making money for the town,” said Zolper.
The fee is just to make sure people are serious about using the facility/beach before it goes on the town calendar.
“We have to have some type of coordination so we can avoid conflict,” he said.
Even so, individuals would not be completely banned from the gazebo if a group rented it, he said. It’s just to keep different large groups from showing up at the same time. Reservations would be made on a first-come, first served basis, he said.
David Moskowitz of Dewey Beach questions the proposal. He wonders if the town should be allowed to reserve Bayside Beach and the gazebo for private events. How much of the beach could be reserved?
Would two and a half hours be long enough and could different groups sign up for the whole summer without giving anyone else a chance to use the beach and facilities?
The commissioners will hear public comment on the proposal, said Zolper.
There has been quite a bit of interest in this proposal, he said. Other parts of the proposed ordinance changes include dogs on the bay beach and gazebo, having a bonfire on the beach and fishing and crabbing.
The meeting begins at 4 p.m. and due to COVID-19 restrictions will be held online. People interested in commenting can do so through the Zoom link provided on the town meeting page: https://www.townofdeweybeach.com/events/9769/
To review the proposed changes go to: https://evocloud-prod3-public.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/meetings/40/attachments/3229.pdf
Share this Post