Rehoboth Beach residents appeal approval for Clear Space Theatre plans
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – It’s been close to two years of hearings, appeals, and being sent back to the drawing board for Clear Space Theatre. Now, a group of 63 residents say they’re not backing down from their position that that Clear Space Theatre’s plan, approved by the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission, simply won’t work. “This application should be turned down and Clear Space should start over again. if they come in with something that’s the right size and meets all these other needs, the neighbors will support it,” said concerned resident Harvey Shulman.
Shulman says residents are concerned about the size of the facility, and what they say is an inadequate plan to handle the hundreds of people who might flock to events. Shulman says those visitors could cause congestion because of a lack of parking and traffic planning. “Other than the convention center, these buildings will be the only buildings in town where you’ll have hundreds of people pretty much arriving at the same time,” said Shulman.
Aside from that, residents say they are upset with how the approval process has unfolded. “The planning commissioners came out and publicly said right before the public hearing began, that this plan for Clear Space was code compliant,” said Shulman. “Why have a hearing if it’s already determined that the theater is code compliant? So basically they made a decision before having a trial or having a hearing.”
Shulman also claims the Planning Commission failed to provide for enough opportunity for public input and that the city approved out of date architectural plans. “This whole proceeding turned out to be a proceeding about plans that Clear Space had since departed from and I don’t know how you do that,” said Shulman.
Executive Director of Clear Space Theatre Wesley Paulson says while it is frustrating that they’ve already gotten two approvals and are now facing another hurdle, he stands by the plans. “The fact that there are a group of people in the city who don’t like the project doesn’t justify, in my mind, continuing to go through various appeal processes to get it overturned,” said Paulson.
Paulson says the theater has done what they can to address residents’ concerns. But at the end of the day, Paulson says he thinks the new facility would be a good fit for the city. “I certainly appreciate the concerns that residents have. I would like them to recognize the efforts we’ve made to be good citizens. We’ve been good citizens in the city of Rehoboth Beach for ten years, and we will continue to do that,” said Paulson.
47ABC did reach out to the city’s Planning Commission and Mayor for comment. Mayor Stan Mills declined to comment at this time. The city sent responded with a brief statement about when residents filed the appeal and when the hearing will take place. That hearing will happen on April 8th.
