Questions still linger over Rehoboth building official’s role

The meeting is not yet scheduled, but Rehoboth Beach commissioners, at the urging of the planning commission, have reached a consensus that it would be best to hold a joint meeting to discuss the authority of the city’s building official before any decisions are made on the subject.

This issue has been a thorn in the side of city officials for the better part of the year. It has been on the commissioners’ to-do list for most of the year. In February, at the request of the city commissioners, the planning commission issued a report with suggested changes to the site-plan review process. One of those changes included language that would give the planning commission the authority to determine if a site plan for large commercial projects meets city code.

A few months later, commissioners discussed the topic, but nothing was done and no plans were made for future discussion.

Then, without any more notice than what appeared on the agenda, during a meeting in September, a proposed ordinance to confirm that the city building inspector has interpretive authority over the zoning code failed after a tie vote by city commissioners. The vote wasn’t specifically on the ordinance, but on whether to send it to public hearing.

More recently, during a meeting Oct. 18, Rehoboth commissioners were presented two ordinances to discuss – one with the planning commission being given the authority; one with building official being given the authority – and two resolutions that would have sent both of those ordinances to a public hearing.

The planning commission showed up in force again. Everyone except Chair Michael Bryan was in attendance – Susan Gay, John Dewey, Earl Stockdale, Jim Ellison, Julie Davis, Nan Hunter, Michael Strange and Susan Stewart.

In advance of the meeting, Strange, a professional engineer by trade, created a 12-page white paper analyzing data on what municipalities do all over the country. He said there was little consistency in approval requirements, but he concluded that in no case was the building inspector given absolute power over all categories of approval.

Stockdale said there doesn’t appear to be a clear problem that needs to be fixed. It’s an important check on authority, he said.

Harry Shulman, a property owner and former planning commissioner member, said when the existing code was passed in 2009, it was done so because city commissioners at the time didn’t want developers to be able to have outsized influence on the city’s building official behind closed doors.

Ultimately, Mayor Stan Mills tasked City Manager Taylour Tedder to schedule a special joint meeting between the two groups. As of press deadline Oct. 31, that meeting had not been scheduled.