Rehoboth sets Dec. 20 public hearing on changes to basement code
After two years of discussion and nearly a dozen meetings, Rehoboth Beach commissioners have set a public hearing for Friday, Dec. 20, on proposed changes to the city’s zoning code related to basements. The procedural vote to go to public hearing came during a meeting Nov. 15.
For more than two decades, Rehoboth Beach’s zoning code has allowed basements that are not included in a house’s floor area if the basement has a ceiling height of less than 6-feet-6-inches. The intent is for these areas to be used as storage space, but basements are also allowed to be finished, which leads to them being utilized as living spaces.
City Assistant Building Inspector Corey Shinko has spearheaded the changes, first bringing the issue forward in August 2022. From the beginning, he said his goal has been to bring city code in compliance with the adopted building code, while also allowing the continued use of basement space for storage
In March 2023, commissioners issued a resolution allowing the continued construction of basements that are 6-feet-6-inches high while they figured out the best path forward.
Much of the past year has been spent gathering information. City officials met with the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association in January. A few months later, a consensus was reached by commissioners to allow non-habitable basements to be built, with restrictions.
The building and licensing department is recommending the following changes – define basement, crawl space, floor and wall finish; delete all mention of 6-foot-6-inch basements in current zoning code; non-habitable basements shall have a ceiling height between 6-feet-8-inches and less than 7 feet; non-habitable basements shall have no floor or wall finish, but finished ceilings shall be permitted for fire protection of floors; non-habitable basements shall have no interior partitions/walls; non-habitable basements shall not contain bathrooms or half-baths; non-habitable basements must contain one emergency escape and rescue opening, and one smoke/carbon monoxide detector; non-habitable basements shall be excluded from floor-to-area ratio; propose zoning protection and limitations for existing dwellings incorporating non-habitable basements.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
