Lewes council holds hearings on environmental ordinances
Lewes Mayor and City Council held two public hearings April 1 on proposed ordinances that would increase freeboard requirements and reduce lot coverage in the city.
Both proposed ordinances were drafted by the Lewes Planning Commission’s Environmental Subcommittee, after more than 50 hours of public meetings and discussion.
The first item discussed was a proposal to increase the freeboard requirement by 18 inches above base flood elevation.
The change means freeboard – the elevation of a building's lowest floor to a height above the minimum base flood elevation – would have to be 36 inches above the base flood elevation. The change would allow a structure’s maximum building height to increase from 34 feet to 35.5 feet.
The proposed change would be mandatory for homes located in the 100-year floodplain that are new construction, or undergoing substantial improvement or repair.
The April 1 hearing began with a detailed, science-based presentation from environmental engineer Brent Jett of GMB. His report sounded a dire warning about rising sea levels.
“What we’re seeing is a dress rehearsal for the future. If you look at the high tides for January and February, they were 16 inches above average. A foot-and-a-half sea level rise is projected by 2050. So, we’re living in the future right now for tides,” Jett said.
The report encourages the city to increase freeboard and require more resilient homes, which would promote lower insurance rates for homeowners.
FEMA will pay for 75-90% of the cost to elevate a home, according to Jett.
The definition of “substantial improvement” became a red flag for some residents.
Kevin McGuiness said city code currently says “substantial improvement” does not include any project required to correct existing health, safety or sanitary code violations.
“There is a lot of confusion about what is repair. What is legal repair? What is renovation?” McGuiness said.
Environmental subcommittee member Dennis Reardon voted in favor of the new freeboard requirements back in November.
However, he told mayor and council April 1 that, in light of Jett’s information, there needs to be further discussion about what constitutes “substantial improvement.”
“My recommendation is this be referred back to the subcommittee. The rationale is this is a citywide issue that has not been properly vetted,” Reardon said.
Preston Lee, a Lewes Board of Public Works director, told hearing attendees that BPW is taking steps to protect its facilities from rising water.
He said BPW supports the city’s efforts to become more resilient.
Lot-coverage ordinance
Mayor and council also took comments on a proposed ordinance that would reduce lot coverage by 5% in most zoning categories.
For example, current city code allows for a maximum of 60% in areas zoned R-1. The ordinance would reduce that to 55%.
The current definition of lot coverage is the percentage of a lot that is covered or planned to be covered by impervious surfaces. It does include off-street parking areas and driveways.
The goal is to make properties more pervious.
“What we’re proposing is that you get 50% credit just by using shells, stones or other pervious materials greater than 3/8-inch diameter in those driveways or parking areas,” said GMB engineer Charlie O’Donnell, who gave a presentation on the proposed ordinance.
If approved, new construction and additions would have to come into compliance with the new ordinance.
“We’re not asking anyone to change what they have,” said Environmental Subcommittee Chair Amy Marasco. “We’re just saying that when triggers happen (like installing an addition), we’re going to try and make your property more resilient.”
At their Monday, April 8 meeting, mayor and council are scheduled to discuss and possibly vote on another ordinance that would create new definitions clarifying what materials are considered pervious and impervious.
Mayor and council will take written comments on the proposed freeboard and lot-coverage ordinances until close of business Friday, April 26.
