REHOBOTH BEACH, Del.- After a four year battle including approvals and reversals with the City of Rehoboth Beach, Clear Space Theatre will no longer pursue its Rehoboth Avenue project and the lawsuit against the city.
Executive Director Wesley Paulson says there was confidence in winning the lawsuit after a superior court judge said the site plan could be included in the lawsuit, but the board concluded the prolonged process is not worth going through anymore.
"We were concerned that we would be another year possibly before the judge could issue a ruling on the case itself whether or not the city was right to deny approval by the planning commission," Paulson said. "It was that amount of time and money and effort that led the board to consider ending the project."
There was opposition on this project from the very beginning including from Harvey Shulman who lives in Rehoboth Beach part-time. He says that putting a theater on Rehoboth Avenue would have created many problems in the city.
"There would be traffic safety problems for pedestrians and cars particularly because this was a very large complex that would be very close to the roundabout entrance to the city," Shulman said. "There were gonna be noise problems in the surrounding neighborhood."
But there are others like Martha Seidler who visits from Florida who think that having a theatre at 413,415, and 417 Rehoboth Avenue would have been a welcomed addition.
"I just love live theater and I kind of had the idea that maybe it could be a little outdoors, Seidler said. "It would just be so pleasant in the evening kind of like the bandstand down there. We always go down there and listen to the bands but it would be up here. I don't know, I think it would be really nice."
Paulson says that the shows must and will go on at the Celebration Hall Theatre on Baltimore Avenue.
"We're looking forward to a great season in 2023 as well as what we've got on the stage now and are already planning the 2024 season," Paulson said. "So we're here. We're not going anywhere and encourage our patrons to come join us and to enjoy live theatre at the beach."
Paulson says that the board will look into other options as to where they could put a new theater but there are no concrete options yet.