Family fighting against Lewes historic criteria to rebuild home

LEWES, Del. - The future of one family's home is in the hands of the city, but they might not agree on what that future is. The Daiseys are saying that the effort to preserve historic homes in Lewes might drive historic families like them out of town. 

Coast TV News spoke with Darryl Daisey and Dionne Daisey-Williford. They say the family submitted their application to demolish their home at 331 Chestnut Street in December. It was denied first by the Historic Preservation Architectural Review Commission. In April the Board of Adjustment remanded it back to HPARC. 

"We've done the economic studies and to remodel the house versus rebuilding would take away anywhere from 300 to 500 thousand dollars of value," says Darryl Daisey.

The family says the home is dated and they've outgrown it. They point out how close it is to the home next to it and say their plan would be to rebuild a more modern home that is better situated on the property. The family has been in Lewes for 250 years and they want the home to be able to support future generations.

Since the home was built before 1940 the Daiseys say the city's criteria requires it be renovated instead of demolished, but the family says the home was extensively remodeled in 1991 and therefore they don't think it's historic anymore.

"You have zealots that go in and say everything that's this old is absolutely treasured, we must keep it intact at all costs, well the cost is the people, the cost is the community and the cost is that Lewes is no longer diverse," says Dionne Daisey-Williford.

At Monday night's Mayor and City Council meeting, coucil voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance to amend its Historic District or Properties Criteria; Standards to include cultural and social significant structures. Daisey-Williford says this will make it difficult to justify why a home extensively renovated in the 1990’s would be historically significant and not eligible for demolition. 

The Historic Preservation Architectural Review Commission is set to discuss the status of the property during its meeting on Thursday, July 13 at 6 p.m. The Daiseys say their application won't likely be reviewed again until August.