LEWES, Del. — The City of Lewes is considering prohibiting gated communities within city limits.
At a city council meeting Wednesday, Mayor Amy Marasco and city officials will review a proposed amendment to Section 170-27 of the municipal code, which would explicitly forbid the installation of gates on both city streets and private streets within the city.
According to a member of the Lewes Planning Commission, there are currently no gated communities within Lewes city limits. He believes the city's proposal is based on past developers proposing gates along with their communities and to stop that from happening in the future.
For example, in a proposed 13-lot development called Whites Pond Preserve, the city council denied the developer's request for a gate on the road back in January.Â
CoastTV reached out to members of the city council for further comment on this proposed change but did not hear back.
Local Stan Wright hopes the city does make this change official.
"I don't see where they'll ever be a need for a gated community based on the way the town's currently configured and where you're going to put a gated community, I don't see there being any need for a gated community to stop any type of traffic flow," said Wright.
Carol Conroy agrees.
"It means that you're supposed to be 'exclusive'. Well, I think Lewes is more and more becoming pretty exclusive on its own," said Conroy.
Karin Westermann lives in a gated community in Rehoboth, and she thinks the sense of security is an illusion.
"I believe that it is a marketing strategy that the community uses to sell the homes," said Westermann. "Reality wise, I think it's an artificial security, and it really doesn't keep anybody out that wants to come in."
This would be the seventh added guideline under the "streets" section of the city code.
The meeting is July 23 at 10 a.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.