Lewes Planning Commission to review ADU residency requirement

LEWES, Del. - The Lewes mayor and City Council have asked the Planning Commission to review the residency requirement for Accessory Dwelling Units, following a discussion during their workshop in May.

At a Wednesday Planning Commission meeting, officials will hear from the public about the requirement that property owners must live in one of the dwellings as part of an ADU.

This comes after concerns were raised about several properties within the city where both the primary and accessory units are being used as short-term rentals. These properties are currently considered non-conforming under city code.

City officials noted that non-conforming properties typically come into compliance when ownership changes, as rental licenses are non-transferable. Until then, properties remain non-conforming unless there is a change in ownership or an expansion of either unit.

During the workshop, council members acknowledged the number of non-compliant properties and expressed hope that these would transition into compliance over time.

Realtor Lee Ann Wilkinson wrote a letter to the Lewes Planning Commission and says the ADU ordinance needs to be looked at to make things more fair.

"If you don't count the duplexes, if you don't count the town, you know, townhouse communities, condo communities, those all are allowed to be rented, a short term rentals, all of them," said Wilkinson. "So why is this poor little 2.6 percentage of our homes not get the same rights that everybody else has?"

Martha Good bought a Lewes property with two existing units, and it was her understanding that she could rent both units. 

"I only see negative repercussions. So decreasing the value of the current homes, decreasing the number of rental units on the market. The city charges a rental tax to every rental property in the city of Lewes. So if you're saying we can't rent, then that's also going to decrease the amount of rental tax that they're bringing in," said Good.