LEWES, Del. - A restaurant proposed for Cape Henlopen State Park is sparking a lot of opinions as to whether it belongs or not, and a group of environmentalists are threatening to take legal action.
In the coming years, the current bath house in Cape Henlopen State Park could be a new La Vida Hospitality restaurant.
The Preserve Our Park Coalition has since spoken out against the development,
threatening to take legal action under the 1979 state law that says any use of the park's property must be, "-for the public benefit as areas of public recreation, conservation and/or nature education and may not be used for private benefit to the detriment of such public benefit.”
Delaware State Parks director, Ray Bivens says the argument doesn't hold up, as the law could apply to many more amenities within this park and others, "If you take that interpretation, we would have to shut down our kayak rentals, which is run by a popular vendor. We would have to shut down our bait and tackle shop."
The Big Chill Surf Club in Delaware Seashore State Park, also by La Vida, is similar to this proposal. However others say Cape Henlopen isn't the right fit.
"It's not the south side inlet, right? I mean why people come to Cape Henlopen, is the natural landscape. Certainly it was an old war base that's been converted to this beautiful state park." said wildlife photographer and Preserve Our Park supporter, Kevin Lynam.
Bivens says that La Vida would pay for more improvements along with the construction of the restaurant. But Lynam and the POP group worry it will hurt the dune. DNREC is still conducting environmental surveys to determine if La Vida's plan for building will cause harm to the ecosystem, or not. In the past, La Vida Hospitality told WRDE it's done its due diligence and is committed to making the project work with the community.
The current deadline to decide whether or not the proposed plan will move forward is January 1st of next year.
Sunday, November 13th, POP will be holding a "March for the Park" at 11am starting at the Lewes Ferry Terminal to the entrance of Cape Henlopen State Park.