REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - Rehoboth Beach hotels will no longer have to have more than one parking spot per room after the recommendation from the Planning Commission to do so was turned down by Mayor and City Council.
Several comments including that of Carol Everhart, deterred the council from moving forward. A meeting that could have changed the hotel scene in downtown.
Everhart conducted and presented the results of a study amongst the hotels to see if more parking was needed for them, "All of the responses were asked, 'how often does someone ask to bring one more car an additional car?' all of the responses were rarely but one."
But there remains a parking problem in Rehoboth Beach that this was expected to help with.
Vince Robertson with One Rehoboth Avenue LLC said it is up to the city to solve that issue, not businesses, "I think there is a parking issue in the city, I just don't think that attacking it through the hotels when there's never been a problem declared about the hotel parking is the way to go about it."
Mayor Stan Mills said another parking and traffic study starting this summer will hopefully bring solutions, solutions like a parking garage.
"I don't know if that's a cure all or not. That's where this parking study might help us out. But one thing with a parking garage is we could probably absolutely use it two or three months of the year but then there's eight other months where it may not be - parking garages are very expensive and charging enough to make them pay for themselves is probably a very hard task." said Mayor Mills.
That parking survey is expected to have results with a year.
Parts of the recommendation to increase parking spaces also included the deletion of two additional parking spaces for resident managers. However with the recommendation not being approved, those two spots will be reinstated at an upcoming Mayor and City Council meeting.