Rehoboth Beach Makes Changes to Tree Code after Years of Discussion

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - A resolution to a tree code many called clunky. Rehoboth Beach's recent tree code changes are official after two years of discussion and what the city said is 11 years of worth of efforts.

Under the new ordinance about 60 trees are allowed to be planted, the city said  that's a lot more than in the past. Some trees allowed in the nation's summer capital are Bald Cypress, Loblolly Pine, and Yellowwood.

Diana Boch is happy to hear it, "It's so peaceful and it's quiet and it's beautiful and that's not necessarily the case with all of the shore points. I grew up in South Jersey and I used to go to Wildwood every summer and I don't recall any trees."

But the new ordinance also limits the size of trees people can plant and restricts property owners from cutting down trees deemed to be significant.

Rix Garey said the city shouldn't tell him where he can build or plant on his property, "Here again I like to not give total control to the government, to the city."

Boch agreed with other components of the ordinance, "For every tree that's torn down, we should replace at least one."

Garey said he misses when the avenue had large trees and wants to see more, but restrictions have to stop somewhere. 

"I sometimes wonder about some of the restrictions when you're trying to build and they don't want you to take a tree out of the middle of where your house is going to be." said Garey.

The ordinance also imposes a fee to cover costs of planting and maintaining a tree on city property. 

These changes to the city's tree code go into effect immediately.

Coast TV News reported this Friday and for more information on the code, visit here.