REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - The Rehoboth Beach Mayor and Commissioners held a meeting Monday to discuss whether or not they will continue to allow unlimited space for patio dining, go back to pre-pandemic rules, or change the code altogether.
The city suspended the 750 square foot size restrictions for patios on private property. The city was supposed to end the pandemic patio dining rules on June 1st but decided to extend it. The current policies will expire on November 1st. The mayor wanted to get a head start and discuss what will happen next when it expires.
"Everyone wants to expand," said Megan Kee owner of Houston White Co., La Fable, Dalmata Italiano, and Bramble and Brine at The Buttery.
Mayor Stan Mills says he is considering expanding size restrictions just a little but would "absolutely not go unlimited."
"We could specify the square footage maximums, change the number of chairs, but we can always have a hybrid of one or the other," said Mills.
Kee says they will be developing a larger patio at Houston White and and hopes it will be able to stay up through the year.
"We know that if we have an expansion we can really increase and enhance the patio experience ... The more space we have the more comfortable the dining experience can be, and in the event of any other illnesses in the future we know what that could look like and how we can spread out," said Kee.
Egg is hoping the city will relax size limitations once the COVID policies expire in November. The restaurant says the 750 square foot limit just doesn't give them enough space.
Sunny Bay Café doesn't have much room for expanding patio dining, but is still in support of maximizing the space.
"I think they key thing here especially given where we are is that it's a tourist location. People are coming here as a destination, people are associating the trip that they're making with being outside and where they wanna dine is going to fall into that category," said Benjamin Stoner, co-owner of Sunny Bay Café.
Banning left turns year-round on Rehoboth Avenue was also on the agenda, but they deferred it to the July meeting.
