DEWEY BEACH, Del. - Starboard's opening weekend is less than a month away and the restaurant's temporary expansion request for St. Patrick's day weekend has been approved by town council. The town also discussed plans to tackle expanded outdoor dining.
"Excitement. Everybody anywhere is excited to use the word normal," said Starboard owner, Steve Montgomery.
It's been three years since the restaurant had a normal celebration for St. Patrick's day.
"Two years ago this coming St. Patty's day when the phone call came in that Delaware had had its first COVID cases, nobody really knew what that meant. No one knew if we were talking two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, I'm sure nobody was thinking two years or longer!" said Montgomery.
Dewey Beach town council also discussed a zoning compliance issue regarding house bill 290, which makes to-go alcohol sales and expanded outdoor dining permanent.
"It's going to require some action on our part if we wish to extend this period where these expansions are permitted to a period any longer than the end of March," said Fred Townsend, from Town of Dewey Beach.
Town council received a letter from Starboard's attorney saying, "One solution would be a moratorium for a reasonable period of time on the enforcement of the zoning code as it relates to a temporary outdoor expansion approved during the governors state of emergency. Such a moratorium would afford the town council and its staff time to thoughtfully consider the issue in view of Dewey Beach's comprehensive plan," said Mayor William Stevens reading from the letter.
Town council plans to tackle the topic at the next meeting. Meanwhile Montgomery says expanded outdoor dining has become community-oriented.
"More people come to the Starboard to eat breakfast with family and children than they ever did in the past because we have an outside parking lot for them to sit in, it's family friendly. It's really grown our food sales," said Montgomery.
Town council also approved Starboard's temporary expansion request for the 25th anniversary for the Running of the Bull and the Dewey Goes Pink 5k event.