South Bethany Comprehensive Plan – Community Questionnaire 2011 List of Property Owners’ Comments For: Future Town Needs: Add Your Suggestion Future Town Needs (Survey Item N) – Add Your Suggestion After each completed survey was returned to the Town, each completed survey was given a number for record keeping purposes. The number before each comment represents that number.
Miscellaneous Comments 259- Mosquito control plan and drainage plan. 244-Put a permanent speed indicator coming into SB from the south as Bethany has one going into that town as does Fenwick. 3-It would be nice to have a way of getting to know our SB neighbors i.e. activities at Town Hall after 5:00. 29- Encourage people to plant trees in their own yards. 58- Should make DELDOT change timing to traffic lights at Anchorage and Layton to blinking red/amber during off season. 344- Noise and fireworks enforcement – Last year we had several fireworks incidents and I’m not certain if they were addressed by law enforcement. They are dangerous and are prohibited but people still use them. 361- Keep it all simple! 365- STOP signs Canal and Tamarack. (3-way) 120- Add meters that take credit cards. 143-Construction of a community pool or a contract with Sea Colony to use their pool adding to our property tax. 155- Address water drainage at end of driveways and in the streets. We aren’t able to put pavers, etc. at the end of driveway – then town should put a stone drainage system in. 133- Is there any effort – that could reasonably be put forth to enhance property values? Maybe a qualified realtor would who could make suggestions. 212- Stop mowing and maintaining private property. 215- Emergency Email Notification. 160- Thank you for doing this survey and the work that you do. 172- What happened to parking permits by mail? 172- Nobody answers the phone at Town Hall. 186- All new street line re-painting looks great!! 194- Limit height of trees, bushes on Oceanside – especially those that block neighbors’ view of the ocean. -1-
441- More security especially during winter months. Better communication and information on crime via the website. 452- Negotiate with Bayside Tennis Club to acquire property and then annex to town for a park, retain some tennis courts for club members along with town people; fence along Kent Avenue for safety access in front of Town Hall with magnetized beach pass. Park will take cooperation of county. 452- a) Remove left turn arrow on Route 1 Evergreen to encourage people to traverse cut through the community; b) install speed cameras on Route 1 good for safety, income and cuts down on police time there and air pollution from running motors of police vehicles. They can still give tickets with points to major violators – will take cooperation of state; c) Need better place to launch kayaks on state park at end of Black Gum Drive. 488- Handicapped parking space at beach. 515- There is no choice for “wanted” or “desirable” Either of these may fall outside of “needed.” 470- More “doggie poop” containers at the end of Canal toward the bay and trash cans for them. 524- Dog friendly area on beach. 421- Allow dogs on beach when guards are not on duty. Dogs should be allowed on beach from May 15 to Sept. 15. 537- Residents need to be required to keep up homes. Dead trees, garbage bins, fences in disrepair, clutter in yard and under houses, trash from storm in yards, mildew on houses, etc. has existed for years and are ignored by homeowners. I don’t know if there is a problem with code enforcement or lack of code requirements. 543- Utilize blinking traffic lights during the off-season. No red lights. 544- Restore east-west crossing of Route 1 to south of Brandywine. This leads to street with beach access. North side is a pedestrian hazard due to the traffic turning right onto Brandywine. This is the only road that had the crossing switched. Need proof? I have a nice picture when the crossing was on the south side. Have had property since 1960. 632- Limit size of new buildings and permitted occupancy. 648- Ban headlights and spotlights on houses. There’s enough light pollution here! If people want city living why come to a town like SB? 649- Too many houses add spotlights that turn on when others are in the middle of the public street. They should be required to only turn on for people actually on their property. Also, spotlights should not be allowed to point at neighbors’ houses. 691- Underground or storm sewer drainage system to reduce standing water. 787- We need to expand the AGE groups we cater to in order to have increased demand for living in SB. We are NOT a retirement community.
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827- Reduce light pollution. All exterior lighting, including street lights, should direct light downward, where it belongs. It’s actually harder to see with a light glaring into your eyes than when a light ray is directed downwards. All the houses that have spotlights should have covers to direct the light down. 723- Enforce maintenance of homes that are eyesores. 723- Route 1 east side just needs to be cleaned up, pruned clear of vegetation and clean-up ditches. 730-SB Beach, Park and Town bus/van transportation like Bethany West has. 747- I would have appreciated a “wanted” option as need and want are 2 different things – as you demonstrated by including both NOT wanted and NOT needed. 747- Better cell phone reception. 639- Less government interference. Park/Playground 268-Playground but unfortunately is already a dead issue. Perhaps a non-playground meeting place, garden, patio, could be suggested for the wooded park in front of Town Hall. 35- Park for families. 262- We do not need a public park. We have the beach for recreation. 726- A park for our kids to play at. 157- A playground is definitely needed. 87- Develop Richard Hall Park for recreation- Last season, the Mayor appointed a chair to the park committee that wanted/worked for defeat of any development. Financial sheet deliberately stacked the deck to overstate costs and overlook promised donation of services. We are left with a community that thinks it is OK to mooch services from surrounding towns and taxpayers. We need to plan for the future home-buyers of younger people. EMBRACE seasonal owners to run for Council. Council meetings should be on Saturday mornings to encourage attendance of ALL homeowners. 718- Play area for kids. 787- Playground. 406- Put a park in parkland. 212- Stop bribing Taylor ancestors for a park most don’t want. Ocean Drive 233- Improved beautification on Ocean Drive. Ocean Drive always looks a mess – Need more landscape to cover trash bins and to draw the eye aware from poorly maintained street. 51/52- Re-surface Ocean Drive. 153- Repave Ocean Drive. 674- Repave Ocean Drive.
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347- Upgrade Ocean Drive – Ocean Drive becomes a “promenade” in the evening – leisurely walks in the evening. Some “beautification” efforts are needed. Oceanfront homeowners should probably assume some responsibility for this. 376- Pave Ocean Drive! No Smoking on Beach Comments 190 – Would be great to eliminate smoking on the beach! 207- No smoking on the beach. Identifying the beach as a park and recreational area as espoused by past administrators, as such, a ban on smoking should be enacted to protect the welfare of all children and adults who use the facility. This appears to be the national trend and we should join this trend as leaders and not as followers. 208- No smoking on beach for safety of all using our beaches especially our children! Let’s get SB on list of Nations “Clean Beaches” by eliminating smoking. Now that we know this poses serious dangers to all, we need to act! 388- No smoking on beach. 439- No smoking on the beach. 560- 5 years ago I recommended removal of cigarette butts and No Smoking on Beach. I believe this was implemented 2 years ago. 557- We should ban smoking on the beach. 835- No smoking on the beach. Bury Overhead Wires 835- Get serious about underground power lines. Some years ago an “expert” from Delmarva Power pooh-poohed the idea at a Town Council meeting and said overhead wires are the way to go. That said, we wonder why ALL new housing developments seem to be getting underground wires. Perhaps the expert didn’t know what he was talking about? 308-Bury Overhead Wires 54- Town assists in cost of buried electric and cable wires. 395- Bury electrical/cable wires. 458- Bury utility wires and remove poles. If we really want to beautify the town, investigate and plan possibility of putting utility wires underground and remove telephone poles. These are a tremendous eye sore – have long-range plan. 485- Bury Power Lines. 503- Bury the telephone and power lines. 511-Put utilities underground. 512- Eliminate power poles. 537- Explore putting wires underground. 623- Don’t pay to put wires underground. -4-
729- Burying utility wires. A prior long-range plan included burying utility/electric/phone wires. The #1 visual improvement to our town, particularly on the west side canal streets would be to get rid of the poles or to minimize the number of wires running across the streets. Study what an optimal approach might be. 828- Underground power lines – currently look like a 1940s or 1950s town. Beach 331-Please do something to help elderly/handicap/toddlers over dunes. It is so difficult now. 284-Please keep beach – best feature of town! 817- Without beaches, SB is nothing. 283-We need to keep SB in a more natural state – landscaping should be primarily natural species, focus on clean water, nice beaches, etc. But realize we can’t stop nature’s changes; we can control our interference with the environment. H2O quality will improve with fewer lawns/gardens that use fertilizer, etc. Natural landscapes and vegetation are preferred – U of DE will provide assistance in this view. 354- Dune Maintenance (on-going) 83- I would like to see the benches replaced at the top of the walkways when the replenishment is complete. A place of reflection and great view. 719- Beach replenishment paid with federal and state money – not town money. 696- More parking at the beach! 216- Widen beach access at Seaside Drive, opposite Anchorage. Currently it is impossible for people coming to the beach to pass people leaving the beach if they are carrying anything like chairs, coolers, children, etc., at the wooden walkway onto the beach. People have to wait till others have gone all the way across. Bathrooms/water/showers at the beach 358- Bathroom on the Beach – In the contract for a vendor i.e. umbrella and cart or McDonalds would need to clean regular basis- If BIG vendor is McDonalds or Burger King, Taco Bell etc. you could make the BIG vendor pay for the building and cleaning as part of a long and negotiated contract. 190- Restrooms near the beach. 192- Public restrooms accessible to the beach. SB has grown over the years to include homes a mile or more from the beach. These home owners should have some public facilities close to the beach – on Route 1 or on the empty lots on Sunset Drive? 549- Bathrooms on the beach- Would like to see some kind of bathrooms or portable potties at the beach. We have health problems and need to go while at the beach. When we have grandchildren with us and they are digging in the sand and find human poo buried in the sand and we all walk in this mess every day – how can the water ever be clean?? I buy tickets and go
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to Fenwick Beach. I asked several people where they relieve themselves – they said on the beach and in the water – Shame on whoever and why? 710- Bathrooms on the east side for SB beach users would be wonderful. 792- Restrooms on or near beach. 66- Fresh water shower at the beach. 538- Water spigot at top of stairs leading to beach for rinsing feet. Water Quality/Canal-Related Comments 279-There needs to be a “No Wake Sign” on the island at the back of York Road (Victoria, Bristol area). The Snap Gut is sped through often. The signs reading into the canals do not help. There needs to be a sign ON the island (or multiple signs). DNREC was waiting for us (Bethany Beach Town Hall) to provide them with a survey of boundaries on Jefferson Creek. Please note in a newsletter not to speed through canals or speed in Jefferson Creek – Entire area is NO WAKE!!! 265-Education of homeowners on water quality needs; rain barrels, fertilizers, etc. 637- Tidal pump system for canals- we support tidal pump to help flush canals. It would greatly improve water quality and marine life in canals. 359 – More storm drains. Question: Can a drain be installed on property and connect to the sewer line to elevate water buildup and run off into canals? 411- Dredge canal between Jefferson Creek and Little Bay. 429- Open Assawoman Canal to Indian River Bay. 700- Make Assawoman Canal passable in a boat. 726- We should possibly work with the state/UDE to sponsor oyster floats behind everyone’s homes. The oysters filter 50 gallons of water every day. 748- Recommend you prohibit homeowners to dump waste water from homes to the canals via pipes as is currently happening. 819 – Redesign the Assawoman Canal area project on Cattail Road. This was a $50K plus project that was not properly planned. Public Access to Canals 348- Provide launch site or other access from SB into the Assawoman Canal. 142- Public access to canals. I have no interest in improving the canals if I have no access to them or paying only for improvements if I don’t benefit from them. 430 – Kayak Launch. 471- Use of area adjacent to the canal would be a great asset to town- providing canoe and kayak opportunities as well as picnicking facilities. 731- All residents in town need access to canals. Again the canals are not for all residents. If canals are done, these owners should pay extra taxes, not all SB residents. 760- Public boat ramp. 787- Boat ramp. -6-
552- Boating community – build a town boat ramp. 578- Kayak launch and dock at canal end near Town Hall. 594- Boat launch for resident use only. 842- Bay access for non-canal front homeowners. Boat ramp and fishing pier. 750 – Develop a marina with boat fuel. In a town that boasts itself on being a boating community, it is woefully lacking in one area. Since the closing of Beaston’s Marina and its subsequent development as a residential plot, there is nowhere in town to fuel or launch boats. Currently, boaters must travel to Fenwick Island or Ocean City for fuel and boating needs. We believe that the town should address this extraordinary deficiency in its structure. 755- All canal improvements- If all property owners will be taxed for any improvements to canals then those us who are not on canals should have access by way of town boat ramps etc. Pride in SB 278-I am happy but going on 90 in October and proud to own a house in SB. 438- Fine the way it is really. 486- Thank you for doing a terrific job! 625- Overall we think SB is doing a great job! 631- I am not at my beach house much in the summer so am not up to date about what improvements are needed. 645- I’m satisfied with all. 719- Relatively new resident. Don’t have much to contribute yet! 731- Right now you all do a good job.
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