City Approves a New SWPO Ordinance on January 10th, 2022 (1/12/2022)

On Monday night, January 10th, the Mayor and City Council voted to pass a heavily amended version of the staff drafted Surface Water Protection Overlay proposal that restricts lot coverage on impacted properties to 20%. Click here for a copy. In part to address concerns raised by LBCA members, the amended version only applies to new major subdivisions of more than 1 acre and site development plans of more than 1 acre, and no longer includes a series of impractical and flawed additional restrictions proposed by City staff. As of now, almost all of the properties on Lewes Beach are exempted. When approving the proposal, the City did not address the fact that the ordinance appears to rely upon an interpretation of state law that is contradictory to the actual language of the law. Click here for a copy of testimony Dennis Reardon submitted on this point.