Upcoming meetings and events for our towns.
Bethany Beach
• The slate of candidates in the 2008 Bethany Beach Town Council elections, to be held Sept. 6, 2008, has been announced. Seven candidates have filed to run for the four available seats on the council. Those seats are currently held by Councilmen Tony McClenny, Jerry Dorfman, Tracy Mulligan and Steve Wode, and have a two-year term.
Filing to run were incumbents Wode, McClenny and Dorfman. Also filing were former Council Member Lew Killmer and 2007 candidate Margaret Young, as well as newcomers to the ballot Jack Gordon and Joseph C. Bellistri. Mulligan decided not to run for re-election.
Bethany Beach’s elections this year are set for Saturday, Sept. 6, from noon to 6 p.m., with in-person voting to take place at town hall during those hours. Bethany Beach property owners who are listed on the Town’s Property Tax List are not required to register to vote in town elections. Residents of Bethany Beach who do not own property are required to register to vote at least 30 days prior to the election. The last day to register for this year’s election was Aug. 6.
Absentee ballots for the Sept. 6 elections can be obtained by filing an affidavit with the town. Affidavits are available by calling (302) 537-3771 and online on the town’s Web site at www.townofbethanybeach.com. All absentee ballots must be filed with the town by noon on Sept. 5 in order to be counted. They will be counted in a meeting of the Board of Elections at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 at town hall.
A meet-the-candidates event hosted by the Bethany Beach Landowners Association is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.
The council will select a mayor, vice-mayor and secretary/treasurer from among resident council members at their post-election re-organizational meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 10 a.m. at the town hall. That meeting will also include a transitional briefing for any new council members.
• Bethany Beach’s recently adopted ban on smoking on the beach, boardwalk, bandstand and in town parks and playgrounds is in effect, and those restrictions are now being enforced on the beach, after the recent creation of associated designated smoking areas. Verbal warnings are being issued to violators before written citations are issued. The ban on smoking on the beach and boardwalk will end its seasonal implementation on Sept. 15. Smoking is banned year-round in the town’s parks, playgrounds and boardwalk bandstand plaza area. Parking meters, permit parking requirements and restrictions on dogs on the beach are also now in place for the summer season in Bethany Beach. Those restrictions end Sept. 15; Sept. 30 in the case of dog restrictions.
• Street rehabilitation work in Bethany Beach will begin Oct. 1. The project consists of hot-mix patching repairs and reclamation and repaving of existing pavement on several streets in town, as follows:
Full depth reclamation with hot-mix overlay: S. Atlantic Avenue, House #74 and including Cedarwood Street; Ashwood Street., Atlantic Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue; Maplewood Street., Atlantic Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue; Fifth Street., N. Pennsylvania Avenue to Route 1; Fifth Street., Evans Road to end; Seventh Street., Evans Road to end.
Hot-mix walkway: Central Avenue, Gibson Street to Route 1, walkway.
Alternate location: Treetop Lane, Garfield Parkway to House #717.
• The Town of Bethany Beach is looking for interested residents to volunteer at its Conservation and Nature Center. Volunteers can participate at many levels, from organizing and administering the docents, to organizing and arranging presentations or simply being a guide/docent for the center. Interested residents are being encouraged to contact the Town Hall at (302) 537-3771 or via e-mail at admin@townofbethanybeach.com.
South Bethany
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed the initial beach reconstruction in the Town of South Bethany. The planting of dune grass has been completed, with installation of dune fencing surrounding the dunes also now complete.
• South Bethany residents can sign up anytime throughout the year for the town’s new curbside recycling program. If they are out of town during the winter months, they may submit an application when they return. DSWA will deliver the recycling container shortly after the application is submitted.
• Honorary/memorial bricks for the area located around the flagpole at town hall can now be ordered. For details, refer to the town’s Web site and its forms page and click on the honorary/memorial brick order form link.
• Any citizen of South Bethany who would like to receive the Zephyr newsletter via e-mail instead of through the U.S. Postal service is being asked to complete and submit the Homeowner Contact Information Sheet online at:www.southbethany.org, on the Homeowner Contact Information Sheet/Email Registration page.
Ocean View
• The Town of Ocean View will hold two public hearings on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at town hall. The first hearing will discuss the proposal to change four units at Bear Trap Dunes from residential to commercial. This is the second public hearing on this proposal. The second public hearing will discuss the drilling of agricultural wells for Ocean View water customers. The hearings will start at 7 p.m., prior to the regular town council meeting. All applications are made available to the public at the town hall during regular business hours. For more information, contact the town manager at (302) 539-9797.
• The Town of Ocean View has unveiled its new Web site. The site is now available online at http://www.oceanviewde.com.
• The Town of Ocean View plans to spray for mosquito control from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. from June through October 2008 on an as-needed basis and when weather permits. Residents who do not wish the area in front of their home to be sprayed should visit town hall at 32 West Avenue to be provided with the appropriate markers. Contact the town administrative official at (302) 539-9797, ext. 2, or admintov@verizon.net with any questions.
• The Ocean View Town Council has moved its regular meetings from the first Tuesday of the month to the second Tuesday of the month, starting after the June meeting. The official calendar of meetings for the rest of the 2009 fiscal year is: Sept. 9, Oct. 14, Nov. 12, Dec. 9, Jan. 13, Feb. 10, March 10 and April 14. Future council workshop dates will be determined by the council.
• Contractors have completed construction Ocean View’s central water system and the go-ahead for the system to be turned on for emergency use was given Jan. 31. The system was cleared for individual property owners to hook up after March 1. The town has notified property owners by letter of that date and details of how hook-ups should be made. Final determinations of costs to users and property owners were formally adopted at the council’s Feb. 5 meeting. Initial bills for the first quarter of service, including an availability fee being assessed to all affected property owners — including those not yet connected to the system — are in the process of being mailed out.
Property owners will have to make arrangements with a certified well driller for the conversion of existing wells to agricultural use or for the destruction of those wells, as well as with a town-licensed plumber for water hook-ups. The town has set a $10 utility connection fee for at least the duration of the first year of water connections. Plumbers making the connections are also required to obtain a public health certification for each connection from the state, at a cost of $100 to the plumber, per legislation passed in June 2007, the cost of which is generally passed on to the property owner.
Selbyville
The Selbyville Town Council will hold its regular monthly meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. at the town hall. The meeting has been postponed from Sept. 1, due to the Labor Day holiday.
Fenwick Island
• Fenwick Island tax bills have recently been mailed to each property owner of record. Any property owner who has not received a bill is being asked to contact town hall.
• Fenwick Island will host a steel drum concert in the town park at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31.
• Fenwick Island will not hold council elections this year, as only the incumbents up for re-election filed to run. They are Gardner Bunting, William Weistling Jr. and Diane Tingle.
• Fenwick Island citizens can pick up seasonal parking passes at town hall. All parking passes must be picked up in person at town hall this year.
• Fenwick Island, with Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA), is offering all town residents curbside recycling. This program is being offered to town residents at no additional cost. Throughout the months of October to April, residential curbside recycling pick-up will be bi-weekly, on Fridays. During the months of May to September, the pick-up will be weekly, on Fridays. Residents who sign up for the program will receive a 65-gallon cart on wheels for plastic narrow-neck bottles, plastic grocery bags, aluminum, steel and empty aerosol cans, glass containers, newspapers, junk mail and corrugated cardboard.
Property owners and residents can sign up at any time. There is no deadline. For more information on this program or any other DSWA program, call the Citizen’s Response Line at 1-800-404-7080. Registration forms are available by download on the town Web site at www.fenwickisland.org or in town hall. The Fenwick Island Lions Club is continuing to recycling aluminum drink cans, which can still be dropped off in the bin behind town hall.
• The New Friends of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse is currently meeting for reorganization and future planning, and volunteers are being sought to operate the lighthouse for tours during the summer. For more information on volunteering, call Volunteer Coordinator Jan Thompson at (302) 732-3216. For more information on the lighthouse or to donate, call (302) 436-8100 or contact The New Friends of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse at P.O. Box 1001, Selbyville, DE 19975.
Frankford
The Frankford Town Council will hold its regular monthly meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. at the town hall. The meeting has been postponed from Sept. 1, due to the Labor Day holiday.
Sussex County
• The Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission will meet on Thursday, Aug. 28, at 6 p.m., in council chambers off The Circle in Georgetown.
• The Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a meeting to discuss Phase II of the Route 26 Sewer Project on Wednesday, Sept.10, at 9 a.m. at Millville Town Hall. Representatives and engineers from the project will be present to answer questions and concerns about Phase II of the project, which will begin this fall. There is no cost to attend the meeting, and all Millville business owners are being encouraged to attend and to inform their neighboring businesses. RSVP to Helen at helen@bethany-fenwick.org or (302) 539-2100, ext.16, no later than Friday, Sept. 5.
State of Delaware
The Governor’s Advisory Council on Planning Coordination postponed its scheduled meeting set for Thursday, Aug. 14, to consider the Sussex County Comprehensive Plan update and make a recommendation to Gov. Ruth Ann Minner on whether or not to certify the plan update, at the county’s request. No new date for the meeting of the council, known popularly as the Livable Delaware Advisory Council, has been announced.