Rehoboth Beach Mayor Stan Mills, an ethically compromised former city commissioner who has been credibly accused of homophobia, cast the deciding vote this week overturning the long-sought permits for Clear Space Theatre’s new home.
Clear Space has worked patiently and respectfully through a long and Byzantine process for several years to obtain permits to build two new buildings on three lots it purchased on Rehoboth Avenue, a busy commercial strip. Its plans for a new theater and smaller, adjacent rehearsal space were twice approved by both the town building inspector and the planning commission, whose members are appointed by the mayor. The plan is broadly supported by the local business community.
The flip-flop stems from a convoluted and disingenuous disagreement over whether the planning commission “reviewed a code-compliant set of drawings,” according to the Cape Gazette. But Commissioner Ed Chrzanowski said the plans were submitted properly and the requested changes were made.
As a large group of prominent local business owners wrote to the mayor and commissioners last week: “Clear Space provides a healthy economic return to the city. At a time when the city is facing an annual deficit, approving the building plans returns over $300,000 to the city in the form of impact and permit fees. In addition, Clear Space provides over $500,000 in direct annual economic impact from patron spending and generates the equivalent of $875,000 in annual payroll.”
That spending will now likely move elsewhere — Route 1? Lewes?
This week’s 4-3 split decision by Mills and three commissioners — Patrick Gossett, Susan Gay, and Jay Lagree — to undo the building inspector and planning commission’s approvals is the latest attack on small business in Rehoboth since Mills became mayor last year. (And Mr. Gossett: You are assuredly the first gay public official to vote against a community theater. What a proud distinction!)
This decision is especially disappointing and reckless at a time when small businesses everywhere are working to recover from the pandemic. Just look at the string of longtime, successful, and even iconic Rehoboth businesses that have fled town in the past year: Nicola Pizza, which has been in business for 50 years; The Pond, a gay-popular bar/restaurant that operated in town for nearly 40 years; and Agave, the uber-popular restaurant and tequila bar in Lewes that abandoned plans to open in downtown Rehoboth. All are relocating to Route 1 or Lewes.
Is it a coincidence that all of this has occurred since Mills took office less than a year ago? Mills has had a negative reputation in the local gay community for years. The Delaware State Public Integrity Commission issued an opinion stating that Mills may have violated a state conflict of interest law stemming from his 2010 use of a rarely enforced ordinance to target businesses, some of them gay owned, for hosting late-night drinking and dining on outdoor patios. His actions led to a raid of the gay-owned Aqua Grill and the arrest of its then-owner Bill Shields, as the Blade has reported.
As longtime Rehoboth business owner Joe Maggio told the Blade last year, “It is time for the voters to know the whole truth about Stan Mills, how he operates and uses his official role to enhance his personal interests and impose his personal prejudices.”
And as former Mayor Paul Kuhns presciently predicted less than a year ago: “My fear is that if a couple candidates get into office, Stan Mills being one of them, things will turn back around to what they were. The capital improvement plan will slip to the sidelines, economic development won’t be considered, and people will think about ways to avoid having the tourism that pays for all the services we have here in the city.”
No one wants Rehoboth to morph into Ocean City, but the town must strike a balance between overdeveloped and sleepy. Clear Space didn’t want to build a high-rise tower; it wanted to build a small community theater. It’s too late for Rehoboth to go back to a quiet, seasonal beach town. Smart growth and sensible development are possible — and desirable — when forward-thinking, pro-small business officials are in power. Many of Rehoboth’s small businesses are run by local gay residents. We are disproportionately entrepreneurial, so these assaults on small business hit home for the LGBTQ community in a way that Mills and his supporters clearly do not understand.
Residents should vote out Mills and the commissioners who so unfairly torpedoed Clear Space’s plans. To the (gay) NIMBYs who helped derail Clear Space’s new buildings: You are hypocrites who purchased homes in a commercially zoned neighborhood. You live in outsized McMansions that replaced modest beach cottages. If you want peace and quiet, then move inland; there’s plenty of Delaware farmland being converted into acre-plus lots with luxury homes. Indeed, two of the nearby property owners have already successfully sold their homes. If you don’t like the noise of a thriving town, then why buy property adjacent to commercially zoned space?
As for Clear Space, let’s hope they find a new home nearby where they are celebrated and appreciated for the local landmark they are. The theater employs aspiring actors who stage professional shows year round. In addition to the theater’s proven positive economic impact on Rehoboth, it plays an important educational role for aspiring theater professionals. They deserve our thanks and support in the coming months as they grapple with this latest setback.
Kevin Naff is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at knaff@washblade.com.
The post Opinion | Rehoboth’s anti-business mayor strikes again appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
