Not Everyone Admires the View

Rehoboth Beach Debates Small-Town Charm vs. Big New Construction

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. -- The guests for the holiday week are already in the kitchen, whirring margaritas and toasting quesadillas as Gloria Gaynor tunes blast from the stereo. Nearly every window of Bruce Miller's house is filled with a view of the rolling surf, which at this moment late in the day is the same shade of blue as the sky.

The 6,000-square-foot home steps from the Atlantic Ocean is a dream come true for Miller, a retired executive from Northern Virginia. But for others in Rehoboth Beach, the boxy mansion is an eyesore. Neighbors have dubbed it "the Big Yellow Whale."

"Some people in town hated this house," says Miller, 63. "It's big, it has a flat roof and it's not the traditional Rehoboth cottage style. That's the image they want to keep. That's fine for some people, but we love this house."

As the summer tourist season begins this weekend, officials in Rehoboth Beach are girding for a little heat of their own -- a debate over whether the city should try to mandate "street presentation" as older cottages are torn down to make way for what some call ugly new construction. The city is pondering whether it can regulate something ephemeral -- seaside charm.

A task force is examining whether the city should go beyond controlling home size by creating an architectural review board that could require traditional design touches such as picket fences and front porches. The goal would be to preserve Rehoboth's cottage-y feel -- vital to its allure, what distinguishes it from Ocean City and Virginia Beach and draws Washingtonians by the thousands, earning its nickname "the Nation's Summer Capital."

"People will buy a little cottage on a tree-lined street and tear it down and build a humongous house," explained Sam Cooper, the town's longtime mayor. "That's what we're battling. No one project kills things, but if it continues as it is, one day we're going to wake up and find we've lost what makes Rehoboth special -- its small-town charm."

Rehoboth has 1,495 year-round residents, with about 9,000 weekend visitors on a typical February weekend and between 60,000 and 80,000 on a summer weekend, according to Carol Everhart, president of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Its boardwalk and main street, Rehoboth Avenue, recently got a $34 million facelift, including a picturesque new bandstand.

In recent years, the one-square-mile city has struggled with controversies over infill development, as have Washington area jurisdictions such as Arlington County and Chevy Chase. In the past two years, the city has set limits on home sizes and made it illegal to cut down a tree without a permit.

Now, the task force might recommend to the Board of Commissioners on June 4 that it create an architectural review board that would approve all building projects. The board could hold public hearings and vote this summer.

Such boards are generally more common in historic areas such as Old Town Alexandria, or in neighboring Lewes. The proposed review board in Rehoboth would have a more challenging time setting up guidelines than historic towns would because it has a collection of architectural styles, including Victorian, Cape Cod and even modern ranchers, some residents say.

"You can reduce the size and still end up with an ugly house that doesn't fit in with the neighborhood," explained Stan Mills, a retired remodeler and full-time Rehoboth resident who sits on the task force. "The question is, how do we go about legislating taste? Of course, legislating taste is hard."