Rehoboth Municipal Complex Plan Incomplete

The Municipal Complex plan will be up for a vote in April, and now is the time to carefully review the proposal. Voters are being asked to make a decision based on a simple architect’s rendering of the building’s exterior and interior layouts. However, there is no site plan detailing access, parking, and outdoor storage areas on the 10-acre parcel of land, which contains a communications tower. While the current plan seems to satisfy many personnel who will work in the complex, this preliminary plan is short-sighted and incomplete. There are many critical questions that have not been addressed with regard to parking, traffic flow, future expansion, and septic and well placement. The development of an overall site plan forces us to analyze and fully address all needs and constraints.

Anyone who has visited the police/fire complex knows that there are many excess vehicles behind the building, some of which are Police vehicles in a fenced compound. Where will these vehicles be located? Where will the other vehicles required by the Fire Department and EMT services be situated?

Fire, police, Town Hall, EMT and REMA (Rehoboth Emergency Management Agency) employees all need parking, which should be included on a site plan. One would assume that it would be close to the rear of the buildings.

Additional parking for Town Hall might also be needed in the event of public meetings or voting activities. Already it seems as if parking and vehicle storage might take up much of the space directly behind the complex.

Access is a key issue. The main access is planned on the north side of the complex outside the Town Hall parking area. The only other entrance/exit area is on the south side of the complex beside the fire department. If another bay were needed by the Fire/EMT departments, access on that side would be severely limited.

What if the Board of Health regulations were to require a new well? And a septic system? Where would they be located? What are the provisions for storm water management?

Is there truly enough space for all three departments and potential expansion? Toward the back of the property, there is a communications tower. The “bookend” location of Town Hall at the north side prevents expansion of the Police Department, which, in turn, prevents the expansion of Town Hall. A 25-year time span is not a very long period of time and Rehoboth’s population is expected to grow.

Town Hall needs to be on its own site. We have the plan for the building. There are potential sites in town available for it.

Clearly, whether it is for cost-saving reasons or lack of foresight, the proposed plan has not been well thought out. We can achieve a more satisfactory result, and avoid potentially expensive and problematic consequences, by taking this opportunity to fully evaluate the siting and construction of these important facilities.

Vote NO in April until a complete plan is developed.

Carol Williams, resident