City Planning

Zoning

The City maintains regulations and restrictions to lessen congestion in the streets, to secure safety from fire, panic and other dangers, to promote health and the general welfare, to provide adequate light and air, to prevent overcrowding of land, to avoid undue concentration of population and to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks and other public requirements.  The regulations are made with reasonable consideration, among other things, as to the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses and with a view to conserving the value of buildings and encouraging the most appropriate use of land throughout the municipality.

These regulations and restrictions are contained within Chapter 270 of the City Code for the purpose of promoting public health, safety, morals or the general welfare of the City of Rehoboth Beach and are known as the “Rehoboth Beach Zoning Ordinance".

The use of all land and any building or portion of a building erected, altered with respect to size and area, added to or relocated, and every use within a building or use accessory thereto, shall be in conformity with the provisions of this chapter.

Comprehensive Development Plan

 

The Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) is the principal document outlining the City of Rehoboth Beach's goals and policies regarding the use of land.  It has been designed as a policy statement that should remain valid in the face of change over the years.  Properly used, the Plan is the basis for decision-making at all levels of government and will guide the public and private sectors toward beneficial activities affecting its people and land.  This Plan has several specific purposes:
 
  • Create a unified set of goals for change and development within and surrounding the City.
  • Become the central source of guidance on proposed public activities by coordinating them to ensure that each contributes to the adopted goals.
  • Apply the individual tools of planning within the framework of an overall Plan so that regulation is not arbitrarily applied.
  • Guide private land use decisions by providing information on the overall direction of the community.
  • Provide analysis and policies that will allow assimilation of the unexpected to the City's advantage, turning problem into opportunity.
  • Preserve the more fragile among desirable land use arrangements and harmonize the sometimes conflicting desires of preserving an asset and using it.
And the final purpose is to...
  • Help Rehoboth Beach operate as a “citizen” of Delaware by adopting and following the Land Use Goals for Delaware.
 

Certified Comprehensive Development Plan

Executive Summary of Comprehensive Development Plan