Housing redevelopment and concerns with the town’s future commercial district were two major points of discussion Tuesday during an hour-long conference call between members of the Fenwick Island Comprehensive Plan Working Group.
However, much of what was said during Tuesday’s problem-plagued teleconference went unheard by a group of about 20 residents, who sat behind officials huddled around a phone, waiting for their turn to talk.
Amongst some decipherable scattered optimism and interesting ideas, though, officials and town residents questioned the viability of a town commercial center and even argued that town founders developed the town strictly as a residential haven.
“I don’t see a town center really developing in town where everyone will walk through and congregate,” said Stephan Lehm, a Working Group member. Lehm said that a pedestrian-friendly plan would be “desirable” but might not work in the highway-based, pass-through beach town.
Sheri Sanzone, principle of Bluegreen, the town’s planning consultant, said that the town’s commercial district along Route 1 — which has been diminished by rising property values and what some call anti-business ordinances — needs a sense of cohesiveness, however that may be achieved.
“It’s not cohesive,” Sanzone said, and “it doesn’t look like somewhere you would go.”
Sanzone suggested mixed-use buildings, where residential spaces could be built atop retail shops and other businesses. That would not only assist in creating a town center and cohesiveness amongst properties but could also solve an affordable-housing shortage in the town that resonates throughout the coastal area, she said.
Town Councilman and chairman of the working group Chris Clark championed the idea Tuesday of introducing affordable — though not low-income — housing to the area to attract a younger, professional population that could include nurses and teachers, he said. Introducing such housing to the area would help “create a well-balanced community.”
Currently, the town is nearly built out, with scattered commercial properties along Route 1, massive homes along the highway and on either side that push space guidelines, and some older cottage-style homes.
Town officials working in subcommittees on population, housing, redevelopment, community character and infrastructure presented preliminary ideas and planning progress Tuesday, despite the disorganization.
Another working group meeting — of the major three meetings of the upcoming sessions that all parties are expected to attend — is set for 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2, at town hall. An open house to solicit public participation starting will begin at 10 a.m. and last into the afternoon on Feb. 3. Working group members plan to man displays, take questions, jot down suggestions and shine a spotlight on public input that Saturday.
Fenwick Island officially began the long-anticipated and state-mandated planning process late last year after hiring Bluegreen as its consultant. Bluegreen, an Aspen, Colo., company specializing in community planning consultation, will help Fenwick develop a growth vision with a written plan — which will be supported by ordinances — and a physical design to spice up the town one resident who attended Tuesday’s meeting called “characterless for the last two decades.”