Bethany Beach’s Design Review Committee gave a thumbs-up last week to architectural plans related to an 18-hole miniature-golf course proposed by property owner Carol Schultze, moving the project one step further ahead after some controversy over the proposed use during its hearing before the Board of Adjustments late last year.
The group, comprising Town Council Member Lew Killmer, Building Inspector John Eckrich, resident Don Doyle and business owner Jim Weisgerber (Bethany Blues, Mango’s, Dickey’s Frozen Custard), on Jan. 12 examined the plans for the facility, which is to be constructed at the corner of Central Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue.
The DRC review is part of the town’s new commercial architectural guidelines, helping to ensure that new and revamped commercial structures meet the town’s desires for aesthetics.
Consulting architect John Hendrickson sat out the panel’s unanimous 4-0 vote on Jan. 12, instead presenting the plan as the architect of record on the project. Architect Jeff Schoellkopf, who consulted with the town on the architectural guidelines, stepped in to provide his impartial opinion of the project to the town in written form.
Notably, the DRC’s review was restricted to plans for the lone structure at the business — a 20-by-20-foot, two-story building that will serve as the office for the mini-golf business and possibly, upstairs, as a place for both private parties and arcade games.
As presented Jan. 12, the plans for the building place a ramp for handicapped access running north-south along Pennsylvania Avenue, at the front of the building. The main entrance to the ramp and the golf course will be from that street. Two handicapped-accessible restrooms will also be located in the building.
From inside the lower floor, the business of the course will be done — the handing out of balls and clubs, the payment of course fees, etc. On the north side of the building, a staircase will lead to a cantilevered landing and the second floor, where an open area is planned that could be used for storage for the business or to house arcade games and a space for private parties.
Hendrickson explained that Schultze’s original plan for the upstairs area had been simply for storage and an office. But he said she’d been advised by industry insiders to maximize her potential profit for the business by utilizing all of the space for some kind of business — leading to the decision to designate the area as one in which small parties could be held or arcade games offered.
The room has a capacity of just 30 people, he noted. The state fire marshal’s office has already approved the plans.
Details of the plan for the building include a gable roof covered with red steel roofing material, red cedar shingles on the sides, composite decking and white vinyl or composite railings. Hendrickson said Schultze had seen a fish shop during her travels that had been the inspiration for the design.
Committee members noted that the look was just the kind of thing the town had in mind when developing the architectural guidelines, openly approving of the decision to use red cedar shingles, or to substitute white cedar shingles or Cedar Impressions brand siding in its place.
Concerns were expressed over the plans for standard roll-up shutters to close up the building’s lower-floor outside of business hours, citing the less-than-decorative appearance of the shutters. Hendrickson said he understood the concerns, and would aim to find and adapt for a substitute that would be more decorative — especially with the business likely to be closed for long periods during the winter.
On the west side of the property, as dictated by the request of the westward neighbors and the mandate of the Board of Adjustments, a 6-foot-high white vinyl privacy fence will be installed. North-side neighbors had previously requested a 3- or 4-foot-high open fence on that side of the property, but that family had rethought the decision and requested on Jan. 12 to have the same 6-foot-high privacy fence installed there.
Fencing on the other two sides is designed in a 1.5-inch picket style and will be composed of white vinyl, Hendrickson said.
Of the possibility of golf balls leaving the property, he said he was skeptical, emphasizing how small the property is, how tightly arranged the holes are on the course and the lack of such problems on locations he’d previously worked with where only an open, split-rail fence was installed. It would take extraordinary force to strike a golf ball hard enough for it to leave the property, he said.
Hendrickson said no air system was planned for the upper story of the structure at this time, but he allowed that a small “motel unit” for air conditioning and heating might be installed as plans progress, especially in light of the new consideration of parties or arcade games in the area.
Plans for signage and lighting remain undecided this week, with Hendrickson to return with that information and for further approval thereupon at a later date. He said all of Schoellkopf’s suggestions for changes — all minor issues — would be easy to incorporate. The most significant among them was a change to 6-by-6-inch posts on the building — a nod to beefier architectural elements under the town’s preferred aesthetics.
The property’s northern neighbors also added a request Jan. 12 to not have the second-floor window aligned with a sliding-glass door on their property, which Hendrickson said he was willing to accommodate.
As to the remaining plans for the facility, Hendrickson said they were not of his design, instead having been designed by Harris Golf — a well-known mini-golf course designer in the U.S. Schultze, he said, had decided on a pirate theme for the course, naming it tentatively “Captain Jack’s.” The course itself, he said, was very tightly designed and would not allow for many large “theming” elements.
As currently planned, the major features of the course shown on a preliminary design include several small ponds with small waterfalls, a skull-shaped cave and a few small bridges as elements of holes. Hendrickson said he didn’t believe there was room for anything else on the same scale as the single structure, so no 20-foot-tall pirates appear to be in the works.
The BoA also prohibited any flashing signs, amplified sound or moving elements, so there will be no windmills or shouts of “Aarrrr” from the property — except those coming from golfers exasperated over missed putts.
Neither the DRC or any town entity has control over the theming elements, as they apparently fall into the category of “landscaping,” being not a “structure” as defined under town code. Hendrickson said it was the same case for reviews conducted under Sussex County’s purview, with mini-golf generally falling through some cracks on what elements can be directly overseen by government.
The use, as a special exception granted by the Board of Adjustments, fell into the town’s already accepted category for such uses — in line with the bowling allies, arcades and other recreational facilities previously permitted by the town. However, that decision was contested at the time by several other nearby property owners, with threats of legal action.
A written decision on the special exception has not yet been issued, pending an official transcript requested by an attorney. But the town has also not yet received any legal paperwork on the case, Eckrich confirmed Jan. 12. Any appeal must be filed within 30 days of the written decision being issued.
The property at Central Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue has already been cleared, ready for the day when it will open as Bethany Beach’s only mini-golf course.
The DRC’s next meeting is set for February, when it is scheduled to review a preliminary plan for redevelopment of the former Happy Harry’s location on Route 26, which was most recently a beach supplies store. The Raskauskas property is to be redesigned as a two-story commercial building with possible retail use by as-yet-unknown tenants.
Eckrich said the architecture of the building was to take into account the new guidelines and not merely be the original pharmacy façade repainted.