Rehoboth Beach — City officials have agreed to build a park to honor Rehoboth Beach’s sister city.
The commissioners agreed, by a 6-1 vote, to move forward with plans for a garden honoring Greve in Chianti, Italy, in Cranberry Park along Lake Gerar, a 16,000-square-foot slice of land across from Bad Hair Day. City officials hope to have the park ready before a delegation from sister-city Greve visits in June 2013.
However, the commissioners did not set a timetable for building the park, calling for revisions to the plan in response to concerns about the size and scope of the project.
The proposed 9,000-square-foot park, called the Garden of the Navigators, would be paid for by Rehoboth Beach Sister Cities Association, which fosters the sister-cities relationship with Greve. Earlier this year, Rehoboth officials visited a garden in Greve honoring Rehoboth. The Garden of the Navigators would serve as Rehoboth’s reciprocation of the honor.
Commissioner Stan Mills, the only no vote, said while he supports Sister Cities and believes the city should reciprocate, he would rather see a final design before moving forward, as well as further efforts to tie the garden to the Verrazzano monument at Olive Avenue and the Boardwalk. Mills also raised questions about the size and scope of the project, as well as the appropriateness of reducing city-owned open space.
The relationship between Greve and Rehoboth had its roots in 2008 when Rehoboth erected a monument honoring Greve native Giovanni da Verrazzano, who mapped the Cape region during a 1524 voyage along the Atlantic coast.
Commissioners Pat Coluzzi and Mark Hunker strongly supported the new garden. Coluzzi first proposed the project and has made presentations at meetings in September and October.
The commissioners decided not to vote on the project Oct. 19 because a vote on the park was not included on the meeting agenda. Hunker then asked for a special meeting Nov. 5 to vote on moving forward.
At the Nov. 5 meeting, Hunker said he did not understand opposition to the park, which would be a gift, requiring little to no city funds. The estimated cost of the garden is $44,000 or $100,000 depending on the final design. Sister Cities plans to pay for the park through grants from Italian-American service organizations such as UNICO and Da Vinci Foundation, as well as private fundraising.
On the fence about the project were Mayor Sam Cooper and commissioners Lorraine Zellers, Patrick Gossett and Bill Sargent.
Gossett and Zellers both support the concept but raised questions about location, maintenance and other details.
“I truly support the sister city organization. I love the idea of cultural exchange, and I think it’s a generous gift,” Zellers said. “The bottom line is, it’s a city park, it’s public land, and it’s one of the last remaining open spaces. I think its our responsibility to hold on to these areas.”
Zellers said the project is doable, but she has questions on the location and size of the garden, saying the garden in Greve is much smaller. She also raised questions about the park’s proximity to the lake, echoing statements made by Save Our Lakes Alliance 3 in a letter to the commissioners.
SOLA3 President Sallie Forman wrote that while the organization supports the idea of the garden, an environmental assessment of its impact on the lake should be done before moving forward. No public comment was taken or read into the record at the Nov. 5 meeting.
Hunker said the park retains much of its open space, adds more trees and is built 95 feet from the lake.
“It will still be a park,” he said. “This is all greenery.”
Sargent said he worried the city may be establishing a precedent by going forward.
“We may be setting a precedent that would allow groups all over, groups who are well-intentioned, but are going to ask for pieces of the city. If we grant this one, how do say no to the other people?” he said.
Sargent said the proposed garden was becoming a divisive issue amongst the commissioners and amongst the public. He said the garden plan should be revised into something everyone could be proud of, and it would be a mistake to ram through a project half the community is unhappy with.
Cooper, while not opposed to the park, said he was also surprised at the scale of the project, expecting something smaller than what was proposed.
“It’s something that is supposed to be nice and make people feel good. In this case, it seems to be creating a lot of animosity, significant enough that it shouldn’t go forward in its present form, but should be looked at as to how we can bring more people on board,” Cooper said.
Coluzzi said Sister Cities wanted to work with city officials to revise the plan, and asked for a vote to move forward with the garden.
The commissioners agreed to move forward with a garden design but put off inking a memorandum of understanding detailing responsibilities for maintenance until the design is finalized. However, the commissioners agreed not to let construction proceed until the memorandum of understanding is approved.
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