Board votes to keep Rehoboth Beach Main Street

The Rehoboth Beach Main Street website homepage says the organization will disband on March 31.

Better hit refresh.

After hearing concerns from local business owners, the board decided not to dissolve the organization, and instead shift power to a new board during a Rehoboth Beach Main Street board meeting on Monday, Feb. 27.

"Several board members will be staying on as part of a transition team," board President Chris Rausch said. "We will be suspending the dissolution papers, and we will be meeting in two to three weeks to discuss our next steps."

This comes as a result of several business owners within the Rehoboth Beach community wanting the institution to remain in existence.

Before the decision to remain an institution on Monday, the board had announced in May 2016 that they would disband at the end of March 2017 after former Rehoboth Beach Main Street Executive Director Krys Johnson was hired as the new communication specialist for the city.

"Many of Rehoboth Beach Main Street's goals have already been realized," she said in a previous interview. "And the need for a Main Street program in the City of Rehoboth Beach has greatly been diminished due to the vibrancy of the downtown business district."

BACKGROUND: Rehoboth Beach Main Street plans to disband

However, not everyone in Rehoboth felt this way, and Kathy McGuiness, a Rehoboth Beach City Commissioner and a former member of the Rehoboth Beach Main Street's board, said most of the city's commissioners did not want the organization to dissolve.

At the meeting on Feb. 27, she read into the record a part of the minutes from the Feb. 6 Rehoboth City Commissioners meeting.

"After discussion, the majority of the Commissioners agreed that Main Street should remain an entity," she read.

Rehoboth Beach Main Street was founded in 1996, and was one of the first such organizations in the state of Delaware, said Diane Laird, the state coordinator for Downtown Delaware through the Delaware Economic Development  Office.

The organization has helped improve the overall appearance of Rehoboth's Main Street through facade improvements, with grants available for businesses through the national Main Street America nonprofit program, she said.

The organization hosted 33 events in 2014, including events such as fireworks, a gumbo festival, concerts and public arts festivals, she said.

The biggest attraction by far was the Fourth of July fireworks show, which attracted more than 100,000 viewers in 2016, according to organizers.

Lair added the Rehoboth Beach Main Street organization was responsible for attracting 3.5 million tourist trips, with $630 million generated from these trips.

Laird served as a voice for those businesses at the Monday meeting who wanted the organization to continue, although she added it is not her role to push for the continuation of the organization if it is not wanted.

She presented to the board a history of the organization, along with two different possibilities for its future.

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"If there is a grass roots desire from business owners, residents and constituents in downtown Rehoboth, there would be consideration toward a transition from the board of directors to other directors who want to continue the organization," Laird said.

Downtown Rehoboth Beach is an ideal area for a Main Street program and with the strong sense of community surrounding the program it should not be disbanded, she said.

"Downtown Rehoboth Beach is in a good location with good buildings intact, with a historic preservation ethic here," Laird said. "And the goal is strong business. Economic development, property values going up, businesses being successful, creating destinations and that’s the basic mission. Strong business is integral to a successful Main Street."

Megan Kee, who is a realtor with Jack Lingo Realty, said she is thankful there are business owners interested in preserving the Rehoboth Beach Main Street project.

"I think it's wonderful we are a community with advocates from all around," she said.

rghughes@dmg.gannett.com

On Twitter @hughesg19