An ordinance governing home-based businesses in Lewes is likely to be rescinded before it takes effect next month.
The ordinance sparked controversy, occasional flashes of temper, and a narrow vote among City Council members at a meeting earlier this month. It would sort home-based businesses into two categories based on their impact, require neighbors to be notified when a business starts up, and allow the city to intervene in cases where the effects on nearby homeowners are deemed to be too high.
At that meeting, some council members raised concerns about multiple versions of the proposal and questions about its legality.
Wednesday, Mayor Amy Marasco, who supported the ordinance, asked council to walk it back before it takes effect.
“I am not starting us over again, but I am asking at our council meeting that there would be a formal rescinding of the version that we voted on," she said. "I'm not asking anybody to necessarily change their vote. What I'm asking is that we bring it back to a work session.”
She said she wants to restart the process of developing an ordinance, beginning with a draft submitted by the city’s Planning Commission.
“It got very contentious, and I'm not sure it was the best ordinance," she said. "It's our responsibility to promulgate laws, ordinances to our best ability, and when we do them on the fly, the chance of getting it wrong is very high.”
The next council meeting where members could vote to rescind the ordinance is January 12. Because Marasco was the third vote in favor of the original ordinance, it seems likely that a move to pull it back will pass. If so, the council could take up a new draft at a work session on January 28.
Marasco says she wants council to go back to the original draft prepared by the city’s Planning Commission and craft a new ordinance in a more deliberative way.
