A Lewes-Rehoboth Canal Improvement Association project is receiving a big boost from Delaware’s Department of Transportation.
The Association envisions a public dock near Grove Park and the Rehoboth Beach Museum, and has been working to make it happen for seven years.
Southern Delaware Tourism executive director Scott Thomas says a new $300,000 grant from DelDOT is giving the project new-found momentum.
“I think it’s got a lot of positive ramifications for, not just the City of Rehoboth, but for the whole coastal Delaware, the Cape region as far as canal access. It’s all about getting safe, viable access to the water,” said Thomas.
Thomas says a feasibility report conducted in 2011 by Delaware-based Landscape Architectural Services, LLC concluded that a Rehoboth Beach dock could be built to allow the general public access to the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.
He says the dock and subsequent access pier would provide faster water access between Rehoboth, Lewes and Dewey Beach for a variety of residents and visitors, alike:
“I mean aside from kind of the public amenities such as being able to launch a canoe or kayak from that location, it also sets up kind of transient docking for pontoon boats along the canal,” said Thomas.
The project’s estimated price tag is $850,000. And construction could begin as early as the fall of 2019.
In addition to the $300,000 DelDOT grant, the City of Rehoboth Beach has committed $20,000 to the project. A community fundraiser is planned this fall to raise the additional funds needed.
