DelawareLive Dec 11

Delaware LIVE Weekly Review – Dec. 11, 2022

Sonja FreyDelaware Live, Weekly Review

Click on the image below to view as a PDF This Week’s Top Headlines Include: Headlines A woman’s place? For Ruth Briggs King, it’s the legislature Wilmington police chief to step down No mail today? You aren’t alone. Here’s why Culture These holiday lights will help you get your glow on A new view: Rockford Tower is lit for the …

Cape Henlopen State Park

Under pressure, DNREC scraps Cape Henlopen restaurant plan

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

Delaware’s famous Cape Henlopen State Park will not be the site of a new oceanfront restaurant, officials announced Monday. The decision came after weeks of public outcry, including protests, op-eds in local papers and an organized campaign with yard signs that read, “No restaurant on dunes.” In a press release, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said …

CHSP 1 1

Proposed Cape Henlopen eatery spawns protests, public forum

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

The agency that runs Cape Henlopen State Park is asking for the public’s feedback on a proposal to build a restaurant in the main beach parking lot. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will hold a public meeting to discuss the proposal Monday Dec. 5 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Cape Henlopen High School auditorium. …

No Cap Beach Tags 1

No cap on next year’s surf fishing tags

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

There will be no cap on the number of surf fishing tags sold next summer, but drive-on beachgoers will have to pay a fee on weekends. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced the change Wednesday. The agency said the change will be piloted for the 2023 surf fishing permit program after record interest in the program …

a large body of water

The Point at Cape Henlopen to reopen for offseason

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

The Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, including a stretch of ocean beach, dunes and a half-mile along the bay shoreline, will reopen for the offseason Thursday, Sept. 1. The bayside beach will remain closed until Oct. 1 for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter. Since 1993, The Point has closed annually each March to protect threatened and …

DE State Parks

Delaware State Parks on track to set visitation record

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

After breaking attendance records in 2021, Delaware State Parks is on pace to set another visitor attendance mark by the end of 2022, DNREC announced Friday. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, DNREC’s Division of Parks and Recreation had 47,250 active annual passes that allow daily entry into Delaware State Parks compared with 61,744 in 2021, a 31% increase. …

Grenoble Place Crossing

Delaware Memorial Day dune crossing closures

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

Multiple vehicle and pedestrian beach access points will be closed during Memorial Day weekend, DNREC announced Thursday. The drive-on and walk-on crossings sustained damage during a May 8 nor’easter. Unsafe drop-offs along the dunes where the crossings meet the beach necessitated the closures. Very little beach is available for drive-on surf fishing, even during low tide at the closed locations, …

Nesting birds need share of beach sand, too, this summer

Jarek RutzCulture, Headlines

DNREC will block off some areas of beach to allow birds to nest and wants to train volunteers to man those boundaries and let beachgoers know what’s happening. Piping Plover photo courtesy of DNREC.   Delaware beachgoers should be prepared to share the sands this summer, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said this week. Piping Plovers and …

The Point at Cape Henlopen to close for season

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

DNREC PHOTO The Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, including a stretch of ocean and bay beach, will be closed beginning March 1 for the duration of the spring and summer. Since 1993, The Point has closed annually for most of the spring and summer to protect threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds. Those species include red knots, piping …

Sledding on the dunes is against the rules

Charlie MegginsonCulture, Headlines

Those caught trespassing in dune areas restricted to the public could face fines upward of $100 from the DNREC Natural Resource Police. (Photo courtesy of DNREC) In the state with the lowest mean elevation of all U.S. states, the dunes at Cape Henlopen and other beaches along Delaware’s Atlantic Coast might feel like mountains.  And when a snowstorm blows in, …