REHOBOTH BEACH – The City of Rehoboth Beach introduces a new digital platform to inform the public and solicit feedback. Reach Out Rehoboth welcomes residents, property owners, business owners, tourists, and other stakeholders to learn about current municipal projects and to offer recommendations, thoughts, comments, and questions using a variety of interaction methods.
Information on the newly launched site relates to current projects and includes:
- Traffic and parking study;
- Construction of a new beach patrol and comfort station facility;
- Possible establishment of a stormwater utility;
- Wilmington/Baltimore streetscape improvements;
- A variety of additional upcoming maintenance projects, such as the repaving of Rehoboth Avenue, installation of new water meters, and replacement of the water main on Laurel Avenue and;
- A “Hot Topics” survey – the initial survey focuses on whether Rehoboth Beach should allow leashed dogs on the beach during certain hours in the summer season.
“We’re excited to offer this new engagement tool and see where it takes our community,” City Manager Laurence Christian said in a statement. “Ultimately, we believe that it will lead to more collaborative, better decision-making. Increased communication/engagement is one of the top priorities identified in our comprehensive development plan, and it’s a goal that is extremely important to elected officials and city staff. We’re eager to take community engagement to the next level in Rehoboth Beach.”
The Reach Out Rehoboth site features a suite of tools and widgets provided through Granicus’s Engagement HQ platform. Tools allow registered visitors to the site to respond to surveys and polls, share ideas and comments as well as stories, and to ask questions. The widgets function as ways to provide information such as links to documents and photos, timelines and key dates, and information about staff who are “listening” on the project.
The City of Rehoboth Beach has opted to require registration for most engagement activities on the site to ensure a higher quality of input and to better understand the relationship that people who are providing feedback have with the city.
Specific engagement opportunities currently available on Reach Out Rehoboth include:
- Placing pins with parking or traffic concerns or ideas on a map;
- Providing comments or questions about the upcoming Rehoboth Beach Patrol headquarters/comfort station rebuild
sharing stories about the Rehoboth Beach Patrol; - Sharing concerns about stormwater management
- Prioritizing streetscape objectives and;
- Responding to a survey about dogs on the beach.