Rehoboth’s building inspector leaving job

The city staffer who’s said “yes” or “no” to proposed construction projects in Rehoboth Beach since 2008 is resigning her position in the Building & Licensing Department.

Terri Sullivan, Rehoboth Beach’s chief building inspector, said Tuesday she is resigning to make possible a family move to Florida. While her department’s work has been closely scrutinized this year amidst political debates in Rehoboth about restricting the size of residential homes, Sullivan said her decision to leave her job and move is unconnected with those disputes.

“No juicy news story. It’s just that time,” Sullivan said. “The staff is incredible. We’re definitely overworked, we need more staff, but it’s not about any of that.”

Sharon Lynn, the Rehoboth Beach city manager, said Sullivan submitted a resignation notice effective Aug. 12.

“She’s been busy, certainly, but we all have,” Lynn said. “I think this is something she’s wanted to do for awhile.”

Sullivan and her department have often been in the public eye in Rehoboth, often when their rulings on interpretations of the city’s building code have drawn challenges. A restaurant, Stingray, that Rehoboth said couldn’t add a 720-foot patio challenged the decision in court and won in a 2013 state Supreme Court ruling. Sullivan, and later the Board of Adjustment, had made the original findings against Stingray.

Since last fall, Rehoboth has been consumed by debate over whether development trends in the small but dense resort were producing too many “mini-hotels,” nominally single-family homes with six or more bedrooms. Sullivan, along with a contracted planner for the city, gave the Rehoboth Beach Commissioners requested advice on how they could tweak the code to make such homes harder to build; in votes this summer, the commissioners passed some zoning-law changes but rejected others.

Lynn said she is evaluating promoting from within the department to fill Sullivan’s position, and said there should be no delay in the department’s work.

“I think the transition plan is a good one. We have professional and trained employees who are already there,” Lynn said Monday.

Before coming to Rehoboth Beach, Sullivan worked for the town of Snow Hill, Maryland, and for a Maryland home building company.

Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, on Twitter @JamesFisherTNJ or jfisher@delawareonline.com.