CLICK FOR THE GATE COMBINATIONS
MAY 3, 2025 COMMUNITY MEETING
All community members are invited to attend the May 3, 2025 Community Meeting, to be held at 9:30 at Ocean View Church of Christ, 55 West Ave, Ocean View, DE (the one with the HUGE parking lot!). The primary purpose of this meeting is to vote on the Board-recommended Annual Assessment, which is proposed to be set at $3325 per developed residential property. Click HERE for further information.
HAPPY HOUR – On the evening of May 3, Margie and Mark Cyr invite us to their home at 25 Addy for the first Happy Hour of the season. Folks with last names starting with A – M are asked to bring beverages to share with others (wine/beer), while last names N – Z are asked to bring finger food appetizers. We look forward to seeing you there!
2024-25 BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE
The MBA Board generally meets monthly. We are thrilled that Nally Homes, located in our Commercial District, and their landlord Kathy Dryden, have agreed to allow us to use their conference room. Next open meeting: Saturday, June 21 at 9:30 am. The usual ZOOM access will be provided to the community. Click HERE for further information.
Pickleball, Basketball & Other Sports
At its 11/16/24 meeting, the Board heard a presentation by Bob Unetich, who is a pickleball player and consultant on sound issues surrounding such courts. Further information on this topic is available at THIS LINK.
In October, a Board email introduced the issue of noise in the community caused by pickleball, basketball, and similar activities, and invited community members to submit comments to the Board on the concept. Because the request for comments did NOT state that they would be published to the community, they have not. In February, the Board circulated a community survey on this topic, with a followup in late March.
Please consider your neighbors when playing pickleball and basketball. We all come to Middlesex Beach for the quiet, relaxation and peacefulness of the community. The noise created by playing pickleball or basketball may be interfering with your neighbor’s enjoyment of their property. Any proposed draft rules will be communicated to all members and there will be an opportunity for comment before the board considers whether to implement a rule and the details of the rule.
MBA STAFF RECOGNIZED IN THEIR OFFSEASON POSITIONS
Shout outs to Colin Crandell, our Beach Patrol Lieutenant, and Gavin Harrell, Beach Patrol member, for their recent accomplishments as highlighted in the Feb. 14 Coastal Point newspaper. Colin was named Henlopen Athletic Conference boys’ swimming Coach of the Year for the third straight year. Colin coaches the Indian River High School team (which doesn’t even have it’s own pool!) Gavin Harrell, who swims for IRHS, also received kudos for being a “swimming standout” in a full page article about his accomplishments, in which he praises Colin and mentions that he lifeguards for Middlesex Beach. Proud of you guys!
HIGHWAY FENCING PROJECT COMPLETED
In early 2024, MBA replaced about half our highway fencing, in addition to a short section at the west end of our community. We were very pleased with that work, and in January 2025, Eastern Shore Porch and Patio (ESPP) replaced the remainder of our 20ish year old highway fencing, and also the community owned fencing at the west end of Errett and Short Roads.
CLICK HERE for details about last year’s fencing work, the basics of which are applicable to the recent work.
BEACH SIDE PARKING:
bicycles, full sized vehicles, and everything in between (golf carts and LSV’s)
There are more and more golf carts and LSV’s (Low Speed Vehicles) being operated to get members, their families and their guests to and from the beach. On the other hand, parallel parking spaces along Dune Rd are all marked for use by, and sized for, SUV-sized vehicles. CLICK HERE for more information on this topic.
MBA Organizational Chart | MBA Terms and Conditions of Website Use
For further information regarding MBA meetings or events, please contact the Board of Directors.
2025-26 TRASH SCHEDULE
Click HERE for a copy of the 2025 Trash and Recycling pickup schedule. The pickup schedules remains the same as last year. This schedule includes Yard Waste pickup every other Wednesday through October. Yard Waste for this pickup must be properly prepared: either put such waste in paper bags or tied with cotton string into bundles no more than 4’ long.
Board Elections
End of Summer Community Meeting was held on August 31, 2024 at the Ocean View Presbyterian Church. There were four announced candidates for the four Board seats up for election. Bob Wood received 102 votes; Kerry Hall 101 votes; Barbara Friedman 98 votes; Alan Lescht 93 votes; Steve Larsen 1 vote.
At the subsequent Board Organization Meeting, the following officers were elected: President: Dave Wiecking; Vice-President: Margie Cyr; Treasurer: Bob Wood; Secretary: Kate Mounteer.
2024 Happy Hours
Click for pictures from the May 4, 2024 Happy Hour held at the 4 Errett Road home of David Burgess and Kate Mounteer, the June 15, 2024 Happy Hour at the 26 Short home of Wendy and John Thiede, the July 20, 2024 Happy Hour held at the 3 Addy road home of CoryAnn and Kevin Clarke and the August 16, 2024 Happy Hour held at the 29 Dune Rd home of Michelle and Jeffrey Rivest.
Updates on Drainage
- Current Middlesex Beach Drainage Schematic
- Sussex Conservation Stormwater information | Homeowner’s guide to Stormwater management | Past SCD presentations
Internal Drainage (updated 4/15/25):
In the spring of 2024, MBA contracted with Harry Caswell to blow debris out of all our driveway culverts and other underground piping. While this work cleared debris from many portions of the drainage system, it also revealed some rusting steel culverts that will need to be replaced in the near future.
While some are scattered throughout the community, most of these are along Evergreen Road. The issues with various retaining walls on the sides of various driveways make this project more complex than any other street. (Click HERE for further information, which admittedly is rather bare-bones at this time. As plans develop further, we will share the details with the affected properties.) For that reason this street will be the subject of drainage work in the Fall of 2025.
However, we will be doing work along both sides of Errett Road, more or less picking up where work ceased in 2015. We have discussed the basics with Lyndon Hitchens (LH Excavation), including which trees (mostly if not entirely on the south side of the street) are in the way of accessing the ditches. We hope to get this work done during May.
External Drainage (updated 10/1/24):
Based on input from DelDOT, DNREC has completed a second survey of the ditching and drainage areas along Kent Avenue and has used that information to come up with a modified plan, particularly at the most “downstream” part of the system (where the ditches drain into the Assawoman Canal just south of the Kent Avenue bridge). Because some of the work is on non-DelDOT property, easements will need to be negotiated with several private property owners. Click HERE for further information.
Some outside links of interest
- Bethany Beach firefly proposed to be added to the Endangered Species Act list
- 9/24/24 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management public hearing in Ocean City
- Ocean City Webpage re proposed offshore wind projects
- South Bethany webpage re proposed offshore wind projects
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management page on proposed MD offshore wind project
- DNREC’s Economic Analysis for Shoreline Management
- DE Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) official talks flood zones, funding (Coastal Point article)
- Delaware Inland Bays and Delaware Bay Coast Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility (Back Bay) Study Put On Hold
- South Bethany Tide Chart (via tideschart.com) | Indian River Tide Chart (via tide-forecast.com)