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Rehoboth Beach

Rehoboth theater drops plans for new buildings in town

Officials end lawsuit aimed at reversing city’s refusal to approve project

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(Blade file photo)

The Clear Space Theatre Company in Rehoboth Beach, Del., announced on Wednesday that it has dropped its plans to build a larger theater and an adjacent rehearsal theater in a new in-town location because it no longer has the financial resources to continue its lawsuit challenging local officials’ refusal to approve the building project.

The announcement by Clear Space to end the project comes nine months after it filed a lawsuit charging Rehoboth Mayor Stan Mills and the Rehoboth Board of Commissioners with violating local and state law by voting to overturn a decision by the Rehoboth Planning Commission to approve plans for the two new theater buildings.

Supporters of the theater, including many of Rehoboth’s LGBTQ residents and summer visitors, believe the mayor and commissioners based their action on opposition to the project by a small but vocal minority of homeowners and renters who don’t want the theater buildings near their homes, even though they would have been built on Rehoboth Avenue, which serves as the city’s main business and commercial boulevard.

Opponents have said the back walls of the two proposed theater buildings would face a residential street lined with houses and would create excessive noise and parking problems among other adverse effects. Wesley Paulson, the Clear Space Theatre executive director, has said steps had been taken to minimize noise and parking related issues. He pointed out that plans for the two theaters were in full compliance with local zoning and building codes.

“Following months of serious debate, the board and staff of Clear Space Theatre have decided to end the project on Rehoboth Avenue,” the theater announced in a July 27 statement. “This was an extremely difficult decision, as Clear Space has spent years working on the development with the goal of expanding the vibrant arts community in Southern Delaware,” the statement says.

“The excessive financial commitment to fight the City of Rehoboth in court over approved site plans makes the project untenable,” the statement continues. “As we were met with roadblock after roadblock, legal action was justified and necessary to move forward,” it says. “However, the financial hardship it would require has led the Clear Space Theatre Board of Directors to vote to end the lawsuit. The three lots on Rehoboth Ave., which we’d hoped would serve as an arts destination, will be sold,” according to the statement.

The statement adds, “We will seek other options to allow for growth and the ability to better serve residents and visitors to southern Delaware.”

Paulson told the Washington Blade on Wednesday that Clear Space will continue its operations at it current theater building on Baltimore Avenue near the Rehoboth boardwalk, where it has produced and held Broadway plays and musical performances and instructional classes on theater for young people since 2011.

“We have a full season of shows and classes scheduled for the remainder of 2022 and are excited to produce seasons for many years to come,” the nonprofit theater company says in its July 27 statement.

Some of the theater’s supporters have said the effort by opponents to prevent Clear Space Theatre from moving to the Rehoboth Avenue site, if successful, would likely result in a commercial developer buying the property and building a larger building with restaurants or bars possibly planned for the lower floors that could create far more noise and parking problems than the theater.

Gay D.C. attorney Harvey Shulman, who was one of the leaders of the opponents of the Clear Space building plans for Rehoboth Avenue, has said he was confident that residents of the neighborhood located behind the property where the theater buildings were planned would succeed in stopping another project that would create neighborhood disturbances.

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Rehoboth Beach

Former CAMP Rehoboth official pleads guilty to felony theft

Salvatore Seeley faces possible jail time, agrees to reimburse $176,000

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(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Salvatore “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official at the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of Theft In Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling  funds from the organization for at least a two-and-a-half-year period, according to a Sussex County, Del., Superior Court indictment and a spokesperson for the Delaware Office of the Attorney General.

The spokesperson, Mat Marshall, sent the Blade a copy of the indictment, which he said was handed down against Seeley on Feb. 27 and which provides the only specific court information that the Washington Blade could immediately obtain.

“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to Camp Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate same,” the indictment states.

“I can further confirm that the Defendant entered a guilty plea to one count of Theft in Excess of $50,000,” spokesperson Marshall told the Blade in an email message. “Mr. Seeley also agrees to make restitution of $176,199.78 to CAMP Rehoboth,” Marshall said. “He will be sentenced on April 5 and does face the possibility of prison time.”

Marshall declined to provide additional information on the findings of the law enforcement investigation into Seeley’s alleged theft. The restitution figure of $176,199.79 suggests investigators believe Seeley embezzled at least that amount from CAMP Rehoboth during the time he worked for the organization.

Seeley couldn’t immediately be reached for comment

CAMP Rehoboth describes itself as a nonprofit LGBTQ community service organization and the largest organization of its type “serving the needs of LGBTQ+ people in Rehoboth, greater Sussex County, and throughout the state of Delaware.” The statement adds that the organization “is dedicated to creating a positive environment inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities in Rehoboth and its related communities.”

Kim Leisey, who began her job as executive director of CAMP Rehoboth in July of 2023, said it was her understanding that officials with the organization discovered funds were missing and opened an investigation in September of 2021, a short time before Seeley left the organization. Leisey said that at the time of his departure, Seeley served as CAMP Rehoboth’s director of health and wellness programs. 

At that time, former D.C. Center for the LGBT Community director David Mariner was serving as CAMP Rehoboth’s executive director and reportedly took steps to open an investigation into missing funds. Wesley Combs, CAMP Rehoboth’s current board president, said Seeley resigned from his job around that time in 2021.

“I know that I took this job knowing there was a concern and a problem and an investigation,” Leisey told the Blade. “And I also know that the board of CAMP Rehoboth has done everything it needs to do to ensure that we were compliant, cooperative and that things are going really well here at CAMP Rehoboth.”

Leisey said CAMP Rehoboth currently has a staff of six full-time employees and several contract employees. She said the organization has a current annual budget of $1.4 million.

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Rehoboth Beach

Comings & Goings

Jim Endean joins BSD in Rehoboth Beach

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Jim Endean

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].

Congratulations to Jim Endean on his new position as Director of Design and Business Development at BSD in Rehoboth Beach, Del. 

“I am joining the BSD team to cultivate and grow their cabinetry division creating kitchens, baths, mudrooms, and beyond,” he said. 

Prior to this he was with Atlantic Kitchen & Bath LLC, Lewes, Del., and was SVP New Business Development with Innomark Communications, New York. He has worked in corporate retail and brand design presentation for department stores, Nike, and Calvin Klein. He began his career with May Co. – Kaufmann’s, Hecht’s and Strawbridges divisions. His focus was on creating and executing brand vision for experiential customer environments at retail. He then translated that experience into the retail technology arena where he sold and implemented state-of-the-art 3D visual design and merchandising software transforming the way retailers and brands presented their identities to mass markets. Endean then went into residential interior design. He grew up in New England and Western Pennsylvania. He spent 20 years in corporate positions in New York City. He has been a visitor to Rehoboth Beach for 26 years and moved to the beach permanently in 2020. He lives there with his husband John, an architect, and their dog Levi. 

Endean earned his bachelor’s degree in Communications and Marketing, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh.

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Rehoboth Beach

Rehoboth Beach theater announces new managing director

Clear Space hires Joe Gfaller after national search

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Joe Gfaller starts his new role in November.

Rehoboth Beach’s Clear Space Theatre Company announced Tuesday that its board of directors has unanimously selected Joe Gfaller to join the company as managing director after a national search. 

Gfaller, who currently serves as managing director for Metro Theater Company in St. Louis, will join Artistic Director David Button as co-leader at CSTC, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2024.

“I am thrilled at the opportunity to help Clear Space Theatre Company grow its civic and philanthropic footprint as it begins a third decade of serving the community in coastal Delaware,” Gfaller said.

“Rehoboth is a special place to all who call it home, both year-round and seasonally. It is an extraordinary honor to work with such a creative and dynamic team as the CSTC staff and board to help the company grow to represent and reflect the fullness of this community.”

At Metro Theater Company, which is St. Louis’s primary professional theater for youth and families, Gfaller guided campaigns that helped grow the company’s revenues by 40% over four years, according to a release from Clear Space.

“Joe brings a wide range of theater experiences to the position and is sure to make an immediate impact on the company,” said Clear Space Board chair Laura Lee Mason. “His impressive track record and visionary leadership will undoubtedly elevate Clear Space to new heights. Joe shares our dedication to providing the community with outstanding education and theatrical experiences, and we look forward to collaborating with him to achieve those artistic aspirations.”

CSTC Artistic Director David Button added, “I look forward to Clear Space Theatre Company’s growth alongside Joe Gfaller. Not only will Clear Space benefit from his talent, but so will the community and state arts industry as a whole.”

Gfaller will begin full time in Rehoboth Beach in mid-November. During an October visit for the opening of “Young Frankenstein” at CSTC on Oct. 13, there will be opportunities for the public to meet him during the CAMP Rehoboth Street Festival on Oct. 15. He will be joined by his husband Kraig and their two dogs, Sprout and Emmit.

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