Editing South Bethany, Delaware (section)

====1960s through 1990s====
Although Iggie Hall of the South Bethany Corporation tried to have South Bethany [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] as a town even in its early years in order to improve services in the community, she had no success. Meanwhile, a group of South Bethany residents formed the South Bethany Association to address community services and needs.<ref name="Walter34">Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015, p. 22.</ref>

A destructive [[nor'easter]] known as the [[Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962]] struck the area from March 6 to 8, 1962. Delaware's Atlantic coast experienced severe damage from very high tides and waves more than {{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} high breaking on its beaches. In South Bethany, the storm destroyed 37 oceanfront homes.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015; p. 29.</ref> The 1962 storm gave a new impetus to incorporation, because as an unincorporated community South Bethany could not receive federal funding to recover from the disaster. The [[Delaware General Assembly]] rebuffed the initial efforts to incorporate the community after the storm, claiming that its tiny year-round population disqualified it from incorporation.<ref name="Walter34"/> The assembly eventually did pass an incorporation bill, which the [[governor of Delaware]], [[Charles L. Terry, Jr.]], signed in December 1965.<ref name="townhistory"/> In the first public referendum in South Bethany on incorporation, held in June 1966, voters decisively rejected it.<ref name="Walter34"/><ref name="townhistory"/> But in 1969 another referendum on the matter won, and on June 18, 1969, Governor [[Russell W. Peterson]] signed a bill providing for incorporation of the community as the Town of South Bethany.<ref name="townhistory"/> Elections for town offices soon took place, and James "Jim" Cleveland was elected as the town's first mayor.<ref name="townhistory"/> At the time, South Bethany had 240 houses and 496 property owners, although its year-round population consisted of just 15 families.<ref name="Walter34"/>

Plans for a beach and tennis community, [[Sea Colony]], centered on nine high-rise condominiums situated on a private beach between South Bethany and Bethany Beach, began in 1969; these buildings, the area's first and only high-rises, opened in the early 1970s. The 1,200-[[townhome]] Sea Colony West low-rise beach and [[tennis]] resort development later was added just inland.<ref name="Meehan, p. 93, 155">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=93, 155}}</ref> Plans for Sea Colony met bitter opposition from longtime South Bethany and Bethany Beach residents, who were dismayed at the thought of high-rises and large crowds in the area.<ref name="Meehan, p. 96">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=96}}</ref> Opponents of Sea Colony marched in protest and engaged in protracted legal efforts to block construction of the resort, but the property lay outside the town limits of both South Bethany and Bethany Beach, and their efforts to block the construction of Sea Colony failed.<ref name="Meehan, p. 96"/> Sea Colony went on to become a very successful resort.<ref name="Meehan, p. 155">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=155}}</ref>

In 1971, South Bethany hired its first police officer. On June 18, 1971, its first lifeguards went to work to ensure safety on the town's Atlantic beach.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015; p. 33.</ref>

In 1972, South Bethany expanded southward, annexing the York Beach community – a plot of land known from 1812 to 1946 as "Derickson's Venture"  – and the Paradise Shores community adjacent to and to the west of York Beach. The annexation of York Beach brought York Beach Mall – opened in 1959 and expanded in 1965 – into South Bethany, giving the town its first and only commercial area.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015; pp. 21-22.</ref> In the same year, South Bethany began installing a central [[sewer system]],<ref name="Walter34"/> and Sussex County prohibited construction in the town within {{convert|1,000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} of the ocean in the hope of restoring the main [[dune]].<ref name="townhistory"/>

In 1977, South Bethany's sewer system was completed, and the community installed its first two traffic signals, located on Coastal Highway at the north and south ends of the town.<ref name="townhistory"/> Also in that year, South Bethany received a federal grant to construct its first town hall, located on land Iggie Hall had donated for that purpose;<ref name="townhistory"/> the town hall opened in 1978.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015, p. 34.</ref> In January 1981, the [[Delaware Supreme Court]] lifted Sussex County's ban on construction on the dune, and development of the beach area resumed.<ref name="townhistory"/>

In August 1983, property owners formed the South Bethany Property Owners Association,<ref name="townhistory"/> and that year the town annexed the neighboring Sand Piper Pines community. At the time South Bethany consisted of 1,282 separate properties, 748 houses, and 105 year-round residents.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015, pp. 35-36.</ref> During the mid-1980s, a [[beach nourishment|beach replenishment]] project took place along the town's Atlantic coast to recover sand lost during major storms.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015, p. 30.</ref> On November 19, 1987, South Bethany expanded its boundary westward by annexing the Cat Hill community, and on March 22, 1992, Cat Hill conveyed {{convert|22|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of [[wetland]]s to the town.<ref name="townhistory"/>

In 1998, South Bethany voted for the installation of a [[water tower]] and central [[water system]].<ref name="Walter23"/> Also in that year, the installation of [[propane]] lines began in South Bethany;<ref name="Walter23">Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015; p. 23.</ref> the town began installation of an underground [[propane]] storage tank behind the town hall to feed the system in October 2003,<ref name="townhistory"/> and the system began supplying propane to residents and businesses in the early 2000s.<ref name="Walter23"/>