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. In the same year, South Bethany began installing a central sewer system, and Sussex County prohibited construction in the town within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of the ocean in the hope of restoring the main dune.