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Estauary gets approval from County P&Z
By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter
More than a month after 33 people declared their opposition to The Estuary at an Aug. 17 public hearing, Sussex County’s planning and zoning commissioners voted 4-1 on Sept. 28 to approve the subdivision of 737 acres into 1,052 lots for the development off of Double Bridges and Camp Barnes Roads, near the Assawoman Wildlife Refuge.
Officials from the Maryland-based Michael T. Rose Company plan to develop 1,052 single-family homes at the site, which falls in the county’s Environmentally Sensitive Developing Area.
Environmental impacts were just one concern for local government leaders and residents, though. They also complained that more homes in the already-congested area would further stress the rural roads.
Conditions attached to the approval included one that will require the developers to meet all DelDOT recommendations. Jack Haese, the project manager for The Estuary, said he expected such a condition and was encouraged with the outcome of last Thursday’s meeting.
“We’re very happy,” Haese said in the lobby outside of the council chambers after the meeting. “The council acted carefully and responsibly.”
Jim Fuqua, a Georgetown attorney working for the developer who has consistently said that if a development meets county code, it should be approved, repeated that rhetoric last Thursday. The approved 1.4 lots per acre fell far short of the 2.13 lots per acre maximum allowed in the AR-1 County zoning district.
”It’s not supposed to be arbitrary,” Fuqua said of approval. “A lot of stuff is pretty clear. If you do it right, you should get approval.”
Fuqua and Haese said Thursday that they hope to return to the commission with a preliminary site plan in about two months. After submitting a traffic impact study to DelDOT this summer, developers expected to meet with DelDOT officials this week to talk about possible recommendations.
In the developer’s TIS, prepared by the Traffic Group, developers recommended improvements as far away from the site as the intersections of Routes 26 and 1, and Route 26 and West Avenue.
Road improvement recommendations in the developer’s TIS also included adding a left-turn lane on Bayard Road at its intersection with Double Bridges Road, a southbound left-turn lane on Bayard at its intersection with Route 20 and a westbound right-turn lane at that same intersection.
The Traffic Group also recommended minor improvements at the Routes 20 and 55, and Parker House and Muddy Neck intersections. Under the TIS, officials would install traffic signals at several other local intersections “when warranted.”
Besides turn lanes, though, developers have not proposed any expansion of local roads, most of which comprise only two undivided lanes with unpaved or no shoulders and are congested by over-population, according to local residents.
In an Aug. 11 letter addressed to the county’s planning and zoning department, South Bethany resident Eileen Spangler wrote that “traffic through the Cat Hill section of South Bethany is already a problem, necessitating police intervention.”
A South Bethany resolution passed before the August public hearing addressed similar concerns and local government leaders have recognized the issue.
“We’re getting complaint after complaint after complaint about traffic,” Rep. Gerald Hocker (R-38th) said in a recent interview. “When those two roads (Double Bridges and Camp Barnes) are getting the most complaints of any roads, how can we put more on it without correcting it?”
DelDOT officials are currently studying the need for more lighting, signage and pavement on Double Bridges, but since the area falls in the state-designated Level 4 Investment area where the state does not encourage new development, it will not pay for infrastructure needs caused by development. Infrastructure costs will be the sole burden of the developer, state officials have said.
“We fully anticipate that they are going to come to us and ask us to fix these issues,” Haese recently said. “These are things that have to be done (and) they will be done.”
The developer for The Estuary utilized a county “cluster” ordinance that allows for smaller lots to create more open space. The average lot in the proposed plan will be about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, one representative said at the August public hearing. More than 50 percent of the project’s 737 acres will be left as open space — thanks, in part, to the cluster ordinance.
The very-preliminary plan includes 1,052 single-family homes, a recreation facility, a sales center that will ultimately be converted into some type of community building and a boat storage area for non-motorized watercrafts. It does not include, as last year’s PLUS review wrongly reported, a commercial center — something that was proposed three years ago with the original “Palisades” development planned for the site.
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