Re: Nick Roth's article published Jan. 13: Council sets hearing for Lewes Ice House rezoning.
On Feb. 28, the Lewes City Council will hold a hearing on rezoning the Ice House property on the northwest side of New Road from Industrial to R-4 (medium-density). Rezoning to R-4 would allow the owner/developer to build attached and/or two-family dwellings such as duplexes. In 2016, the Lewes Planning Commission considered this R-4 rezoning request, which came with a site plan that included 12 duplexes on the property, i.e., 24 housing units (the application should never have included a specific site plan, as consideration of the use of a rezoned property was premature).
The planning commission recommended that the Mayor and City Council approve the application, but during the discussions leading to this recommendation, the planning commission clearly was considering the rezoning request along with the specific project intended for the property. Before a public hearing could be held, the city was made aware that the 2.11-acre parcel in question was not large enough to provide for duplex housing; the minimum parcel size for this use is 2.5 acres. At the Jan. 9 meeting to discuss whether to hold a public hearing, the Mayor and City Council decided that a public hearing must be held and scheduled it for Feb. 28. While the duplex proposal will not be on the agenda for this public hearing, all interested parties know that it drives the rezoning request.
It should be noted that the lot size of 2.11 acres is 0.39 acres shy of the 2.5 acres required to build a project with this density under current regulations. Still, the developer could ask the city council to modify its regulations or, more simply, could acquire the adjacent property by making an offer which is too good to pass. If R-4 zoning has been granted, construction of the duplexes would then be allowed as a matter of right.
Legally, most of the debate about whether to grant R-4 rezoning is going to focus on the notion of adjacency, and whether the area northwest of New Road is an older, densely settled section of the city (see City Code, §197-30 sections (1) and (4)(a), which state: "...purposes of [...] (R-4) are: (1) Provide for residential development adjacent to the City's town center [...] (4)(a) Encourage a residential development pattern that is (a) Appropriate for older, densely settled sections of the City...").
A significant amount of bad faith would be required to pretend that the Ice House is adjacent to the city's town center. Indeed, the Ice House is separated from the city's town center by the 4th street forest, and various Pilottown neighborhoods. This is hardly adjacent.
And the Ice House is certainly not in an older, densely settled section of the city. In fact, the area where the Ice House is located is the least densely settled section of the city.
But ultimately, legal arguments should not obfuscate the real issue, which is: what type of development do we want in Lewes? Is our goal to maintain our unique, semi-rural and historic character, or do we want to become another suburb by the sea? The area northwest of New Road and near the canal is characterized by parkland, marshes, bird nesting sites and large lots with single family homes. In this environment, the parcel where the Ice House is located is totally unsuitable for purposes of R-4 zoning. The city council should reject the rezoning application.
Terry Poirey, Eric Fuchs
Lewes
PS: If R-4 zoning is disallowed, the owner/developer will be able to ask the city to grant R-2 zoning to the property. Construction would then be allowed for single-family homes similar to those in the vicinity.
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