I've read with dismay in letters and articles published in the Cape Gazette that the compromise plan offered by the developer and brokered by Sen. Ernie Lopez for a significantly downsized Gills Neck Village is still being opposed by some residents. I feel compelled to write since letters have also been published purporting to represent opposition by the residents of the Senators community.
As a resident of the Senators I support this significantly downsized, compromise proposal for the Gills Neck Village retail area as do many of my neighbors. The compromise proposal now includes only a very modest, neighborhood retail area, including a grocery store and a few retailers or offices such as those at the front of the Villages at Five Points.
I am hoping that the compromise proposal is approved because I believe it represents a small beginning for reasonable community planning in eastern Sussex County. By including a small retail area integrated into surrounding neighborhoods, it will reduce the need for area residents to fight their way through the highway traffic that is and will continue to be inevitable as it is in all shore/resort communities in the high season.
As a longtime resident of a planned community with integrated retail areas in Columbia, Md., this kind of planned community supports aging-in-place, walkable communities, provides opportunities for neighbors to meet and greet each other and thus contributes to a genuine feeling of community.
Of course I wish that state and county governments together with developers would cooperate in more comprehensive planning, including funding for required infrastructure improvements. But I believe continued opposition to this reasonable compromise at Gills Neck Village sends the message that seeking solutions based on compromise and the best interests of all the residents of the area is futile.
I urge our county council members to support the compromise negotiated for the Gills Neck Village and then continue to work toward meaningful community planning and infrastructure funding based on reason and compromise. This action could build confidence in the governmental process and avoid the conflict inherent in the repetitive cycles of developer proposals and community opposition that now erupts with every development plan.
Bob Wardwell
Lewes