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Sussex debates growth along Kings Highway

Medical offices proposed near Gills Neck Road
February 20, 2018

Story Location:
Kings Highway
Gills Neck Road
Lewes, DE
United States

The debate over a conditional-use application for a medical office complex outside Lewes morphed into a discussion on the future of Kings Highway during Sussex County Council's Feb. 6 meeting.

Mitchell Family Limited Partnership has filed a conditional-use application for a 39,000-square-foot, two-story medical office building on three acres at the corner of Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road. The parcel, across from Cape Henlopen High School, is zoned AR-1, agricultural-residential.

At its Feb. 8 meeting, the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the application. Council deferred on a vote.

Councilman George Cole, R-Ocean View, said state transportation officials have plans for Kings Highway upgrades. Dualization of the highway is included in the current Delaware Department of Transportation capital transportation plan.

Cole said with the proposed office complex plan, the site does not seem large enough to accommodate widening of the road and any other plans by the Lewes Scenic and Historic Byway Committee. Kings Highway is part of the Lewes byway network as one of the main access roads to the city, Cape Henlopen State Park and Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

The proposed setback along Gills Neck Road for the complex is 60 feet, said Ring Lardner, the developer's engineer.

“It looks to me like you may need 80 feet,” Cole said. “I'm looking to the future. I'm not trying to stop the project, but there is not enough land to get all of the improvements. Something has got to give.”

Lardner said the eventual setback would be determined by DelDOT officials during site-plan review if the application is approved by county council. He said DelDOT has not presented any specifics on work along the corridor.

“I'd like to know before we make approval,” Cole said. “After the fact, it's hard for agencies to negotiate.”

“Unfortunately, dualization of the lanes should have been recommended 10 years ago,” Lardner said.

“The site plan will have DelDOT input in coordination with the byway committee,” Lardner said.

“If DelDOT says the developer will need more right of way, it will be mandated, and the developer will have to make adjustments for that,” said county attorney J. Everett Moore.

Lardner said DelDOT officials will not handcuff themselves and their eventual plan for Kings Highway. “They will do the right thing,” he said.

County Councilman Rob Arlett, R-Frankford, said approval of the application would put DelDOT on notice to make a decision regarding the Kings Highway plan sooner.

“And not five to seven years down the road,” Lardner said.

Lardner said the development team would not meet with the byway committee until review of the preliminary site-plan process. He said he is aware the committee wants a boulevard along the roadway, but the proposal is not totally supported by DelDOT officials. “I'm sure they will come up with a plan that makes everybody happy,” he said.

Designed as a one-stop shop

David Hutt, the developer's attorney, said the project is compatible with other commercial and professional office uses along Kings Highway.

The office is planned as a one-stop orthopedic provider with medical examinations, diagnostic radiology, MRI and physical therapy under one roof, said project manager Mike Fiori. He said with the area's aging demographics, the focus would be on continuity of care to cut down on numerous trips to different facilities. “It's a transition of care at one location,” he said.

If approved, it would be the fifth facility of this type developed by Lighthouse Construction, but the first in Sussex County.

Because of the addition of 67 more parking spaces than required by county code, the developer is requesting parking in the front setback area. A total of 156 spaces would be provided for additional parking for caregivers and family members who would accompany patients coming to the complex.

Lardner said access to the site would be a temporary road off Gills Neck Road. He said use of the road would be evaluated as future development occurs on the remaining 49 acres of the parcel. It's possible the entrance would be eastward farther from the Kings Highway-Gills Neck Road intersection.

Councilman I.G. Burton, R-Lewes, asked if there had been discussion with DelDOT officials about an entrance off Kings Highway. Lardner replied that would be determined based on future use of the parcel.

As in the planning and zoning public hearing, no residents testified.

Five acres on the eastern border of the parcel have been sold to the Moorings at Lewes – formerly Cadbury at Lewes – for future development.

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