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Traffic major part of Village Center debate

Complex rezoning application under scrutiny
July 22, 2016

As the debate over the proposed rezoning for the Gills Neck Village Center swirls around Lewes, traffic has surfaced as one of the key issues.

J.G. Townsend Jr. & Co. has filed an application for B-1 neighborhood zoning for an 11.6-acre parcel at Gills Neck Road and Kings Highway. The rezoning would pave the way for the Gills Neck Village Center, a long debated commercial project proposed as part of a 30-year development plan along Gills Neck Road. When all proposed projects are complete, about 2,000 homes or units will have been built along Gills Neck Road.

The proposed shopping center would be located along Kings Highway, one of three entrance ways to Lewes. It's the same road used by visitors to Cape Henlopen State Park and Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

The first round of public comment on the application was completed July 14 during a nearly 4-hour Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission hearing. Next up is a county council hearing at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 23, in the county administration building, 2 The Circle, Georgetown.

DelDOT: Traffic study is valid

Opponents say existing traffic already leads to failed intersections on Kings Highway. They claim additional traffic from the proposed center and other housing projects under construction would lead to gridlock. They say a new traffic impact study for the application is warranted.

Delaware Department of Transportation officials and the developer say improvements to the road system in the area will mitigate increased traffic caused by the proposed shopping center. DelDOT officials say a 2006 traffic study offers a true portrayal of traffic conditions because the proposed center has been downsized.

During the planning and zoning commission hearing, City of Lewes Mayor Ted Becker presented a 2016 area-wide traffic study showed that state transportation officials project an increase from 18 to 39 percent in traffic volume in and near Lewes. Using a conservative estimate of 20 percent, Becker said, more than 20,000 daily trips would be added to the area by 2035.

"That would exceed capacity as a concept of failure," the mayor said.

The study commissioned by the City of Lewes found that in 2014, the annual average traffic count at the Kings Highway-Gills Neck Road intersection ranged from 16,000 to 19,000 vehicles. According to the report, the Village Center would add 4,000 to 4,800 vehicles per day. Three projects along Gills Neck Road yet to be completed – Governors, Senators and Showfield – would add from 7,800 to 9,300 trips per day at build out.

"The applicant's 2006 traffic study for development of the parcel is a decade old and does not adequately address the applicant's current upzoning request, nor does it reflect DelDOT traffic counts in 2015 and 2016. The area-wide traffic study addresses both the proposed Village Center and the traffic counts," according to the report.

Ring Lardner, the developer's engineer, said the proposed center is located in a state Level 1 and county growth area in the county's land-use plan where commercial development is expected along a major arterial road. He said the 2006 traffic impact study looked at 11 intersections.

However, John Sergovic, an attorney representing Lewes Partnership for Managing Growth, said he disagreed that the application is in compliance with the 2008 county's land-use plan. "The major arterial road at that time was Savannah Road and not Kings Highway and the map shows the whole area as low density," he said.

Lewes traffic consultant Paul Silberman said the Lewes study takes a much longer view of existing and future traffic in and around Lewes. He said there is the potential of development of up to 5,000 new units and nearly 270,000 square feet of commercial space in the area adding up to 60,000 new vehicle trips. "There is a lot of growth on Lewes' doorstep," he said.

He supported DelDOT's proposed traffic improvement district for the Lewes area instead of a development-by-development process.

Todd Sammons, a DelDOT subdivision engineer, said the area has been the subject of several studies. He said the 2006 traffic impact study was valid because the proposed shopping center had been substantially reduced in size.

Over nearly a decade, the proposed Village Center has been downsized from a 520,000-square-foot complex with commercial, housing and office space on 60 acres to a 75,000-square foot shopping center on less than 12 acres. An application for 215,000 square feet of commercial space was placed on hold when the B-1 zoning application was filed by the developer.

Sammons said the developer must provide a traffic operation analysis for the two proposed entrances on Gills Neck Road and the Kings Highway-Clay Road intersection and the high school intersection to ensure that proposed road improvements are appropriately sized.

In the revised state planning Preliminary Land Use Service report from April, the developer acknowledged that a TOA and signal justification study using updated 2015 data – including traffic counts – were required and underway.

Sammons said through various studies and discussions DelDOT is aware of what the public wants. "They don't want Kings Highway to be a four-lane highway; they want a boulevard with bike paths," he said. "We work with the developer to mitigate traffic issues."

Group says center would add to congestion

Lewes Partnership for Managing Growth supports yet a more down-scaled shopping center of about 25,000 square feet. President John Mateyko said a larger center could not be supported by local residents and would have to attract shoppers from the Route 1 corridor, which would increase traffic in a congested area.

"They would come from other areas," he said. "We don't need reports. Just stand out there for a few minutes on Saturday."

The group has proposed an area-wide package including private development of a small, local-shopping center and public purchase of open space to protect the Kings Highway gateway into Lewes, Mateyko said.

The group will have a community meeting from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 13, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church fellowship hall, 211 Mulberry St., Lewes, to discuss an area-wide planned solution.

Jane Lord, a Cadbury at Lewes resident, said traffic from the proposed shopping center would put the youngest and oldest drivers and pedestrians from the high school and Cadbury in danger. In addition, she said, emergency vehicles need unimpeded access to the high school and Cadbury. "We can't afford to play the odds that the road will be magically clear in an emergency," she said.

How project impacts Lewes byway

Gail VanGilder, chairwoman of the Lewes Scenic and Historic Byway Committee, said the proposed center would be at the intersection of two of the byway's roads. "The developer has been asked by DelDOT to follow the byway corridor management plan and seek input from the byway committee," she said.

The applicant noted in the April PLUS report that the approved and proposed road improvements are guided by an existing 2009 agreement while the byways corridor management plan was adopted in October 2015. "The developer and design engineer will review the typical sections and evaluate whether they can be incorporated into the frontage, the proposed access improvements and the development of the the Village Center site," the report notes.

According to the report, the developer would construct "a visually attractive project, which will be a welcome addition to the area as the Gateway to Lewes along Kings Highway."

It's also noted that the developer was unaware that Gills Neck Road had been added to the byway but the developer and design engineer would meet with DelDOT early in the design process to review the design standards that could be used along Gills Neck Road.

Next: Water quality.

Download: www.stateplanning.delaware.gov/plus/projects/2015/2015-03-02.pdf

LEWES ENTRANCES

Average daily traffic counts (annual vs. peak), 2014

Kings Highway: 10,000/12,000

New Road: 5,000/6,000

Savannah Road: 21,000/26,000

Route 1: 48,000/67,000

Road projects paid for by developers

Road improvements provided by developers of projects along Gills Neck Road:

• More than 4.5 acres of right of way along Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road.

• Several easements of land for the Junction and Breakwater Trail through the Senators and Showfield communities.

• Governors frontage improvements: A deceleration lane; protected left-turn lane; and widening of 1,400 feet of Gills Neck Road with 11-foot lanes and 5-foot shoulders. To be developed.

• Senators frontage improvements: Deceleration lane; by-pass lane; widening of 2,000 feet of Gills Neck Road to 11-foot lanes and 5-foot shoulders; and reconfiguration of the S-curve between the development and Cadbury. Improvements completed.

• Showfield frontage improvements: Deceleration lane; widening of 2,000 feet of Gills Neck Road to 10-foot lanes and 5-foot shoulders; and reconfiguration of an S-curve north of the development's entrance. Improvements completed. Improvements completed.

• Intersection improvements at Gills Neck Road/Kings Highway/Cape Henlopen High School: Phase 1 – completed last summer – included signal upgrades and additional turn lanes along Kings Highway. Phase 2 – to be completed this summer – includes additional signal upgrades and additional turn lanes along Gills Neck Road and the high school.

• Pending improvements: Replacement of the 4,500-foot gravel section of the Junction and Breakwater Trail along Gills Neck Road with a paved trail.

• If the rezoning for Village Center is approved: A traffic signal at Kings Highway and Clay Road with intersection improvements as the site access; contribution of funds for improvements at the Dartmouth Drive/Route 1 intersection; installation of a shared-use path along Kings Highway; and road widening as required along Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road not completed by other projects.

 

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