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Truitt Homestead will be a good neighbor

February 17, 2017

Since our father's death in 1981, my brother Jim and I have owned our grandparents' former 23.5-acre farm on Shuttle Road across from the DelDOT Park and Ride facility. Our father wanted the property to remain in the Truitt family for future generations, so we recently entered into a long-term lease with Ocean Atlantic to develop the site into a senior living community called Truitt Homestead that will honor our parents and grandparents who owned and lived on this land for the past century. An application filed by Ocean Atlantic to develop a small portion of our property as an upscale assisted living facility currently is pending before the Sussex County Board of Adjustment.

My brother and I were born and raised in Rehoboth and graduated from the former Rehoboth High School many years ago. We will continue to own the 23.5-acre property and will help ensure that it is a good neighbor to the surrounding communities in which both of us live. We are very familiar with the social and care-giving benefits of assisted living facilities as our mother enjoyed her last five years at Brandywine Assisted Living, located just off Route One in Rehoboth. That is why we sought out a reputable developer and builder three years ago to provide "super seniors" in our community with age-appropriate housing.

Market studies have shown that an assisted living facility of the type being planned for our property is needed in the Rehoboth area. The proposed location - within and surrounded by the already-approved Truitt Homestead single-family retirement community – is ideal given its proximity to public transportation, shopping and the many other nearby amenities. It also will serve as an important "aging in place" option for the seniors who live in Truitt Homestead and the many seniors who now reside in nearby communities in the Rehoboth area.

Recently, I have read a number of misinformed statements about the proposed assisted living facility in letters published in the local press and in mass emails sent to residents in nearby communities. In the interest of fairness and factual accuracy, I would like to restate on behalf of the Truitt Family what is in the record before the Board of Adjustment and what has been presented to the county and the neighboring communities by the developer and me over the past three years.

First, nearby residents were made aware that an assisted living facility was part of the Truitt Homestead plan more than 18 months ago. An assisted living facility with up to 120 beds has been openly discussed for our site since mid-2015 when I briefed the homeowners association leaders of the four communities that abut our property. These communities are Kings Creek Country Club, Village of Kings Creek, Stable Farm and Kinsale Glen, all of which have been built on surrounding farms since my brother and I became owners of the Truitt Homestead property in 1981. Dating back to 2015, the Cape Gazette has published several articles stating that an assisted living facility was planned for our property.

Ocean Atlantic's initial development proposal for Truitt Homestead that was submitted to the Delaware Office of State Planning in 2014 included a 120-bed assisted living facility (see http://stateplanning.delaware.gov/plus/projects/2014/2014-10-.05.pdf). The reason the facility was not part of the first phase of 90 homes approved by Sussex County in 2015 was because the county advised there was not sufficient sewer capacity at that time, a condition that was remedied by the county late last summer.

As a result, the developer filed an application last October for approval of a 120-bed assisted living facility with the board of adjustment, the body authorized by the Sussex County code to consider assisted living facilities in residential areas. The board meets every two weeks and schedules hearings according to the number of applications in the pipeline after giving letter notice to nearby property owners, publishing notices in local newspapers and posting a sign notice on the property. In early December the board advised us, along with others receiving and observing the notices, that a hearing on the assisted living facility would be held Dec. 19, 2016.

Second, DelDOT estimates the increased traffic on Shuttle Road from the proposed assisted living facility as 165 round trips (329 one-way trips) per day depending on the day of the week. This traffic projection is based on the Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Manual and includes trips of residents, employees, visitors and delivery vehicles. This translates into an average of one vehicle trip every three minutes from the facility using a 16-hour period during the day when virtually all traffic would occur.

The more important traffic factor is the impact on peak hour traffic at key intersections. As presented under oath to the board of adjustment and supported by DelDOT's correspondence to the county, the proposed assisted living facility will generate an average of only one vehicle trip every minute and 42 seconds during the peak hour. It is understandable that an assisted living facility will not materially affect peak traffic volumes on Shuttle Road and at its intersection with Route 1 because many of the elderly residents will not drive or will be able to schedule their trips during non-peak periods. Of course residents in the area can also use Country Club Road to access Route 1 near the new Wawa.

Third, the buffers for the assisted living project were established as part of the county's approval of the 90 homes in 2015 and appear on the record plat. The Truitt Homestead project will maintain at least 20 feet of forested and landscaped buffer on all sides, to include existing and new trees, and other plantings where 20 feet of trees does not presently exist. In some instances, such as the border with the three-story homes in the Village of Kings Creek, the new trees and landscaping will provide more screening than existed previously.
Fourth, to address community concerns about lighting, noise and truck deliveries associated with the assisted living facility, the three-story assisted living building will be located in the central part of the 23.5-acre development surrounded by the 90 single-family homes that will provide additional buffering for the surrounding communities.

Every home in the existing adjacent communities mentioned above will have at least one Truitt Homestead single-family home and a street buffering the assisted living building in addition to the 20 feet or more of treed and landscaped buffer. Other assisted living facilities in the Rehoboth-Lewes area border residential areas without any buffers, and I am not aware of any problems reported by their neighbors.

Finally, assisted living facilities are residential in nature. They are very different from commercial establishments that provide retail shopping and services such as grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants.

That is why they are permitted in the Sussex County code as special exceptions within residential zoning classifications. Based on more than 100 visits at all times of day to the Brandywine Assisted Living facility (including recent visits as part of Epworth Church's Clowning For Joy Ministry), I have found it to be a quiet and unobtrusive neighbor to the residential communities that adjoin it on two sides.

Ocean Atlantic is partnering with Vantage Point Retirement Living, an experienced developer, builder and operator of best-in-class assisted living facilities in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. I have visited their facility in Hockessin, and it is very attractive and, although substantially larger than the facility planned for Truitt Homestead, blends in well with surrounding residential communities (see http://www.vpretirement.com/our-communities/summit-retirement-community).

Vantage Point's plans for Truitt Homestead include an aqua therapy pool, wellness and fitness centers, game room, a small theater and many other amenities that "super seniors" living there will enjoy.

The Truitts have owned the land that comprises Truitt Homestead since 1908 and plan to own it for the next 100 years or more. I hope to spend my last years there as well, so it is in my interest to be a good neighbor and make sure that the developers of the 90 homes and the assisted living facility build a first-class, visually attractive retirement community. My brother and I have a long-term lease with Ocean Atlantic that includes many protections in it to achieve that end, and to ensure that our family name and legacy to the Rehoboth area will be preserved.

As was the case in 2015, the developers and I remain open to discuss any community concerns and provide factually reliable information about the project.

Roger Truitt
Rehoboth Beach

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