Our Sussex County publicly elected council received an application from deep-pocket Royal Farms to build a gas station and convenience store. They were recently able to add a car wash to the proposal. The location at Angola Road and Route 24 is the same site and for the same purpose that was denied by the same elected body when proposed as a 7-Eleven filling station in 2020. The Royal Farms proposal is for a larger lot size. There are five operating gas stations and an additional one under construction less than three-and-a-half miles from the proposed site. The aquifer (underground reservoir of fresh water), Sarah Run, is in close proximity and downhill from the site; it serves well water for 23 nearby communities. Multiple small, unintentional gas spills can penetrate concrete and/or run off to surrounding soil. The culmination of only 10 gallons of fuel from spills, tank or connecting pipe leakage can contaminate 12 million gallons of groundwater. Royal Farms operates a location down the road at 26672 John J. Williams Highway. The Delaware Division of Public Health listed this location with nine health and food safety violations this January. On Feb. 8, the same location received five violations. One only wonders what standards of safety would be in place with respect to the delivery and dispensing of fuel or spills.
The location is an AR-1/Coastal Area zoning district. A zoning exception was not granted to a previous applicant, and no exception for the same purpose must be allowed now. Sussex County Council has a fiduciary duty to its citizens, not deep-pocket corporations, to protect them citizens from adverse environmental impact and provide for their safety. Mark your calendars for the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission public hearing set for Wednesday, April 24.
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