People in the Fairmount area will get 455 new neighbors if a Hockessin development company succeeds with its plans.

However, several state agencies noted that site’s location in a rural, primarily agricultural area and their comments in the preliminary land use service (PLUS) process states they oppose it for that reason.

Tamari Properties from Hockessin submitted a subdivision application known as Indigo Run that proposes building 455 homes on 333 acres near Indian Mission Church. The site is bordered by Harmon Hill Road, also known as Sussex 302, to the south. Unity Branch, a tributary of Herring Creek, which flows into Rehoboth Bay, borders the property to the north. Route 5 is the western border of the property. Entrances to the property would be on Route 5 and Harmon Hill Road.

The developer is attempting to take advantage of the recently passed cluster ordinance that allows smaller setbacks and lot sizes.

The minimum lot size in Indigo Run is 7,500 square feet, comparable to a lot in a municipality. Indigo Run’s average lot size is 12,756 square feet.
While the lot sizes and setbacks shrink in a cluster development, density does not increase.

As clustering is only allowed in an agricultural-residential (AR-1) district, a developer can build a maximum of two units to the acre. The density in Indigo Run is 1.4 units per acre.

The benefit of the clustering ordinance is that, why lots sizes are smaller, community open space is larger. Of the 333 acres, only 133.24 acres are deeded lots. Of the remaining land, 155.43 acres is open space, which is almost 50 percent of the property.

The biggest environmental concern on the site is Unity Branch and its surrounding wetlands. On the site, 21.45 acres are 404 wetlands.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s (DNREC) comments on Unity Branch states “the department strongly recommends that the applicant preserve the existing natural forested buffer in its entirety.”

A letter from Tom Ford of Ocean View design firm Land Design to the State Planning Office said the development would minimize impacts to the wetlands and adjacent forested areas.

Ford’s response said no lot lines would intrude into 404 wetlands. Other protections include a 100-foot buffer from the open waters of Unity Branch and an average 200-foot contiguous buffer the length of the branch. In addition Ford’s letter said they planned on preserving almost 80 percent of the forested land on the property.

The storm water management will be “best management practices,” with bioswales, retention ponds, shallow infiltration ponds and wetponds.

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) did recommend a traffic study, which it has not commented upon yet. DelDOT’s comments said they opposed this application because of the rural nature and all roadwork would come from the developer.

The Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission holds final say on this proposal, as it is a subdivision. The application will not go before the Sussex County Council. The only public hearing is slated at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 6, in the county council chambers in Georgetown.