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The engineering consultant firm hired by the City of Lewes to review Showfield’s proposed subdivision and zoning plans has concluded its community design concept is good, but more could be done to make the development mesh with the character of Lewes.
Kyle Gulbronson, senior project manager with URS Corp., hired by the city to review Showfield’s tentative plot plan, provided a report on the project at a Wednesday, Feb. 6 joint public hearing held by the Lewes Mayor and Council and Lewes Planning Commission at the Lewes Public Library.
“While the design concept is well planned considering site conditions, it could do more to extend the traditional rhythm, scale and layout of Lewes, and fit with the context [of] the city’s historical character,” wrote Gulbronson and Ryan Mawhinney, a URS planner, in an eight-page report to the city and planning commission.
Showfield
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mission.
In October the city approved a $21,800 contract for URS, a global engineering and design company, to generate the report from its Millsboro office.
Showfield is seeking annexation of 140 acres that are outside city limits. Project developers propose a 607-home community on a 240-acre parcel bordered by Freeman Highway and Gills Neck Road.
Mayor Jim Ford said the hearing was the first opportunity the city council and city planners had to publicly review and comment on the URS report. There were few empty seats at the hearing even though comment on the report was restricted to the mayor and council, members of the planning commission and Showfield representatives.
Matthew J. Peterson and Douglas M. Warner, principals of the Lewes-based design and engineering firm Element, Showfield designers, said they appreciated the URS report, but they called it subjective opinion.
Douglas D. Marshall, Showfield’s attorney, said the community’s design is the result of input provided by the public following a series of charettes held nearly two years ago and, more recently, with input from the city.
“This community has been designed by the people of Lewes and by Element Design,” Marshall said.
Ford said the URS report reflected city and planning commission concerns regarding Showfield’s connection to Lewes and the mix of proposed housing types.
Gulbronson said the intent of the city’s expansion district as described in the comprehensive plan is that “any new development reflect and tie into the street and pedestrian network of the central core area.” A portion of Showfield would be within the expansion district.
“It is recommended the applicant pursue a neo-traditional design approach that extends the small town, pedestrian-friendly scale, provides a mix of housing styles, types and sizes in close proximity to each other, incorporates (an) interconnected grid street network with sidewalks and bikeways, and provides for the connections of those streets to existing and future developments,” the URS report states.
Element’s Peterson said the context of the Showfield property and certain design aesthetics make the plan what it is. As an example, Peterson said the proposed grassy boulevard entrance to the community along Gills Neck Road contributes to open space.
He said as designed, Showfield would contain more than 90 acres of open space that would be functional rather than symbolic.
The URS report is also critical of some of Showfield’s proposed large lots.
Peterson, however, said only a single proposed lot is planned to be larger than 40,000 square feet, about an acre, and only three proposed lots are larger than 30,000 square feet.
Lewes ordinance requires lots be a minimum of 5,000 square feet.
Planning Commissioner Jody Ware, as she has at earlier reviews of Showfield’s plans, said she’s concerned that the proposed development is too dense, containing an excessive amount of multi-family housing units.
“How can we seek resolution to put these density issues to sleep?” Peterson asked the panels. Tempe Steen, city solicitor, said it is her opinion that Showfield’s proposed mix of 409 attached units and 198 detached units meets density criteria.
“Cutting the density down is not going to help the city,” said Marshall, adding that the financial analysis examining annexation viability was based on an “economy of scales.”
URS’s finding that the proposed design doesn’t link new Lewes with old and existing Lewes as well as it could is a concern for several elected and appointed city officials.
“I don’t think that with this plan you can walk to one church, one coffee shop or one anything. In this particular community you’re just passing from house, to house to house,” said City Councilwoman Stephanie Tsantes.
Showfield and URS are drafting an agreement that would govern a number of subdivision and zoning aspects of the community.
The agreement would address land dedication, parking configurations, amounts of impervious surfaces, buffers, amenities, landscaping and a number of other elements.
The agreement and other subdivision and zoning issues will be discussed at the next Showfield public hearing set for 7 p.m., Thursday, March 6, at the Lewes Public Library.
Contact Henry Evans at hevans@capegazette.com
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