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In court records and in two public hearings, Barbara Murray has been adamantly opposed to the proposed Riverview development near Millville.
“It’s clear that she’s opposed to the development of the property and will not permit a right of way or easement,” wrote Judge Sam Glasscock in a final Chancery Court report after Murray filed suit - and won – against the developer and Sussex County.
The whole process has started all over again – and this time the developers, Caldera Properties-Indian River V LLC, are working with Murray to work out a compromise.
The focus of her opposition has been the proposed entranceway – a 34-foot-wide, 1,300-foot-long timber bridge over wetlands as the only access to the 78-acre parcel.
That is except through Murray’s property, which just about surrounds the proposed Riverview development.
Sussex County Council overruled a denial from planning and zoning and approved the project more than two years ago with a road in place of a timber bridge. Murray then went on a mission to stop it.
In his long legal career, attorney James Fuqua has not often asked public officials to table a matter, but he did just that during the May 13 Sussex County Council meeting.
Fuqua, representing the developer, had made the same request to planning and zoning commissioners a few weeks before.
The council voted to continue the matter until September.
Fuqua is asking for more time to work out a compromise with opponents of the Riverview project – Murray and D&B Murray Limited Partnerships. Murray did not return phone calls.
Michael Malkiewicz, the attorney representing Murray, agreed with Fuqua that a continuation was appropriate. “Allow us some time to work through things,” he told the council. “And we will probably come here and speak in favor of it.”
He said a compromise geared toward preserving the environment would be worked out.
Long legal battle
For more than two years, a legal battle has been raging over a change of zoning to allow construction of Riverview, a development near Holts Landing State Park within view of Indian River Bay.
Sussex County Council approved an application by Caldera Properties-Indian River V LLC for a change of zone to pave way for the project in April 2006, but that set off a chain of events leading to a court case - followed by possible compromise outside of the courtroom.
The adjacent property owner appealed the decision of Sussex County Council in Chancery Court – and won. Now, the developer is going through the process again.
Most of the controversy over the development, which contains 72 units on 78 acres, is over access to the project and disturbance of wetlands, according to Lawrence Lank, director of county planning and zoning.
Of the 78 acres, only about 15 acres will be built on because three quarters of the parcel is wetlands.
The timber bridge was a matter of concern noted during the Preliminary Land Use Survey (PLUS) review by the state and also during planning and zoning. Armed with that information, county council members approved the project with a set of conditions including a road instead of a bridge.
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