Editor’s note: The name of this community has changed. The new name is reflected in the following letter.
While much of the county's infrastructure is inadequate to accommodate current traffic levels, it can at least be said that new developments have had to provide upgrades along their frontages. Such does not appear to be the case with the proposed Black Oak subdivision on New Road, which lies directly behind 10 estate homes, encroaching on the needed space for a safe and aligned entrance/exit along the busy New Road corridor. Given the current plan does not present any frontage road upgrades nor include a multi-use path to nearby neighborhoods, the Black Oak subdivision should not be approved.
Of major concern is the fact that this proposed neighborhood does not include turning lanes nor align with Kansas Court or Peachtree Lane, which would help ensure safety for a subdivision of this size. Instead, based on the proposal as shown, traffic entering and exiting the Black Oak parcel will use a small entranceway adjacent to the 10 new single-family homes along the site frontage, which does not align with the entrance and exit ways of either of the two subdivisions on the opposite side of New Road. Placing too many entrance and exit ways on a major collector road will make it unsafe to coordinate turning movements. This violates Chapter 99-17 part B of the county’s subdivision code that states: "location of access streets shall be controlled for traffic safety and protection of surrounding properties." Furthermore, DelDOT on page 4 of the state PLUS comments stated that the likely anticipated traffic volumes from the property will show a need for left-turn and right-turn lanes along New Road. A solution to this problem should be found before a planned public meeting is held.
Necessary bike/pedestrian pathways in line with the goals of the New Road Master Plan should also be incorporated into this development. A safe crosswalk should be fully financed by the developer, across New Road connecting to adjacent neighborhoods and the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail.
Even without the alignment problems mentioned above, it will still be very difficult for drivers to safely exit the property with the enormous levels of high-speed through traffic using New Road as the northernmost entrance to Lewes. To date, there has been no traffic study regarding the impact the Nassau interchange will have on traffic volumes for the area. While a November 2018 Lewes byway meeting promised to report on traffic levels for the area up until 2045, a 2019 presentation only used traffic data from the preceding five years. Without a far-seeing traffic study, there can be no assertion that New Road's traffic volume increases will only be minor.
With this property being east of Route 1, it would be in the interest of new residents to have safe access for cars, bikes and pedestrians. Instead, the current site plans show only minimal regard to road safety and it quite likely does not meet code requirements or DelDOT standards.
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