The following letter was sent to Sussex County Council with a copy provided to the Cape Gazette for publication.
I am writing to you to express my disappointment that you are considering rezoning the property referred to as Atlantic Fields. This is the worst space to allow a large commercial shopping area.
The infrastructure needed to support this zoning changes is not there. Route 24 is already an overused roadway with traffic frequently halting to stop-and-go several times a day. Your traffic studies are outdated and wrong. A dozen new communities have been approved in the past seven years, and they are throwing more and more cars onto Route 24. And, these communities are not even built out yet! The residents of communities off Route 24 already have a difficult time exiting their communities. Plantation Road is already used as a bypass to Route 1. How do you expect it to hold more cars and now truck deliveries?
It is foolish to allow this commercial development with two schools within a third of a mile of the proposed shopping area. This will bring crime, increased traffic and a more transient population to the area. Trucks supplying these businesses will be crossing right in front of these two schools!
We already have a problem with rain runoff. The existing farm fields absorb a lot of rain water. Completely paving this area will throw more water onto our overused roadways and bordering residential communities. There are many wetlands already in this area. Where is the additional runoff expected to go?
This large-scale shopping center needs to be built off a major highway with a four-lane divided highway such as Route 113 or an expanded Route 1, not in the middle of a residential community.
Voting against this rezoning is the responsible thing to do; the thing you were elected to do.
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