The following letter was sent to the Sussex County Council with a copy submitted to the Cape Gazette for publication.
The parcel at the southwest corner of Route 16 and Route 1 outside Milton should not be rezoned to C-3 given the remoteness of the proposed commercial uses and its inconsistency with the goals of the 2020 Delaware Strategies for State Policies and Spending document. Approval of a massively out-of-scale commercial and entertainment complex that is completely dependent on cars for transportation will only exacerbate existing problems in Sussex County relating to environmental protection and accessibility, setting a negative example for surrounding lands in the area.
The loss of precious forest should not go unnoticed. Well before potential rezoning of the parcel was made public, an enormous section of mature forest, making up nearly half of the property, was outright clear-cut – an aspect that has so far been unreported both by the media and the Sussex County government. This seems a direct consequence of Sussex County Council’s inaction and ignorance to enact a tree and forest protection ordinance, despite the overwhelming support for one, evidenced by many letters to the Cape Gazette. Land that was once home to natural and intrinsically defining features of the area is now set to become a sea of unsightly asphalt parking lots, harming the ecosystem and posing enormous runoff challenges for the area. At the very least DNREC, as part of a PLUS assessment, should document the natural features that were lost due to the forest destruction and forecast the environmental impact from development.
As a Level 3 area designated by the 2020 Delaware Strategies for State Policies and Spending, priorities for these areas are to ensure protection of natural resources and support light commercial development relating to forestry and agriculture. Despite the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission’s support for the application, it should be noted that this decision contradicted the Sussex County comprehensive plan to ensure that higher-density projects in the Developing Area are “near sufficient commercial uses and employment centers; where it is in keeping with the character of the area,” which clearly does not describe the proposal. Approval of a mega-development such as this will serve as a precedent for high-intensity uses all around the area, which Sussex County has neither the funds nor road space to be able to support.
The rezoning plan is in conflict with the comprehensive plan to ensure that Level 3 areas “are consistent with state and local development and preservation policies.” Instead of promoting the self-perpetuating problem of car-dependent development, Sussex County should instead promote walkability, protect nature and ensure consistency with surrounding land uses. There is no reason why tourism and commercial uses should come at the expense of precious forested areas essential to providing shelter for wildlife and protection against climate change. Being as remote as the failed 2018 proposed commercial rezoning of the Overbrook parcel, this plan illustrates that compromise and following of past promises and plans should be the guiding principle for lands in between Sussex’s population centers.
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