Cool Spring Crossing alternative may be lesser of two evils
A unique feature of the Cool Spring Crossing application, to build a residential planned community, is the looming presence of an alternative. The developer is permitted, by right, to build 1,260 single-family homes at the rate of two homes per acre on 637 acres, if the RPC fails.
The implied threat is, “I want what I want, when I want, or I’ll build two homes per acre.” In fact, the record shows that possibility weighed heavily on the minds of planning & zoning commissioners when they recommended approval of Cool Spring Crossing to Sussex County Council.
No one wants to see sprawl – filling acres of open space and farmland with single-family homes needs to end. For Cool Spring Crossing, the threat of sprawl has been given enormous weight. Maybe the less-dense alternative is the preferred solution.
The original application, call it Cool Spring Heavy, is 1,922 residential units and 450,000 square feet of non-residential and commercial space. When completed, Cool Spring Heavy will have more than 5,000 residents, generate 33,359 vehicle trips per day and would be the fourth-largest town in Sussex, if incorporated.
The alternative application, Cool Spring Light, will have 1,260 houses with 3,000 residents generating 12,600 vehicle trips per day (two-thirds less traffic). Overall population would be 40% smaller if the by-right application is accepted.
There is no plan now, or in the future, to improve Route 9, the county’s principal east-west highway in the section where the commercial/nonresidential portion of Cool Spring Crossing will be located. The Route 9 corridor report is expected in 2026.
With more residents and more traffic, Cool Spring Heavy would place far greater strain on infrastructure. More cars on the highway, more patients in doctors’ waiting rooms, more students in classrooms, more ambulance calls, more police calls, more fire calls.
Despite its current negative reputation, the alternative, by-right, design has clear advantages. Sussex County does not need to continue growing at the fastest rate possible, as such growth will eventually be unsustainable.
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