Delay action on Cool Spring Crossing until comp plan completed
In its recent decision on Cool Spring Crossing, the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission forgot to do half of its job. No planning was in sight.
Rather than steering development in ways that provide for the health, safety and welfare of Sussex residents, it chose to let a developer do the planning. And the developer, using the threat to build another example of sprawl, got its way.
The zoning designation of AR-1, agricultural-residential, is the root of the problem. AR-1 is an invitation to develop agricultural lands, replacing crops and forest with houses. Such development proposals are usually decided by P&Z and widely considered by right, although this is a myth, as demonstrated in a recent letter by attorney Jack Young.
Rather than steering development, P&Z relies on developers to decide where, when and what gets built in Sussex. P&Z staff remove the most egregious proposal features, but developers know the ordinances favor yes votes.
In Cool Spring, the developer has made elaborate promises sure to catch the eye of the commissioners: 175 affordable housing units, a YMCA, a supermarket, doctors’ offices, an educational component (junior college campus), shops and restaurants.
In exchange, the commissioners turned a blind eye to the creation of what will be the fourth-largest town in Sussex, more than 33,000 additional vehicle trips per day, heavier demands placed on local schools, years and years of congestion, frustration and danger for local residents as the construction proceeds.
As Jack Young stated in his letter, “zoning code, Section 115-3 … requires the consideration of present and future needs, lessen[ing] congestion in the streets or roads and adequate provisions of public requirements for both urban and non-urban development.”
Nonetheless, P&Z voted that Cool Spring Crossing should move forward in a location where the state expects no growth because there are no plans to invest in infrastructure. Most critically, there is no plan to widen Route 9 beyond Dairy Farm Road.
The second act in this development saga requires Sussex County Council to hold a public hearing and decide whether to amend the future land-use map and move it from low density to higher density. Council should consider delaying this significant decision until next year’s comprehensive plan process begins and the public can weigh in more fully.
Public officials should steer development in Sussex, not the developers.
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