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Development’s expanded buffers encouraging

May 4, 2018

The Lingo-Townsend syndicate has an outsized impact on development in Eastern Sussex County, because it has invested in so much developable land in highly desirable areas. The group is constantly in a position to set a standard for development that can positively influence the work of other developers for the benefit of Sussex.

Sussex County Planning and Zoning recently approved plans for a parcel north of Love Creek that at one point had been eyed by the group for a recreational vehicle campground. That RV plan, which involved a rezoning, was denied.

The new plan brought forth by the group is for 247 residential lots on 201 acres - a plan that requires no rezoning.

The property is ecologically significant for a few reasons, and the approved plans show sensitivity for those reasons. The 15-acre Welches Pond in one section is a so-called vernal pool that is filled with water part of the year and goes dry in other times. Its size makes it a relatively rare feature on Delmarva, and the wetting and drying cycle makes it an ideal environment for several species of frogs and salamanders that would otherwise fall prey to fish and other predators. Biodiversity is a good thing for all of us.

The property also includes wooded sections with rolling topography, along the upper reaches of Love Creek, atypical for Sussex.

Although Sussex ordinances require no buffers around nontidal wetlands, the Fieldstone proposal includes 100-foot buffers in those areas. It also includes a more-than-100-foot protection zone around Welches Pond and a 50-foot buffer around the entire boundary of the property. That 50-foot buffer significantly exceeds county requirements. The developers also agreed to preserve a 78-acre wooded area.

Those expanded buffers may serve as a precursor for new buffer standards under consideration for the county's next comprehensive land-use plan. That would be good news too. If other developers followed the lead of the Lingo-Townsend group as demonstrated in this proposal, the environment, wildlife and overall quality of life in Sussex would be well served.

 

  • Editorials are considered and written by Cape Gazette Editorial Board members, including Publisher Chris Rausch, Editor Jen Ellingsworth, News Editor Nick Roth and reporters Ron MacArthur and Chris Flood. 

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