Junction and Breakwater Trail article needs clarifying
The following letter was sent to a number of Delaware officials with a copy submitted to the Cape Gazette for publication.
We are writing in regard to your Jan. 23 cover story regarding the Junction and Breakwater Trail. Your story overlooked several important facts, and did not accurately represent the truth of the matter. Most core to those inaccuracies is that DelDOT’s own legal team has admitted in court that they do not have an easement to build on the property in question and never have.
We have all been year-round Breakwater residents for five years, with homes that are adjacent to the proposed location for the trail connection project.
This matter has been ongoing for several of those years. During that period, DelDOT has explicitly forbidden any discussion of locations or options for this trail project other than the one that lies on privately owned Breakwater property. The homeowners adjacent to the land in question (“affected homeowners”) have tried to work with DelDOT to find a solution that is both consistent with the legal process and amicable to all parties, but DelDOT has not embraced any of these multiple attempts.
The fact is that DelDOT has already admitted that it does not and never had the legal rightof- way to build this section of the trail on Breakwater property. (Ref Delaware Chancery Action #8411-TG [http://bit.ly/1CKSKJW].) DelDOT has also sought to seize the property under provisions of eminent domain law, which is still pending a decision in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware in and for Sussex County. DelDOT’s assessment is that the property is worth zero dollars, and they wish to forcibly acquire approximately 0.5 acres of our community.
While proximity to a trailhead is a favored amenity for many people (ourselves included), the studies commissioned and paid for by DelDOT and similar organizations do not differentiate between proximity to a trailhead and adjacency to the trail property itself.
Our reason for opposing this location for the trail extension is that it was not an approved project when we selected our lots. If it were, such a fixture would have factored heavily into our lot selection and pricing decisions. Put simply, we would not have selected this lot or paid the same price if the eventual plan were to share a backyard with over 1,000 strangers each weekend in the summertime.
We would also like to emphatically add that we are all avid trail users. Our respective families absolutely love that the trailhead is so close to the community, and that proximity certainly factored into our decisions to build here.
You may want to compare this project with other nearby communities through which the trail runs. The difference is that in those communities, the trail was fully integrated to their respective site plans before the homeowners bought their lots. In the case of the Breakwater project, DelDOT is attempting to “bolt on” a trail that was neither approved nor announced - and forcibly acquire the so-called “free” property to boot. We would certainly oppose DelDOT seizing any private community property in this manner, even if it were not our own.
According to your Jan. 23 article, DelDOT’s current plans are to build the trail on private property despite full knowledge that it has no right to do so. Your article also indicated that they plan to leave a gap adjacent to the small section of property owned by the residents currently fighting their eminent domain attempts. They will “urge people who use that part of the trail to turn around and backtrack,” which really amounts to further bullying residents into giving up private property.
This is a terrible way to conduct state business, and represents a significant negative precedent for any property owners in Sussex County and the state of Delaware. If land ownership is subject to state seizure without due process, discussion, or compensation, Delaware becomes a very risky place to own a home.
DelDOT has already admitted that it does not have an easement to access the property. Until the eminent domain claims are decided in court, any construction activity on Breakwater property is blatant trespassing.
Phil and Marie Hagen
Tom and Susie Kelly
Jeff Stern
Lewes
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