Share: 

Milton urged not to rezone for facility

January 31, 2020

Like bad pennies, every so often new attempts are made to remake Milton in ways that deny its historic legacy, redefine its neighborhoods, or overshadow or deplete its downtown. Past examples include proposals to knock down historic houses and the Milton Elementary School on Federal Street, and move the fire hall and police department “uptown.”

The most recent proposal to rezone the eight acres located on Mulberry Street across from HO Brittingham Elementary School from R-1 to C-1 is another one.

This proposal is to accommodate Phoenix RHCS Holdings’ plan to build two 40,000-square-foot medical buildings with 400 parking places. Most of the many Milton residents who attended the most recent town planning and zoning commission meeting opposed this, concerned that the plan strikes at the residential heart of Milton, as well as at its Historic District and the Town Center District.

The fact that this eight acres have been zoned R-1 reflects these realities. To change the zoning from R-1 to C-1 not only violates public trust, it also opens the door to any presently zoned R-1 property in the heart of town to rezoning, thereby setting a precedent. 

The reason for the Historic Overlay District is to protect certain parts of town from inappropriate development, such as the proposed two 40,000-square-foot buildings with 400 parking spaces which will negatively impact the many historic homes on Union Street. This is because C-1 zoning allows the builders to build within 15 feet of the historic homes’ backyard property line, and within 25 feet of a side yard, with no limit on density.

The proposed buildings and 400 parking places will require bright security lights to shine all night, and impervious asphalt for 400 parking places which will absorb the summer’s heat all day, then radiate the heat all night.

Such parking lots greatly reduce the area available to absorb stormwater, and pooling water allows mosquitoes to breed. Note: DNREC’s response to Milton’s Comprehensive Plan updated in 2014 by the Planning and Zoning Commission, was that the town did not adequately address stormwater runoff or air pollution. 

One might wonder if this request for C-1 zoning for the eight acres is, in fact, the Trojan Horse for getting the eight acres rezoned to C-1, then once rezoned, other types of commercial establishments can be built.  In fact, a medical campus already exists in the town, Milton Medical Park, where office space and land remain available, and where Ocean Imaging Services, Tidewater Physical Therapy, a Beebe family physician and an urologist’s practice are now located. 
Many of the new services to be offered in the two proposed 40,000-square-foot medical buildings are redundant.

Milton already has several well-established medical enterprises that offer diagnostic imaging, laboratory, rehabilitation and walk-in medical assistance; including Beebe and Bayhealth at Clipper Square, as well as those in Milton Medical Park, pediatric doctors on the west side of Mulberry Street, and dental services on Union Street. Duplicating these services could threaten existing jobs as well as the economic viability of Bayhealth, Ocean Medical Imaging, and Tidewater Physical Therapy. If Clipper Square loses Beebe and/or Bayhealth as tenants, this might adversely affect Clipper Square’s economy. There is also the fact that Beebe is a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization.  

If a new Beebe facility is built, it should be located on Route 16 as a way to limit traffic in Milton, prevent more in-town air pollution, as well as congestion at the corners of Mulberry and Federal Street and Route 16 and Mulberry Street, and keep patients and HOB students from being in such close proximity.

What the town could use is an ER facility to cut time for emergency treatment, and this could only be accommodated on Route 16.  

What is the alternative? Keep the eight acres zoned R-1. Build only single-family homes on this land, which will not only generate construction jobs, but when the homes are completed, they will complete the surrounding neighborhood, and reinforce the town’s goal of making Milton a “walkable” community. New neighbors will increase the number of people who patronize local shops and restaurants, and use local services. Living in the heart of town, new neighbors will be more inclined to join local organizations, support fundraisers, and volunteer to help sustain the town’s annual events.

(Understandably, those employed in Milton, but who live outside of Milton, and commute distances each day, may be less able to join in Milton’s civic life.)   

My opposition to this request for rezoning is not motivated by self-interest, as our home will not be affected by a C-1 rezoning, but the town will be.

Having lived in Milton for nearly 20 years, and having served on Milton’s Town Council, its board of adjustment, and its economic development committee, and organized the first annual Horseshoe Crab/Shorebird Festivals and a number of other initiatives, I have been privileged to work with many caretaking Milton citizens who make Milton magical.

The town’s many volunteers not only make its many organizations possible, they also engage people of all backgrounds and ages who have created parks and gardens, and worked to protect the town’s cultural and historic legacy, as well as its historic homes. Others address issues of water quality, air pollution and the need to protect the town’s natural surroundings and assets. 

Over and over, what I continue to hear from most people in Milton is that they want a balance between the town’s economic vibrancy and its quality of life.

Constructing two faceless, institutional 40,000-square-foot structures, like those on Route 1, in the residential heart of Milton, and across from a school, costs more than a bad penny.

It devalues the entire community. I can only hope that Milton’s citizens will act to preserve and protect what they have achieved to date, a charming, people-friendly, cohesive community, and unite to oppose rezoning the eight acres from R-1 to C-1. 

Joanie Martin-Brown
Milton

 

  • A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.

    To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter