Old Landing Woods residents oppose Osprey Point complex
The Old Landing Woods Owners Association opposes the Osprey Point commercial development, including an entertainment music complex and bars. Please write opposition letters to the Sussex County Council and come to the county council hearing at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 19, to oppose the developer’s intentions to harm established residential neighborhoods and damage natural wildlife.
The developer represented that Osprey Point would fill in and match the neighboring 11 communities along Old Landing Road. Instead, after being granted favorable zoning, and other generous permissions such as reduced setbacks, few trees, filling in of lowlands and stormwater ponds as practically the only open space, the developer returned to seek even more. The excessive demands were denied by the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission. We thank the commission for its work and decision. However, Sussex County Council has the final say.
The cumulative size of the commercial proposal exceeds the allowable commercial acreage for the zoning granted for the Osprey Point development. More offensive, the developer is not using its own lots for the commercial expansion. For the beach bar, tiki bar and boardwalk, the developer, under the guise of recreational use, seeks to cover wetlands that should be left untouched and open. The developer seeks to confiscate almost 2 acres of Arnell Creek from the public for the boat traffic from far and wide to the bars and music venue. Car parking is stolen from buffer areas with adjoining neighborhood homes and backyards. The daily commercial truck access requires easements on existing residentially zoned lots.
Demand for local and state policing and emergency services are already strained in Sussex County. Our communities will pay the increased taxes and fees to support this ill-advised and unwelcome, private, high-intensity commercial venture of a tiki bar, beach bar, and bar/restaurant at the end of a winding narrow county road with limited shoulders and lighting, which could create nuisance noise and music during the day and evenings. These intense commercial activities belong in properly zoned areas.
Arnell Creek is utilized for low-intensity enjoyment by paddleboarders and kayakers. The Arnell Creek watershed is home to varied wildlife. Many of the crabs and fish in Rehoboth Bay begin in Arnell Creek and migrate to the bay. The creek and wetlands watershed serve as food sources for all kinds of migratory and Delaware birds seen in our neighborhoods. For water access to the bars, the developer seeks to obstruct, choke and destroy the Arnell Creek watershed with intense motorized boat and jet ski traffic and its attendant gasoline, oil and other boating waste at the mouth of Arnell Creek. It will disrupt and destroy crab and fish habitats. It will be dangerous for kayakers and paddleboarders, reducing or even eliminating this valued public recreational activity.
Please come to the Sussex County Council meeting and oppose the developer’s unnecessary, unwanted and harmful proposal. Thank you.
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