Planners say no to Village Centre

For a second time, Sussex County planners have said no to a Lingo-Townsend Associates rezoning request that would have paved the way for the Village Centre shopping and office complex.

With a 3-2 vote at its Wednesday, Oct. 14 meeting, the commission sends a recommendation for denial to county council. The council, which is under no deadline to decide on the application, will make the final decision on the request to rezone the 46-acre parcel from AR-1 to CR-1.

The commission made its decision after a brief motion by Commissioner Mike Johnson, with no discussion or comments from other commissioners.

Commission Chairman Robert Wheatley and new Commissioner Marty Ross voted against the denial recommendation. Neither commented on why they voted against Johnson’s motion.

Wheatley thanked the commissioners for their hard work on researching information on the application.

Commissioners Johnson, I.G. Burton III and Rodney Smith voted for the denial recommendation.

When the application first surfaced, proposing a 521,000-square-foot shopping center, the commission voted unanimously for denial at its March 27, 2008 meeting. The application was withdrawn Dec. 16, 2008, the day it was set for a vote before county council. A downsized application, first 327,000 square feet and then 320,000 square feet, eventually surfaced.

Johnson said the request was not in character with the area, an area with much smaller commercial offerings. He said other areas, such as Route 1, would be more appropriate for a 320,000-square-foot shopping center.

He said, as proposed, the rezoning would allow for a large-scale regional shopping center, which was not a logical transition in an environmentally sensitive developing district overlay zone.

“It’s not located on a roadway to serve a wide area,” Johnson said.

He said the opposition’s strong concerns about traffic in the area were legitimate, as were the cumulative effects of development along Gills Neck Road and Kings Highway.

In addition, Johnson said, the rezoning change is not a by-right issue. “The comprehensive plan does not mandate a change in zone for this property,” he said.

Frank Kea, spokesman for LT Associates, said the motion and decision were not based on the record. “I truly believe the record supports a positive vote,” he said. “The council has more information available and hopefully should come to a different conclusion.”

Kea said the planning and zoning commission closed its record before some information, such as the agreement between the applicant and the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and the memorandum of understanding with the Sussex Family YMCA, were made part of the record.

Although not part of the pending application, a deal has been struck between LT Associates and the YMCA, based in Rehoboth Beach, for a 15-acre parcel adjacent to the proposed Village Centre parcel. The deal is contingent on rezoning approval.

Kea said the only statement in the motion that was correct was that some people in Lewes were opposed to the application. “As it’s been stated before, this is not a popularity contest,” Kea said.

Nadine Wick, spokeswoman for Managing Growth Around Lewes, said the remarks made by Johnson validated what the people of Lewes have been saying. “He made a point of all our issues. We are right in what we said,” she said.

Wick said she hopes that county council members read Johnson’s motion. “He made sense two years ago, and he makes sense now,” she said.

Wick said it would be better if council makes its decision soon while the issues are still fresh in everyone’s minds. “We all want this over, so we can move on,” she said.

Wick said some people said the planning and zoning commission’s decision is meaningless, since county council makes the final decision. She said that’s not true. Some council members do base their decision on what planning and zoning decides.

“And if council does approve it, and we take them to court, it makes our case stronger that planning and zoning denied it,” she said. “It does count.”

Council President Vance Phillips, R-Laurel, said Councilwoman Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, will make the decision when the application will be placed on the council agenda, because it’s in her district. Deaver said there is no reason to put it off, but she did not have a specific date.

“I will have to think about it,” she said. “I’m surprised it’s been deferred to me.”