Side-by-side developments reviewed by Sussex County
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Presentations on side-by-side developments offered by the same developer had Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission members frustrated at their June 4 meeting.
During public hearings, attorney Jim Fuqua outlined cluster subdivisions Symphony Glen, with 219 single-family home lots on 110 acres, and Windscape Farms, with 49 single-family lots on 26.4 acres. Both are on the west side of Pettyjohn Road, less than a mile northeast of Prettyman Road near Milton.
Fuqua said while the developments are separate, the Windscape Farms homeowners association would contract to use amenities planned for the adjacent Symphony Glen development to the south. It would include a clubhouse and an outdoor swimming pool. The roads between the developments would be linked.
“They would have interconnection, as designed,” Fuqua said.
Consideration of the cluster subdivisions in the AR-1, agricultural-residential district, was deferred to the next commission meeting.
Fuqua said the projects are separate because Ribera Development of Millersville, Md., reached agreements to purchase the properties and planned the projects many months apart.
The application to the county for Windscape was filed in October 2023, while Symphony Glen’s was filed in November 2024. It was decided during the review process to consider the two at the same time, he said.
The Windscape Farms site contains mostly wooded land and some open fields. When complete, it would have 13.5 acres of open space, mostly a wooded area in the middle of the property through which a drainage swale would pass.
The developer’s 336-lot Four Winds subdivision is under construction to the north. That was approved in January 2023. A road would link Windscape Farms to Four Winds.
“This is like the second half of the football game,” Fuqua said in introducing the Symphony Glen project, located on mostly clear farmland.
Ribera Development would be responsible for improving Pettyjohn Road along its property and paying $650,000 to Delaware Department of Transportation projects nearby, Fuqua said. The developer will not contribute to Cape Henlopen School District or Milton Fire Department.
The developer has been discussing with the Sussex County Land Trust the possibility of a pedestrian and bicycle path through the site that would connect with the 294-acre Forest of the Broadkill site on Route 30 owned by the land trust.
Commissioners struggled with having to consider the projects separately.
“It sounds like, if they are both approved, ultimately it will be one subdivision, is what we’re saying,” said Commissioner Holly Wingate.
Fuqua said the developments will be separate.
Wingate said the commission has been adamant about requiring interconnectivity between developments to create a second emergency vehicle access.
“If this moves forward, ideally this should be merged with that other subdivision,” said Commissioner Scott Collins. “If they are going to share amenities, it feels as though they should be connected.”
Several Pettyjohn Road neighbors raised concerns about the two developments.
Kevin Jester, who lives across from the sites, said vehicles from the new homes would worsen traffic on his narrow road. Jester also said there is a lot of junk on the smaller lot.
Steven Fuchs said he worries about drainage through the property.
“The biggest concern we have is the ditch there,” Fuchs said.
Susan Davis-Tyndall said she is concerned about the cumulative effect of development in the area on wildlife and the community.
“I urge you guys to consider the amount of people that are coming into this very small little area in such a quick amount of time,” she said. “I’m not opposed to growth, but you’ve got to slow it down and spread it out a little bit.”
“This is a permitted use,” Fuqua said later in response. “It’s in the zoning code. In the AR-1 district, it is a permitted use. The county has said that and that’s what the law says.”
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
