Sussex council approves Old Orchard project
A plan to build a condominium complex along Old Orchard Road near Lewes has twice been approved by Sussex County Council.
But since the original vote six years ago, the approval had expired when the developer failed to get the project underway.
Council has approved a conditional-use application filed by developer Old Orchard Ventures LLC, c/o Barry Baker, for 24 multifamily units on a 8-acre parcel.
Located on a former unregulated dump site, the parcel is included in the state's brownfield remediation program. Council members complimented the developer for cleaning up the site.
Attorney Mark Dunkle said the application is exactly the same as the one approved by council in July 2010. He said although the entrance along Old Orchard Road has been built, market conditions and prolonged negotiations with state transportation officials delayed the project. The developer was seeking to use space along a railroad right-of-way to place a sewer line.
The developer entered into a brownfield redevelopment agreement with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control nearly a decade ago. The site had been used as an illegal dumping ground for solid waste materials since the 1960s and was listed in 1985 by the state as an unpermitted disposal site. State environmental officials said contamination at the site is limited and causes no threat to nearby residents.
Most of the debris left behind at the site was construction and yard waste, with some vehicles and appliances, which have been removed by the developer, said engineer Jeff Bross of Duffield Associates, the firm that investigated the site and will monitor it during construction. “If there are any problems, we will notify DNREC,” Bross said. “There is very rigorous investigation and monitoring and then cleanup if needed,” he said.
He said his firm monitored groundwater at the site for a year and did not detect any migration.
Bross said while it's not likely there is any methane at the site, monitors will be in place as a precaution.
Among conditions placed on the project by the planning and zoning commission, all documents must reference the brownfield remediation plan and the development's proximity to a concrete plant and the possible dust and noise that could be generated.
The project will have central water and sewer service and a 20-foot vegetated buffer around its perimeter.
In addition, the county will not issue a certificate of occupancy for any unit until state environmental officials confirm that all stipulations in the brownfield remediation plan have met.
Dunkle said the applicant agrees with the 18 conditions placed on the project. “The last thing my client wants is for people to think they didn't know what they were buying,” he said.
