With a 4-1 vote, the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission approved a rezoning application and an amendment to the county's comprehensive plan future land-use map for Vintners Reserve off Janice Road near Lewes.

The 61-acre parcel has been rezoned from AR-1, agricultural-residential, and C-1, commercial, to MR-RPC, medium-density, residential planned community, and the land-use map has been revised from a commercial designation to a coastal area designation.

Plans for the community include 316 townhouse units for a density of 5.12 units per acre. The parcel is located between Lewes Fire Company Station 2, Nassau Valley Vineyards and Whispering Pines manufactured home park.

Commissioner Keller Hopkins had assistant county attorney Vince Robertson read his motions to approve both applications. Robertson said the parcel is in an area of high-density residential development, near commercial and employment centers, near a major road, and has central water and sewer service available, which are all requirements for coastal area designation.

Plans include a clubhouse, pool, dog park, playground and pickleball courts, and a 25-foot forested buffer along the northern, southern and eastern property lines. Open space would include 29 acres.

The main roads in the proposed development will be 32 feet wide, which exceeds the 24-foot requirement in county code.

Janice Road will be improved with 10-foot travel lanes and 5-foot shoulders during the Minos Conaway-Route 1 grade-separated interchange project scheduled to begin this year. A connection to the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail is also part of the project.

Access would be provided for emergency vehicles, with a pedestrian-crossing trail, to the Vineyards community south of the parcel.

Owner of the property is AAA Storage Limited Partnership LLC. Dating back to the 1960s, a section of the parcel was used as a borrow pit for construction of Route 1.

The applicant will be required to contribute $4,030 per housing unit, or $1.2 million, to the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District for road improvements in the district. Twenty-four percent of the cost of road work will be covered by developers. DelDOT will provide the remaining 76% of funds for projects through its six-year capital transportation program.

The TID includes a 24-square-mile area, largely from around Route 9 near the Five Points intersection, along Route 1 south to Route 24, then out the Route 24 corridor to Herring Creek, including 66 miles of roadway and 62 intersections.

Planners project 12 new traffic signals, 13 roundabouts and 15 intersections with turn lanes, and four miles of new road connections, totaling nearly $284 million. Officials say the improvements will be necessary to keep pace with current and future development.