A nearly 10-year debate over a controversial rezoning application for a parcel on Kings Highway in Lewes reached its conclusion with unanimous approval by Sussex County Council.

At its Dec. 13 meeting, council voted 5-0 to rezone the 11.6-acre property from agricultural-residential, AR-1, to B-1, neighborhood business district, for the Gills Neck Village Center.

Developer J.G. Townsend Jr. & Co. must now submit a site plan for review to the county's planning and zoning commission. Among other compliance features, the plan must show how the project will comply with the county's source water protection ordinance. Under county code, the center can be no larger than 75,000 square feet.

The planning and zoning commission had previously recommended unanimous approval of the application, also by unanimous vote.

Council supports application

At her final meeting, Councilwoman Joan Deaver said the way the county's ordinances are written she had no other option than to vote in favor of the application. “I'm not happy with it. It's like the emperor has no clothes. Our ordinances and state laws are weak, but there are too many reasons to approve this,” she said.

However, she did express concerns with the county’s B-1 zoning regulations, the source water protection ordinance and the lack of enough environmental protection in the environmentally sensitive developing district overlay zone, where Village Center will be located.

As her final parting comments she pleaded with council to address some of what she called shortcomings in the ordinances. “And I hope you work with the people who got up and walked out of here today. They are very unhappy,” she said.

Councilman George Cole, R-Ocean View, said B-1 zoning is appropriate for the parcel at the intersection of Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road because of its proximity to Lewes, the availability of county sewer and public water and its location along Kings Highway, a major roadway. In addition, he said, the parcel is located in a Level 1 area, a growth zone under the Office of State Planning's strategies for state policies and spending where development is anticipated and supported.

Cole said now that the 11.6-acre parcel has been rezoned, he urged the property owner to draw up a plan for the remaining acreage on the parcel that would provide minimal impact on area traffic and the Lewes water supply.

Councilman Rob Arlett, R-Frankford, said valid concerns were expressed during the public hearing, but he had to make his decision based on the record. “This is a responsible thing to do,” he said.

In addition, he said, other entities – including the Delaware Department of Transportation, the Sussex Conservation District and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control – will be held accountable during the final site plan approval process to ensure road improvements and environmental regulations are upheld.

Proposal includes grocery store

During testimony at the hearings, Nick Hammonds, a principal with Jack Lingo Asset Management, said the vision for the property is a neighborhood shopping center to serve residents of the Gills Neck Road corridor and the greater Lewes area following the architectural theme of historic downtown Lewes.

He said center will likely be anchored with a specialty grocery store of 20,000 to 30,000 square feet with other small shops possibly including a restaurant, fitness center, bank, pharmacy, salon and coffee shop. Hammonds said the center would not allow a gas station or dry cleaning operation to open in the center to avoid environmental concerns. Hammonds said there is no current timeline for site plan submission to the county’s planning and zoning commission.

The center will be about the same size as the Villages of Five Points shopping center, anchored by a Food Lion grocery store and also zoned B-1.

Road work is also required as part of the project including improvements to Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road and a traffic signal at the Kings Highway/Clay Road intersection.

The project dates back nearly a decade to 2007 when the developer proposed a 521,000-square-foot mixed-use commercial, residential and office space complex on more than 60 acres. Since then, it has been scaled back, first in 2009 to 387,000 square feet on 46 acres, and then to 215,000 square feet on 33 acres in 2015.

Legal action not out of question

The rezoning application was opposed by City of Lewes and Board of Public Works officials who suggested council deny the application and request the developer apply for a conditional use to allow more flexibility in the location of the shopping center in relation to the city's wells across Kings Highway from the parcel.

As soon as the vote was concluded, John Mateyko, president of Lewes Partnership for Managing Growth issued a press release criticizing the action and hinting that a lawsuit was not out of the question. Council votes can be appealed to the Court of Chancery.

“Now the issue of court review of this process has to be considered as the possible next step. It cannot be ruled out,” Mateyko said.

He said the organization supported the professional planning approach that the City of Lewes and BPW took that included traffic impact studies on Lewes neighborhoods and a hydrology study of risk to the safety and purity of Lewes’ drinking water supply. He said both studies advised against rezoning. “That professional documentation is in the record, but not reflected in today’s vote,” he said.

Mateyko said council’s action opens the door to a domino-effect for other shopping centers in the area. He said the wellhead protection area along the Kings Highway corridor should be protected as permanent green space.