Sussex approves plan for RV park
Overriding a unanimous decision for denial by the planning and zoning commission, Sussex County Council approved a conditional-use application to convert manufactured home lots into seasonal RV lots in a park near Long Neck.
With a 3-2 vote at its June 21 meeting, council gave the okay to a plan to replace 260 manufactured home lots with 260 seasonal RV lots on 138 acres in the Rehoboth Shores manufactured home park on Long Neck Road. The decision drew angry comments from Rehoboth Shores residents.
The applicant, Nanticoke Shores Associates LLC, prior to council’s decision, reduced the original request for 367 RV lots by more than 100 lots.
David Podlaseck, regional manager for Rehoboth Shores, said the economy was taking its toll on manufactured home parks. Only four vacant lots were leased in 2009 and 2010; 80 of the park’s 494 lots are vacant.
He said the plan was not a conversion but a redevelopment of an undeveloped portion of the manufactured home park, and no RV site will be located within 400 feet of an existing manufactured home lot.
Council members in favor of the application said revenues from the project would contribute to community improvements throughout the park. In addition, they concurred with transportation officials that less traffic would be generated by a seasonal RV park than by permanent residents.
Council members Mike Vincent, R-Seaford, Vance Phillips, R-Laurel, and Sam Wilson, R-Georgetown, voted in favor of the application. Members Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, and George Cole, R-Ocean View, voted against the request.
The action shocked residents in the park who thought council would back the recommendation of the planning and zoning commission. More than 400 area residents signed a petition against the application.
“They are not considering us at all. We all signed leases to live in a manufactured home park, not an RV park,” said Barbara Duff, treasurer of the revived homeowner’s association.
Duff said residents don’t feel they have resources to hire an attorney and appeal the decision. Duff said until recently the homeowners association has not met in three years with no funds in its treasury.
Duff said residents feel trapped. “We can’t sell our homes now, so it will be next to impossible with the RV park,” she said. Her neighbor ended up selling her home recently by reducing the price to $10,000 from $30,000 after listing it for three years. She said some park residents are walking away from their homes and turning the keys over to park management.
Podlaseck said 17 homes in the park were repossessed in 2009, and 15 more were repossessed in 2010. Thirty additional homes were purchased from lenders. He said several factors are contributing to the downturn in purchases of manufactured homes including stringent lending requirements and high interest rates.
Under conditions approved by council, the park can be open to seasonal rentals March 15 to Oct. 31. RV park management must develop an emergency evacuation plan and construct a 50-foot vegetated buffer with a 6-foot berm around the RV park with a fence around the perimeter. The park must have its own security gate and office. A preliminary site plan showing the site layout and conditions must be approved by the planning and zoning commission, followed by approval of the final site plan.
Minimum size of an RV lot will be 2,000 square feet. Podlaseck said the company already operates a mixed community, Tall Pines, near Lewes, with 480 RV sites and 103 manufactured home lots. The mix in Rehoboth Shores will be 260 RV sites and 494 leased manufactured home lots.
The community’s amenities – pool, marina, community building and playgrounds – will be shared with the RV park. “With the weekenders, we’ll never get near the beach or pool,” Duff said. “We are not sharing the amenities; we are giving them up.”
“This is changing the rules in the middle of the game,” Deaver said. “We have encouraged moderately priced housing and manufactured homes offer affordable homes.”
Cole concurred with planning and zoning’s findings saying the RV park was not compatible with the existing year-round park and would affect the lifestyle and property values of those living in Rehoboth Shores. “There is a need for RV sites, but not seasonal. We need transitional sites,” he said.
He said the current residents invested in a community planned as a manufactured home park under a plan approved by county officials. “I’m afraid we are setting a precedent,” he said.
Phillips disagreed that surrounding property owners would feel the impact of the RV park. “The question is would this help the property owners and help the economy, and it does that,” he said. He added the RV park would have no impact on school population and would encourage tourism and economic development.
Vincent said the reduction of lots made the park more manageable, and he agreed an RV park would help the local economy
“The owner is going out of his way to work with people in the park,” Wilson said. He said the owner, who pays $14,000 in annual taxes to the county, has made a big investment in the community.
Duff said the council is missing the point. “If we wanted to live in a RV park we would have gone to Tall Pines or Leisure Point [two RV-manufactured home parks in the area]. We are stuck here because we can’t sell our homes and get out. People don’t want to live here anymore.
“Money talks in Sussex County,” Duff said.
