State may help with solution to Holland Glade Road hazards
The state is considering helping residents of a more than 250-home development near Rehoboth Beach seek a federal grant to study ways to improve access to their isolated neighborhood for vehicles and pedestrians.
The issue was discussed briefly Feb. 5 at a meeting of the Delaware Bicycle Council.
Michael Polovina, president of the Glade Property Owners Association, said his group was informed shortly before the meeting that the state would help draft a grant application, which is due next week.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control would draft the grant application for funding to complete a feasibility study for the work, the first step needed to pursue a project.
The immediate concern is the lower section of Holland Glade Road, which is little more than a paved farm road, narrow with no shoulders and poor sight lines, Polovina said.
“Our primary goal at the moment is to work with state and local agencies to address the safety issues at the lower end of Holland Glade,” he said. “It will help our local people and people who visit us.”
The residents also hope to convince the state to fund creation of a trail for walkers and cyclists that would extend about 3.5 miles around a state-owned farm along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.
Mike Krumrine, a council member and GIS coordinator for DNREC, said at the meeting that he had heard earlier Feb. 5 from the Delaware Department of Transportation about the project.
“It’s more than likely – it’s not final – but a feasibility study along Holland Glade Road that DNREC would co-sponsor,” he said.
The feasibility and cost study would likely consider ways to improve the narrow road that accesses the development, create a path around an adjacent farm field, and connect to the Junction & Breakwater Trail along an improved Holland Glade Road, Palovina said.
Maureen Cassidy, vice president of the property owners association, said she has asked Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson if county council will co-sponsor a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant application to pay for the study.
The road and trail projects would both significantly improve safety in the area, Polovina said.
“In the summer, everybody’s grandchildren are here and riding bikes on the road,” he said. “Not to mention the people who run, walk and drive. It’s treacherous.”
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.
