Sussex council approves Troop 7 application

Sussex County Council has given a green light for a new Delaware State Police Troop 7 to be constructed along Mulberry Knoll Road near Lewes.

By a 5-0 vote at its June 16 meeting, council approved a conditional-use application filed by Delaware Division of Facilities Management for a state police barracks on a 9-acre parcel. While a public service facility is a permitted use in an AR-1 zone, plans must be reviewed by the county's planning and zoning commission, and reviewed and approved by county council.

Engineer Dean Holden of the Becker Morgan Group said the new troop would replace an aging 6,000-square-foot facility along Route 1, a modular building placed there in 1985. The new 9-acre complex would contain a 25,000-square-foot troop building – with community room large enough for 100 people – and a 7,000-square-foot maintenance building.

The new troop will be adjacent to a new Cape Henlopen School District elementary school along Route 24. A gated access road is proposed between the two parcels for use in an emergency and for essential personnel. The two facilities will connect to the county's central sewer system and will share the cost of a new pump station for the area.

Council approved a conditional-use application during the same meeting for the new elementary school.

State officials said the project could go to bid this fall or in spring 2016 with construction taking about 18 months once a bid is awarded. The fate of the old Troop 7 building would be decided after consultation with Delaware State Police, said Mark DeVore, of the Division of Facilities Management.

“The location is more centered to the hot spots because police get a lot of calls from the Long Neck area,” Holden said, adding the site allows more options for quicker and safer access to other areas served by Troop 7.