Warrington Road residents oppose Arbor-Lyn

Area residents say a proposed housing project on Warrington Road near Rehoboth Beach will make an already dangerous road far worse.

Residents testified before Sussex County Council during a Sept. 22 hearing on Arbor-Lyn, a proposed 202-unit housing project.

Lockwood Design & Construction Inc. wants to build 82 townhomes, 60 apartments and 60 single-family homes on a 35-acre parcel between Old Landing Road and Route 24. Lockwood has applied to change zoning on the property from AR-1, agricultural-residential, to HR-1/RPC, high-density residential/residential planned community.

Sussex County's planning and zoning commission has heard the request but has not made a recommendation to council although the application was included on the commission's Sept. 24 agenda.

After its Sept. 22 hearing, council voted 5-0 to defer a vote and leave the record open for 20 days to allow council members to submit questions to staff and state agencies.

Councilman Rob Arlett, R-Frankford, said he had additional questions for the applicant.

County attorney J. Everett Moore told Arlett that once an applicant states the case and the opposition testifies, council may not recall the applicant without allowing more time for opponents to speak also. “You are getting into dangerous territory,” Moore said to Arlett. “A public hearing could never be closed.”

High-density communities in area

Gene Bayard, the applicant's attorney, said the proposed project is consistent with neighboring parcels in a quadrant bordered by Route 24, Route 1, Old Landing Road and Warrington Road.

He said going back decades, the area has seen 11 zoning-change and six conditional-use applications. “It's the last piece in the quadrant that has not been the subject of a zoning application,” he said. “It's in a Level 1 area where the state and county support growth.”

Project engineer Roger Gross of Merestone Consulting said the apartments – the highest density section of the community – would be built in the rear of the parcel away from the road frontage near the border with two commercially zoned parcels. Single-family homes – the lowest density section – would be built along Warrington Road.

Gross said the proposed density of the community at 5.7 units per acre would be less than two of three communities that would border Arbor-Lyn.

Not included on the list was the recently approved Redden Ridge subdivision near the Old Landing Road and Warrington Road intersection, which contains 85 lots, also on a 35-acre tract,  or 2.45 units per acre. The developer used the county's cluster ordinance to purchase additional lots, but no zoning change was required.

Councilwoman Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, asked Bayard why the developer needed a zoning change. “Why not stay with AR-1?” she asked.

The county's base AR-1 zoning allows for two building units per acre. Bayard said Level 1 areas are growth zones designated for high-density housing. “It's not where AR-1 should be,” Bayard said.

Lockwood said the houses would be marketed to retirees and second-home buyers.

Lockwood and Bayard said there would be no impact on local schools because the price point of the homes would exceed the budget of most families with school-age children.

Amenities would include a pool, community building and sidewalks. The community would have central water provided by Tidewater Utilities and central sewer provided by Sussex County after annexation into the West Rehoboth expansion of the Dewey Beach sewer district.

Councilman George Cole, R-Ocean View, raised concerns about available sewer capacity. He said the parcel has been allotted four EDUs per acre for a total of 140 EDUs, or about 60 fewer than what is needed to serve the proposed community. An EDU, or equivalent dwelling unit, is how the county calculates sewer usage, based on a formula, for residential and commercial properties.

Bayard said the developer is aware that insufficient EDUs are available and is prepared to fund any needed upgrades to the system to cover the cost of additional EDUs.

Regional traffic study completed

Over the years, Warrington Road has become more than a road for locals who live in the area, but is now used by tourists – along with Plantation Road – as a bypass of Route 1. Several residents in the area have asked why a traffic study was not required as part of the application.

Bayard said state transportation officials conducted a regional traffic study that included all of the intersections in the area.

“There is nothing on the drawing board right now to improve roads in the quadrant,” Bayard said, adding road improvements follow approved projects. He said money has already been collected from developers for possible road improvements – including work at the four-way stop at the end of Warrington Road – but nothing has been planned for 2015. He said the only road improvements that will be completed will be done with funds provided by developers.

“DelDOT is behind the curve," Bayard said. "It's a shame, but that's the way it is.”

That's one of the few things the applicant and opponents agreed on.

“DelDOT has dropped the ball,” said Warrington Road resident Wayne Badilino. “We need a traffic study. Something is wrong when motorists are using the shoulder as a lane of traffic.”

Badilino said impatient drivers use the west shoulder of Warrington Road as a right-turn lane onto Old Landing Road.

David Walters, another Warrington Road resident, said motorists speed on the shoulder 30 to 35 mph, adding his mailbox has been hit 10 times.

He said 10 years ago DelDOT denied his request for another entrance to his property because of the congested traffic situation on Warrington Road.

“Warrington Road is severely overwhelmed. We already have a problem; it's not guesswork,” Walters said.

He said the high density of the community would only add to traffic woes in the area. “I don't have a problem with development, but I do have a problem with the density of this one,” he added.

Richard Mihellic, an Estates of Sea Chase resident, called the traffic situation horrific. “We can't live with the situation as it is,” he said.

He said council should also consider what he called the real density of the project. He said 60 percent of the homes would be in an area with three units to an acre, but 40 percent of the homes would be in a section with nine units per acre.

Residents concerned with loss of trees

Several residents have expressed concerns about the loss of hardwood trees on the wooded parcel.

Property owner Robert Hood – whose family has owned the land since 1735 – said he had other offers from developers, but their plans included clear-cutting the wooded parcel.

He said developer Lockwood shares his concern to preserve as many trees as possible. He said he would only choose to allow the property to be developed the way his ancestors would have approved.

“We have respect for the land,” Hood said.

“The goal would be to maintain every tree possible,” Lockwood said.

The preliminary site plan includes a minimum 20-foot forested buffer.

Residents who testified at both public hearings questioned exactly how many trees would be preserved and said the width of the buffer is inadequate, especially because existing tall trees have no low branches and would not shield the development from existing communities.

NEARBY PARCELS

35 acres, zoned CR-1, Beebe Healthcare campus

20 acres, conditional use for offices

Redden Ridge, AR-1 with cluster option, 2.45 units per acre, approved in 2014

Estates of Sea Chase, single-family homes, 4 units per acre, approved in 2001

Estates of Sea Chase condos, zoned HR, 6.5 units per acre, approved 1996

Sterling Crossing, conditional use, 6.2 units per acre, approved 2004