Lewes residents urged to attend Nov. 14 meeting on Gills Neck Village Center
On Saturday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at St. Peter’s Parish Hall, the Lewes Partnership for Managing Growth Inc. will hold its first community action meeting on the third attempt at rezoning for a Lewes shopping center. The topic is the proposed request for CR-1 rezoning by Lingo Townsend of the land on Kings Highway opposite the BPW wellheads and across from the high school, just outside of Lewes, and the concerns it raises for traffic snarls, water quality, personal safety and degradation of our historic character, which is also the generator of our economy.
“Our partnership’s goal is to remind residents, visitors, and our public officials that we can either enhance or damage our charming and historic Lewes by the choices we make now," said John Mateyko, co-founder of LPMG. “We expect our officials to lead our community by preserving our way of life and protecting our safety and our precious environment: we must act now and demand sensible land-use planning for the gateway to Lewes, because unwise rezoning is irrevocable!”
LPMG attorney John A. Sergovic, who successfully represented a similar civic organization in the 2009 rezoning request by the same developer for the same site, will speak on CR-1 rezoning and disorderly growth issues, and how CR-1 rezoning, if granted by Sussex County Council, could change the safety and character of Lewes and residents' lifestyles forever.
Other professionals will speak on the concern that rezoning could result in a commercial use requiring large parking lots for 1,100 cars that would pave over the wellhead recharge area for the Board of Public Works drinking water supply. Water-quality experts will answer questions on impacts on the quantity and quality of Lewes drinking water if a parking lot is proposed to be placed over this environmentally sensitive area.
Traffic, environmental impacts, evacuation planning, impacts on quality of life and home values, and impacts on the historic identity and branding of Historic Lewes businesses will also be discussed.
Mateyko added, “LPMG is not opposed to growth. Its leaders in the 2008 and 2009 rezoning attempts supported small Smart Growth alternatives in the written record. The record on our stand for Smart Growth is crystal clear and constant: We advocate for prudent, sensibly sized and balanced development that will serve our area residents and visitors and generations to come. We just oppose bad, 30-year-old, outdated planning.”
The meeting is free, and all residents of Lewes and Gills Neck Road communities are invited. Nadine Wick, co-founder of the group, said, “This is an opportunity for the community to come together, discuss the issues and plan a joint course of action as we have twice before. We have no choice but to do it again.”
Rezoning for this site in the past has been opposed by Beebe Healthcare, high school parents, Lewes Historical Society, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, BPW, the City of Lewes, the State of Delaware and 38 of 42 downtown Lewes shop owners.
This release was issued by John Mateyko, registered architect and resident of Lewes.
