Lewes residents continue opposition of Harbor Point

The venue may have changed, but the faces stayed the same. Lewes residents showed up en masse at the Dec. 11 Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission to oppose a proposed 69-lot subdivision outside Lewes.

Jack Lingo Asset Management recently resubmitted an application with the county to develop 108 acres adjacent to the Great Marsh off Park Road. A similar plan earned preliminary consent approval from Lewes Planning Commission in August, but with the timeline for final approval still several years out, the developer withdrew the application. Jack Lingo Asset Management Principal Nick Hammonds said similar experiences with the county assured him the process would move more quickly outside Lewes.

“We had an obligation to our client, the landowner, to advise them of what we believe to be the best decision,” he said. “And risking another three years coupled with the additional expense that would've come along with that process ... we decided to withdraw our application from the city process and reinstate our application with the county.”

Harbor Point was originally filed with the county in April 2013. Hammonds said he was urged by Lewes city officials to develop the parcel within the city and was given assurances the process would not take too long. But as months passed and more meetings were scheduled, he said, the timeline for final approval was too far away to continue.

The latest plan for Harbor Point is very similar to its submission to Lewes. Differences include narrower street width at 22 feet and the potential for higher building height, which could be as high as 42 feet.

Nearly all of the conditions the Lewes Planning Commission added to its preliminary consent were included in the application to county officials. One left out was an interconnection with the neighboring Canary Creek subdivision, which Hammonds said, its residents “vehemently opposed.”

Hammonds said the county should expect to see recurring and one-time economic impacts. Annually, he said, he's estimated the county will receive $230,000 from property taxes and transfer tax from resales. As for one-time benefits, he said, he expects at least $1 million from initial transfers and $175,000 from inspection fees, plan review fees and building permit fees.

Ring Lardner, the developer's engineer, said minimum lot sizes will be 8,250 square feet. The development will have a 50-foot buffer from the neighboring Canary Creek subdivision, including a 30-foot forested area and a 20-foot area for a swale to prevent stormwater runoff onto the Canary Creek property. Nearly all of the upland area on the property is within the 100-year flood plain; developers will use fill to raise the land to meet county and Federal Emergency Management Agency standards. Homes will be designed 1 foot above FEMA's base flood elevation and will not have basements, Lardner said.

Opposition continues

Despite several presentations before the Lewes Planning Commission and now the county's planning and zoning commission, opponents of the proposed plan have not wavered. The most common message among those against the development is one of potential flooding issues both on the property and homes downstream.

“It is not the water from the canal, the Delaware Bay or the Atlantic Ocean that threatens us; it is the water from the Great Marsh,” said Janice Pinto, a nearby resident on Rodney Avenue. “The wetlands are the buffer and the sponge for the existing Lewes citizens.”

She said continued development along Canary Creek and the Great Marsh has pushed more water than before toward her home. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, she said, she and a neighbor watched as water from the Great Marsh surged toward their homes. Only a change in wind direction spared them, she said.

Seth Price of Hoornkill Avenue also experienced excessive flooding during Sandy. He said the water surge of 2012 was much worse than any that occurred during the Storm of '62.

“All I can attribute that to is this water has no place to go,” he said. “My concern is, with this development it's only going to get worse.”

Second Street resident Bill Landon said he used to hunt in the proposed Harbor Point area and always made sure to wear hip boots because the area was always wet. While that was a concern, he said, overdevelopment along New Road is something the commission also needs to think about.

Several opponents spoke to the potential impact Harbor Point could have on surrounding open space. With about 1,000 acres of undeveloped land along New Road, some feared allowing the developer to build on smaller lots would set a trend others would follow.

Lewes resident Maryanne Ennis also aired concerns about flooding, but she also discussed the development's general appearance sitting next to the Great Marsh and its potential impact on its natural surroundings.

“Nine to 12 feet of fill dirt will create an avalanche of pollutants to rush downhill and damage the marine life we depend on as a nursery for our fishes' life cycle,” she said.

Duchess Court resident Ric Moore said the developer's plan never fit with Lewes' comprehensive plan and he argued it does not comply with the county's comprehensive plan either.

“The Sussex County comprehensive plan as I understand it calls for protecting as much open space as possible, protecting as much agricultural land as possible, and a variety of other things that suggest this is not a site that should be developed,” he said.

Other than the developer, no residents spoke in favor of Harbor Point. When asked for a show of hands, 16 people in attendance Dec. 11 opposed the development. Commission Chairman Bob Wheatley said the county has received one letter in favor and 17 letters opposed to the development.

Commissioners took no action on the application at its Dec. 11 meeting. The record will remain open so commissioners can get a copy of the developer's response to a June Preliminary Land Use Service report, conduct while still in the Lewes process. The commission will also ask the state planning office whether the developer needs to resubmit its plan to PLUS, as the PLUS report used in the developer's most recent application is the same it submitted with the original application in 2013.

For more information about Harbor Point or county's subdivision process, contact the county planning and zoning office at 302-855-7878.