Milton council to discuss Route 16 storage facility

Milton Town Council will discuss a proposed 123,000-square-foot storage facility on Route 16 at 6:30 p.m., Monday, July 11, at the Milton library.

Council will likely send the project to the planning and zoning commission for further review. By town code, a storage facility would require a special permitted use from planning and zoning before moving forward with site-plan review. 

The facility, to be named YourSpace Self Storage, is proposed by Maryland-based Peak Management, which has 11 storage facilities, primarily in Baltimore and Frederick counties in Maryland; this facility would be the company’s first in Sussex County. The facility, to be located across from the proposed Royal Farms near the intersection of Route 16 and Union Street Extended, would comprise three stories. It would have a 25-foot buffer from surrounding homes. 

The project was submitted to planning and zoning in April for a concept review, which allows the commission to view a prospective development and make comments before a developer files for a formal site-plan approval. The commission’s primary concerns were about parking and access.

Peak Management addressed some of those concerns in its review by the state’s Preliminary Land Use Service. 

The most substantial comments in the PLUS review were from Delaware Department of Transportation, which is requiring a 15-foot-wide permanent easement across the property frontage and access alignment with the entrance to the Royal Farms on Route 16. Because the facility is proposed to create only 179 vehicle trips per day, Peak Management is not required to do a traffic impact study; state regulations mandate a study for developments with 500 or more trips per day.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is requiring Peak Management to do a sediment and stormwater plan to be submitted to Sussex Conservation District and a stormwater assessment study. Typically in Milton, these approvals are sought by the developer after getting preliminary site-plan approval but before final approval. 

Council to debate street recommendations

In addition to the storage facility, council will debate three recommendations from the streets and sidewalks committee aimed at improving bicycle and pedestrian safety.

The recommendations include instituting a fee in lieu of installing sidewalks, which aimed at cutting down on requests for waivers from residential sidewalk requirements; installing four bicycle racks at the Magnolia Street parking lot; and installing four-way stop signs with painted crosswalks at the intersection of Chestnut Street, Wharton Street and Atlantic Street.

Council will also discuss an ordinance related to sight distances at intersections; make appointments to the ad hoc finance committee and personnel committee; hear a request by the Milton Chamber of Commerce to close portions of Magnolia and Chandler streets for Wicked Weekend Saturday, Oct. 29; hear a request by the Milton Arts Guild to close a portion of Strawberry Alley for an event held from Friday, July 22 to Sunday, July 24; and hear a request from Mark Abbott for a sidewalk waiver for property at 306 Holland St.

In new business, council will discuss a request by Chestnut Properties LLC for a one-year extension of final site-plan approval for Cannery Village Phase IV, vote on a resolution to schedule a public hearing on amendments to the zoning code and discuss an ordinance to amend town code related to conduct and morals on Halloween.

To tune into the livestream of the meeting, go to join.freeconferencecall.com/tquass.