Planning requires foresight, anticipating problems, solving them before they arise and envisioning the future. All too often, officials responsible for land-use decisions approach them as an exercise in completing a checklist. Has the developer met this requirement and that one? The real test is whether officials think creatively – impose conditions; reject proposals because they threaten health, safety or general welfare; or deny because they are inconsistent with the community’s desired character.
Sussex County has a poor record for exercising foresight, a hot topic in 2024 election contests. Lewes has a better record, but not a perfect one. Lewes now confronts a new planning challenge in Overfall Preserve, a proposed development of 90 townhomes next to the 140-unit Dutchman’s Harvest. Reaching a creative solution to the problems posed by Overfall Preserve depends on working with both Sussex County and DelDOT.
The long-empty land between Savannah Road and Kings Highway is quickly filling. The Lodge faces Kings. Behind it is Dutchman’s Harvest, which will face Savannah. Overfall Preserve will occupy another part of the space with a projected shared outlet onto Savannah; two additional parcels are yet to be developed, one near Kings (the Warrington property) and another (the Plummer property) that appears land-locked.
This patchwork of projects in a relatively small area makes it critical that there be coordination to enable current and future residents to access their residences and to minimize disruptions to Lewes’ two most important highways, which are already heavily traveled. Individually, the developments do not seem to pose a traffic problem. The Overfall project anticipates 635 additional vehicle trips daily. Cumulatively, they represent a major challenge with more than 2,000 daily vehicle trips generated by the developments combined.
DelDOT has already decided that Overfall Preserve does not need a traffic-impact study and instead is willing to accept $6,350 in fees. This decision is shortsighted. When one adds the traffic from existing and anticipated developments, there are compelling grounds for the City of Lewes to request a TIS that assesses not just this one development but also the entire area.
Even more problematic, there needs to be a creative solution to the problem of distributing traffic between Savannah Road and Kings Highway. As things stand now, Overfall Preserve will share a single access with Dutchman’s Harvest, funneling all traffic onto Savannah. The Lodge has posted signs to prevent traffic through its parking lot, thereby blocking access to Kings.
Ideally, we need a new thru street that will enable drivers in this area to move safely onto either Savannah or Kings. There is a way to provide a route that allows residents of both Dutchman’s and Overfall Preserve to access Kings Highway without directing traffic through the parking lot of a retirement community. This would require a creative solution with DelDOT, Sussex County and Lewes coordinating actions.
Creative solutions and bureaucracies do not often go together, but for the good of Lewes, now is the time to make the effort.
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