Grassroots group voices concerns with Northstar

Editor’s note: Part 1, published July 18, featured the developer’s plans for the Northstar mixed-use project. Part 2 features how the opposition reacts to the plan.

The dust is far from settled on the proposed Northstar Property LLC mixed-use community along Route 9 and Beaver Dam Road west of Lewes.

The project includes a cluster subdivision of 758 single-family home lots on 379 acres, a commercial area of 96,000 square feet on 13 acres along Route 9 and an affordable apartment complex with 94 units on 8 acres also along Route 9. There are four applications for the project, including rezoning applications from AR-1, agricultural-residential, to C-3, heavy commercial, and from AR-1 to MR, medium-density residential, and a conditional-use application for multifamily housing.

The plan includes 94 affordable apartments in a section known as the Willows at North Star and also includes a section of the proposed Mulberry Knoll Road-Cedar Grove Road to Route 9 extension.

At a July 25 meeting, the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission did not vote on the four applications for Northstar, but members did vote to reopen the public record for one item – to request information from Cape Henlopen School District to provide an estimated population of school-aged children within the residential section of the project at build-out of 758 housing units.

A Sussex County Council public hearing has not been scheduled. Sussex County Director of Planning & Zoning Jamie Whitehouse said once the planning & zoning commission makes a recommendation, a hearing date will be selected, and site notices, property owner notifications and notices in newspapers will be completed.

SPC board members speak

Leading the opposition is the Sussex Preservation Coalition. Board member Joe Pika spoke at length during the July 17 hearing, covering various topics such as increased traffic, design features, impact on the school district, the impact of other proposed projects and timing of proposed road improvements during a 73-slide presentation.

The coalition is taking the tack that the applications as presented should be rejected, but if they are approved, the coalition is also offering recommendations it believes would improve the project.

Pika said the commission should pause before making a decision until the completion and adoption of the Coastal Corridors Study, which includes Route 9. The study is scheduled to be completed next year.

“You need to view traffic impacts on Route 9 holistically. Traffic impacts are additive and not isolated,” he said.

He said the coalition is asking council to request the developer resubmit the application for RPC, residential planned community, zoning. “Expedite the MR [medium-density residential] application and you can ensure that this meets standards for pedestrian and cyclists’ safety, and add a condition to protect neighboring properties,” he said.

Pika said the coalition is also concerned how the affordable apartment units will be built and whether they will be incorporated into the entire community.

Jill Hicks, acting coalition president, said the plan falls short of the county’s superior design standards, which are required for cluster subdivisions.

She said the project’s open space includes six split-up areas of land, which does not meet the intent of contiguous space.

“They should not put the public in harm’s way. Safety is priority No. 1,” Hicks said.

She said the coalition is asking the commission to reconsider the request for C-3, heavy commercial, zoning. She said B-1 or C-1 zoning would place limitations on what commercial goes in the community. “It needs to stay retail,” she said.

Rich Borrasso, coalition board member, said normally for a project this size, a traffic-impact study is required, but since the parcel is included in the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District, one was not required.

“Do we know what the levels of service are at intersections?” he asked.

He also asked whether the most current land-use transportation planning is available to the commission.

He said the LUTP is used to update what the transportation district’s levels of service are today. “It would be good to know the intersections’ baseline level of service. If the LUTP is not completed, should planning & zoning recommend that a traffic-impact study be required?” he asked.

“It’s a real loss that we have not had the benefit of a study,” he said, adding that the proposed Route 9 Cool Spring project’s impact study is several hundred pages long.

Delaware Department of Transportation staff attending the hearing said they would put the updated LUTP on their website.

SPC recommendations

Among the coalition’s long list of recommendations are the following:

Traffic

• Pause any decisions on the development until the completion of the Coastal Corridors Study, which includes Route 9, in fiscal year 2024-25

• Construction must be coordinated with the completion and operability of area road improvements. A formal agreement between the developer, DelDOT and Sussex County would ensure this concurrency. Example: The proposed Route 9 widening should occur before certificates of occupancy are issued

• More up-to-date traffic data is needed. The coalition believes county officials should weigh carefully the unintended consequences that strict enforcement of the transportation improvement district may have on the general health, safety and welfare of its residents. “There are significant unknowns and the need for more up-to-date data.”

• View traffic impacts on Route 9 holistically. “It would be a mistake to evaluate Northstar’s impact on surrounding highways without considering the full picture.”

Design, process, safety

• Require the developer to resubmit the application as an RPC, residential planned community, as requested by planning & zoning staff. “This will provide a holistic approach to the mix-used community and increase likelihood of having superior design.”

• Expedite the MR, medium-density residential, application for the the affordable apartments Willows at North Star, but place the cluster subdivision and C-3 zoning applications in the regular queue. The two applications would be considered 14 to 17 months after the filing date of Dec. 4, 2023, to avoid establishing precedent where affordable housing that is not truly incorporated into the community can be used as a tactic to receive expedited consideration

• Rezoning for the commercial area should be B-1 or C-1, not C-3. The flexibility of the C-3 zone allows for activities that could be incompatible with the surrounding area

• Insist that the developer meet the spirit as well as the letter of open space ordinances, which is not now the case. The coalition agrees with planning & zoning staff comments that the present design fragments open space, and contiguous open space requirements are not met, which includes at least 30% of contiguous space

• Ensure the developer meets standards for pedestrian and cyclist safety. “The numerous safety challenges posed by the Mulberry Knoll extension and Beaver Dam Road have not been fully addressed.” Residents living in separate sections of the community would have to cross Beaver Dam Road to reach amenities.

Elks lodge concerns

Ralph Patterson, representing the 1,500 members of the Cape Henlopen Elks Lodge 2540 along Beaver Dam Road and adjacent to the proposed Northstar community, said, “We are ground zero for Phase 1. Our entrance is 40 feet from the property line.”

He said road improvements would take away one-third of the parking lot and possibly the electronic message sign.

He asked the commission to require the developer to provide a vegetated buffer wider than 30 feet along the property line and leave the woods north of their property undisturbed. He also requested that a privacy fence be constructed.

For more information

To read the Sussex Preservation Coalition statement, go to www.sussexpreservationcoalition.org/copy-of-action-alerts-1.