Breen: Sussex growth has ripple effects, unintended consequences

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While the impact of dropping nearly 2,000 new houses along U.S. 9 at Cool Spring Road (the fourth-largest population center in Sussex County) will be major, the ripple effect on infrastructure, roads, emergency services, health care, the environment and schools will be far more profound.

A ripple effect occurs when an initial disturbance to a system propagates outward to disturb an increasingly larger portion of the surroundings, like waves expanding across the water when an object is dropped into it. This massive intrusion will overwhelm Milton, Lewes and Georgetown, resources that are already stretched well beyond their limits.

In its 2008 comprehensive plan, Sussex County edited and reduced Delaware’s “quality-of-life” requirements from “improve” to merely “maintain.” The unintended consequences of that downgrade will be once again experienced by Sussex citizens within 5 miles of this area along Del. 5. Questions for the Planning & Zoning commissioners and County Council members:

  • How do 2,000 new houses maintain Sussex’s rural character?
  • How does massive development maintain Sussex’s quality of life?
  • How does tripling traffic congestion maintain Sussex’s quality of life?
  • How does converting 637 acres to residences preserve Sussex’s farmlands?
  • How does overwhelming police, fire and emergency medical services maintain Sussex’s quality of life?
  • How does eradicating 100-plus acres of mature forest maintain Sussex’s ecosystem?
  • How does endangering about 30 acres of wetlands maintain Sussex’s already poor water quality?

Each of these was part of the vision statement in Sussex County’s 2018 comprehensive plan.

The good news is that none of this will directly affect the Planning & Zoning commissioners nor County Council if the Northstar and Cool Spring Crossing applications are recommended and approved by them. None of these people live in this area. The County Council member residing in Lewes may have to use Del. 16 or Del. 24 to and from the county seat once each week during the 10-15 years of construction agony that will be produced by these two projects along U.S. 9.

All these headaches may be dropped on the area despite repeated (at least three times) warnings from the Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. The ripple effects upon Sussex County citizens within 5 miles will include:

  • Tripled traffic congestion.
  • 15,300 mature trees eliminated, rather than absorbing carbon dioxide and stormwater.
  • 900-plus additional schoolchildren (U.S. census for Sussex County — 17.4% under 18).
  • Endangerment of 30 acres of wetlands and the Red Mill Pond (Delaware’s largest freshwater body).
  • 30%-40% increased demand upon emergency services (on top of the 2021-22 increase of 42%).

David Breen

Lewes

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