I am writing to you about the conditional-use request for greater density on a property known to all as Chappell Farm, located north of Five Points. Rich Borrasso of the Sussex Alliance for Responsible Growth has recently written a letter to Delaware State News about this issue (“Sussex conditional-use request abuses dwelling density limits,” March 26).
If the County Council approves this abuse of density limits, then I fear the urbanization of Sussex County will follow, and I don’t mean just north of Five Points. Developers and large landowners must be salivating while waiting on the decision. Properties all along Del. 5, 24, 54, 26, 30, 16 and 9, plus smaller routes, could be next for high-density development requests. If this precedent is set, what is left of the rural character of Sussex will be in jeopardy. The traffic woes we suffer here will be expanded to neighborhoods west of what has become a bull’s-eye location for developers, the Angola area.
As a retired person, I have the luxury of shopping during the week and shopping at crazy-early hours. I do not leave my community on weekends. It’s that simple. It’s not worth the hassle. People who work will find that development brings its own set of headaches. If infrastructure needs were met ahead of development, there would be a lesser problem. But that is not the case. Fast could never be fast enough to fix all the woes that overdevelopment creates.
Over the past few years of my involvement in community issues, I have noticed and commented on a fact of life here in Sussex County. Those who own large properties have a big voice in Georgetown. Those who develop properties have a big voice. And heaven help us if the landowner happens to be a developer, too. The thousands of us who own property — 1 acre here, a quarter acre there — have a little voice, a very little voice. Sometimes, we can be heard, but most of the time, not so much. It seems like the little landowner doesn’t matter.
I am asking Sussex County Council to make me wrong on that. Vote no on the application for rezoning in front of you that would effectively allow 20 units per acre at Chappell Farm, opening up the floodgates for more of the same in Sussex County. If you do vote against that, then maybe I, and others, too, will see that we little landowners do matter.
Judy Kane
Lewes
