My husband and I bought a house and moved to Dover in June.
When we bought the house, nobody told us that the Delaware Department of Transportation had planned to put in a traffic circle that would take a quarter-acre of our yard. We live at the intersection of Peachtree Run and Walnut Shade Road. I was told that none of my neighbors was made aware that the department approved construction for this traffic circle and new sidewalk that would take away my neighbors’ yards and cut down their trees that are 50-plus years old.
The Transportation Department said we should have checked their website and it’s our fault we didn’t attend an online meeting held in 2021 about the plans of this traffic circle.
Additionally, they are displacing an elderly woman who has lived in her home on Walnut Shade for 70 years. They are going to bulldoze her home and put in a drainage pond. She doesn’t know what to do, and none of my neighbors wants this construction to happen. If this traffic circle is approved, then housing developments could be built off Walnut Shade and Peachtree Run, including low-income town houses.
We want to keep our farmlands and our yards.
We want others in the community to be aware of our story and be warned that there are problems with the system in place concerning the Department of Transportation informing impacted residents of drastic changes to their communities. We are gathering neighbors and have invited news outlets hear our opinions.
Serena Folk
Dover
