Julie Morris is a resident of Milford.
Do you think Kent County cares about your roads, your schools, your water or whether emergency vehicles can actually get into your neighborhood?
Because the more I dig into Harmony Hills II, the less convincing this whole “our hands were tied” argument becomes.
Harmony Hills II will be a 93-lot subdivision off Peachtree Run, east of Camden, recently approved by Kent County Levy Court. The Regional Planning Commission denied it because of a very basic public safety concern: one way in and one way out.
The developer appealed, and on Sept. 1, Levy Court overturned that denial.
During the meeting, Commissioner Paul Hertz essentially asked the county attorney whether they had to approve it. The attorney said that, under the Tony Ashburn case and the other cases contained in his legal memo, yes, they had to approve it.
But here is the part residents really need to understand: Approval and unconditional approval are not necessarily the same thing.
The Delaware Supreme Court’s Tony Ashburn decision says local government generally cannot deny a subdivision that complies with the applicable objective requirements simply because officials have broader concerns about traffic, schools or public safety.
But the same case recognizes something else: A compliant subdivision can still be approved subject to reasonable conditions.
That gave Levy Court a very plausible middle path.
Its members could have said: Fine. Preliminary approval is granted, but before final approval, the developer must provide a second entrance approved by the appropriate agencies or provide actual documentation establishing that a second entrance is not possible or permittable.
That would be especially reasonable here because Kent County’s own code says that subdivisions with 51 or more lots require a “second entrance when possible and permittable.”
Harmony Hills has 93 lots.
So, why wasn’t that question nailed down before Levy Court overturned the Planning Commission?
Who actually determined that another entrance wasn’t possible? The Delaware Department of Transportation? The Office of the State Fire Marshal? The Kent County Planning Division? Or the developer and its engineer?
Because the developer’s own appeal acknowledges that the second-entrance requirement exists.
And the developer’s own site plan literally says: “TERMINATE ACCESS TO HEADSTART LN AT PROPERTY LINE.”
The engineer also testified there was “no intent” to make Headstart Lane public access for the project.
“No intent” is not the same thing as “not possible and permittable.”
The Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization looked at Headstart Lane and another potential connection toward Casterline Court. There are legitimate obstacles involving right-of-way, wetlands, road conditions and other issues.
But “difficult” is still not necessarily “impossible.”
And, according to the record we’ve reviewed, the developer was still going to submit its formal entrance plans to DelDOT after preliminary approval. The final “no objection” from the fire marshal was also something required later in the process.
So, what exactly was the emergency?
Why couldn’t Levy Court approve with the condition of resolving the second-access issue first, especially when its own Planning Commission had just said this was a public safety problem?
And here’s the part that really pisses me off: In 2024, Levy Court Commissioners Joanne Masten, Jeff Hall, Paul Hertz and Robert Scott voted to eliminate Kent County’s adequate public facilities requirements for roads, schools and water.
The commissioners weakened their own ability to use those issues during development review.
Then, two years later, we’re hearing commissioners complain that state law and court decisions have taken away local control and that their hands are tied.
Maybe stop tying your own damn hands.
Residents have to live with the traffic.
Residents have children sitting in overcrowded schools.
Residents depend on the water system.
Residents are the ones who will be sitting in those houses if the only road into a 93-home neighborhood is blocked, and an ambulance or fire engine needs to get through.
This is what Levy Court is there for.
Not simply to determine how quickly it can move an application through without getting sued.
Ask the hard questions. Use the authority you still have. Impose reasonable conditions where the law allows it. Require the evidence. Make developers demonstrate that public safety requirements actually cannot be met before simply accepting that conclusion.
Before anyone tells Kent County residents that Levy Court’s hands were tied on Harmony Hills II, I want an answer to one very simple question: Why wasn’t approval conditioned on a second entrance or, at minimum, on documented proof from the appropriate agencies that a second entrance was truly not possible and permittable?
Because that appears to have been a very plausible middle path.
And that sure as hell sounds more like doing the job residents elected them to do.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
