By Glenn Rolfe

MILTON – A development pitch to bring high-density/high-rise apartments and a commercial component along southern Delaware’s busy coastal corridor has drawn opposition amid concern it will change the character of Del. 1 and Cave Neck Road.

And Sussex County Council has put its final decision on hold.

Following the March 2 public hearing, council deferred action on the Chappell Farm LLC project, a commercial/residential proposal planned on approximately 15 acres near Milton.

Council heard testimony supporting the project proposed by brothers Christian and Jamin Hudson, who are seeking two rezoning applications and a conditional use for multi-family housing, and opposition that challenges density calculation and other issues.

The rezoning requests are from Agricultural/Residential to Medium Residential for 6.4 acres, and AR-1 to C-3 (Heavy Commercial) for 8.53 acres. The conditional-use request is to grant use of land in an MR/Medium Density residential district for 128 multifamily units on 6.4 acres of land. An additional 28 apartments are planned above the ground-level commercial component on 8.53 acres.

Residents of the adjacent Red Fox Run community are among those opposing the proposal, which received Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval Feb. 11.

“The future of the Sussex Route 1 corridor is your hands,” said Red Fox Run resident Rich Borrasso.

This project includes two commercial pads and the residential component. Developers have held several meetings with neighboring residents and have incorporated some of their suggestions in their plans.

“Before we ever applied to the county for a change use or change of zone, the first thing we did was reach out to Mr. Borrasso and the folks at Sussex Alliance for Responsible Growth,” said Christian Hudson. “We said, ‘Look, we own this property at this intersection. We live and work here. Our family lives and works here and has for generations. But you guys also live and work here. What do you guys think should go on this corner?’”

“Most of the residents of Red Fox Run community are resigned to the fact that this parcel will ultimately be developed,” said Mr. Borrasso, adding the hope is “the development would be in character with the surrounding area in the short term as well as into the future.”

“We agreed that the Hudsons have done a good job with development and we like the development they do,” said SARG spokesman Jeff Stone of Milton. “This only is a disagreement on the scale of some interpretations if you will. Our views focus on the density proposed, how it was calculated, traffic generation and its impacts on the residents and visitors and the long-term implications of the Route 1 corridor,” Mr. Stone said.

A sticking point is code interpretation.

“Density is not a bad thing. C1, C2, C3 zonings that are adjacent to our property all allow 12 dwelling units per acre as a matter of right. We believe that our application is consistent with those surrounding zonings,” said Mike Riemann of the Becker Morgan Group representing the developers. “We are requesting total density of 10.5 units per acre.”

“SARG strongly questions the applicant’s methodology for calculating density by using adjacent land zoned differently to calculate density; the question of lot versus district,” said Mr. Stone. “MR basically only allows eight (units per acre). The CU will take it to 12.”

John Rieley, District 5 County Councilman, asked for clarification on the unit calculations.

“So, we are marrying these two parcels together?” Mr. Rieley asked.

“Your code effectively does that, yes sir,” said attorney John Paradee, representing the applicant. “What the code says is you follow the lot lines. For a mixed-use project that has split zoning, you count the entire lot.”

County Councilman Mark Schaeffer, who represents the 3rd District where the project is planned, asked Sussex County Planning and Zoning Director Jamie Whitehouse about the accuracy of the calculation offered by developers.

“Now, we can play games with the numbers and try to confuse the issue but when you did the calculation, do you agree with the applicant’s number of 10 plus units per acre?” Mr. Schaeffer said.

“In my calculation, it results in 10.45 dwelling units,” Mr. Whitehouse said.

Mr. Riemann said the commitment is to “only do the apartment side of the project as Phase 1 and not obtain certificate of occupancy (for commercial) until the grade separated interchange is open to the public.”

Modeled after the Hudson family’s development of the Villages at Five Points, the Chappell Farm project would feature a roundabout tied to the Delaware Department of Transportation’s grade separated interchange for Del. 1 and Cave Neck Road, as well as a connector road that would parallel Coastal Highway.

“I want to make that clear that we do not have direct access to Route 1,” said Mr. Riemann. “It is off the future service road that parallels Route 1.”

Two commercial pads would total approximately 44,000 square feet. Plans include a convenience store/fuel station and other commercial/retail to be determined.

Developers have proposed 555 parking spaces and four four-story apartment buildings, one having retail on the ground level. Other proposed features include a pool, pedestrian walkways, stormwater management utilized as aesthetic amenities, buffers, playground, clubhouse and a gated connector road.

Mr. Borrasso said the Planning and Zoning Commission, in its motion for approval of the conditional use, noted there is extensive MR zoning adjacent to and across the road from Cave Neck Road. In a Power Point presentation, Mr. Borrasso stated that of the 19 subdivisions in an approximate two-mile radius from the Chappell Farm site, only three are zoned Medium Residential. All are three units to the acre or less. The largest, Painters Mill, has 299 dwellings – a mix of single-family homes and multifamily condominiums – with an average dwellings per acre of three.

“I find the commission’s assertion of ‘extensive MR zoning’ to be at the very least an overestimation,” Mr. Borrasso said. “Our research can find no other examples of combining acreage of multiple differentiated zones to calculate maximum allowable density. Essentially the Medium Residential would result in eight dwellings times 6.4 acres, a total of 51 units. With the conditional use up to 12 dwellings, times 6.4 acres equals 76.8 units.”

Red Fox Run resident Terry August testified that “the area involved is not already urban, nor will it become urban as some have said simply with the development of a grade-separated interchange. What will change the dynamics of this area is building 128 apartments with 555 parking spaces. No longer will Red Fox Run residents and their neighbors live in the woodsy privacy once enjoyed and for which their properties were purchased.”

In making the motion at the Feb. 11 session to go forward with approval to county council, Planning and Zoning Commission Vice Chair Kim Hoey Stevenson said this will be one of the first grade-separated intersections in Sussex County.

“This grade-separated intersection gives this location an urban character. Having the grade-separated overpass, I think it will change the dynamic of that area, that spot. It’s already being used for commercial use,” said Ms. Hoey Stevenson. “That being said … I am not expecting to see every new development that comes in near there to look like this. So, fair warning everybody.”