By Glenn Rolfe

DAGSBORO — Schell Brothers is turning to Dagsboro in hopes of bringing a new twist to upscale development, with several hundred homes built around an agricultural/farm-based theme.

“We’ve been looking at some concepts that have been growing across the country,” Schell Brothers representative Greg Tobias said during a presentation at the Monday town council meeting. “It is something called an agri-community, which is an agricultural-based community, or an agri-hood.”

The project would in effect double the number of dwellings and population of the town. Dagsboro’s current population is about 800.

“We got information from them. It is a lot to digest,” said Dagsboro Mayor Brian Baull. “I know they want to move ahead. They want to take the next step, so we’ve got to decide if it is a project that we really want to take on. It would, from infancy to when it is completed, essentially double the town.”

Councilman William Chandler III believes the project is far too large, adding people moved to Dagsboro to get away from big development and they want Dagsboro to remain a “small town.”

“This is a mega-development that dwarfs any previous development in the history of Dagsboro,” said Mr. Chandler. “In a variety of ways, it is just ill-suited for Dagsboro, a development of this magnitude. In general, infrastructure in Sussex County has not kept pace with the development. Our roads, our sewer and water systems, even our soft infrastructure like health care, police, fire and so on have not been able to keep pace with the level of development. That is especially true when you look at the size of the mega-development that they are proposing here for little Dagsboro. It will essentially double the size of the town.”

Mr. Chandler added that it “doesn’t take into account that Dagsboro does not want to be a city. It doesn’t want to be a major metropolis. It doesn’t want to be, frankly, a Millsboro. That is not why people come to Dagsboro. They want to live in a small quiet town that has a small, quiet town culture. If you develop over 500 homes, you are going to change that and alter that culture irreversibly.”

As presented, upward of 500 homes are pegged for the project, coined Riverview Associates III LLC, on 262 acres of farmland that border Dagsboro Road (Del. 20) and Clayton Street. It would incorporate the agricultural theme with a small farm, one of the central features.

“We have been super excited about doing an agri-community in Sussex County. I think it would be very successful. I think it would bring a lot of people to the town, which is important because we are talking about building quite a few houses,” Mr. Tobias said.

Schell Brothers’ plans for 115 acres in the town limits include 117 townhomes and 74 single-family homes. Another 278 single-family homes are planned for property in Sussex County jurisdiction.

“A good portion of the project is actually in the county today. We want to chat with you about our ideas for the project, get some feedback from you to see how you feel about it, and talk about annexing that section into the town,” Mr. Tobias said.

An agri-community is a development built around a working farm, like a golf course development but with a small farm instead of fairways and greens as a central amenity. Plans for Dagsboro would be a vegetable trucking farm, with variety crops, typically organic in nature. Schell Brothers is considering earmarking 5 to 10 acres for that central amenity, Mr. Tobias said.

“We would create a community farm stand for what comes out of the fields. Ideally, what we would like to do is create a farmer’s market that would be kind of centered around the community farm stand. It’s very natural,” said Mr. Tobias.

“This is a very popular and kind of novel type thing that has been happening in different places in the country for the last 10 years or so. It really differentiates a project from your typical type of master plan or golf course community.”

“This is a big project for Dagsboro,” said Mr. Tobias. “It’s the first in the town that has this type of scale. It is an agri-community which is different than what has been done in the state of Delaware. We are very confident that it would be successful.”

Regarding DelDOT, Mr. Tobias said road upgrades that include proposed entrances off Dagsboro Road and Clayton Street will cost about $3 million.

Mr. Tobias said there are a series or hurdles with the town that would need to be cleared, including “significantly” higher fees in the town that “make it difficult to develop this property. We have lot of DelDOT improvements.”

Mr. Chandler noted that the developers are “asking us as a condition of going forward to reduce those fees by what they claim are excessive by about $7,200. They compare us to Sussex County’s fees That is comparing apples to oranges. They should be comparing us to Millsboro’s fees, or Ocean View’s fees. Why didn’t they do that?”

“Dagsboro fees are right in line with all the surrounding communities. It costs between $8,000 and $12,000 to build a new home in these towns all around us. That’s what it costs in Dagsboro,” said Mr. Chandler.

“Comparing us to the county is a false comparison because the county doesn’t have the infrastructure, the soft infrastructure. For example, the county doesn’t have a police force. All these towns do. The county doesn’t have a fire department. It’s just a false comparison. It’s misleading and that’s why it doesn’t resonate with me that you are asking us to reduce our fees by over $7,000 for every home you’re going to build. Other developers have built homes and they didn’t ask for reductions.”

Mr. Chandler reaffirmed his personal belief that this is not a good fit for Dagsboro.

“It would be fine in Millsboro or in Middletown, where places that want to be big metropolises and don’t mind the pressures that come with that,” said Mr. Chandler.

“I am one person, one person on that council. But these are some of the things that immediately struck me about this proposal. One, it isn’t suited for Dagsboro. Two, it is based on false comparison between our fees and the county’s fees. And three, I think we are destroying the very thing that people moved to Sussex County for – the lack of hustle bustle. They are moving from places that are overdeveloped and overpopulated and over-trafficked to come here. What we are doing is we’re converting Sussex County into the very thing that they are fleeing.”