Overbrook “Town Center” Retail Monstrosity Delayed… for now
Another sprawling retail monstrosity situated at the entrance to Lewes and Rehoboth was (shockingly) voted down by the sprawl happy Sussex County Council.
Sussex County Council has denied a rezoning request for a 114-acre parcel of farmland that would have paved the way for Overbrook Town Center, the largest shopping center ever proposed in Sussex County.
Council voted 4-1 to deny the rezoning request by TD Rehoboth LLC, a Timonium, Md., developer.
A couple of things:
1) These things are never truly dead. We all know that, right?
2) I love how they call it a “town center” as if there is some kind of planing going on. What a load of crap. Does anybody see anything that looks like a town in that picture?
When Wilson cast the third and deciding vote, the large crowd erupted into wild applause. He said the county has lost a lot of farmland and the highways are already crowded.
Also voting no was Councilwoman Joan Deaver, who noted the parcel is surrounded by farmland and in proximity to the Great Marsh. She said the requested CR-1 zoning was not appropriate. “There is nothing in the county that would compare with this,” she said. “It exceeds anything else on Route 1 … It doesn’t promote the orderly growth of Sussex County.”
“We are not voting for a shopping center, but the many uses permitted under CR-1 zoning,” Deaver said.
Councilman Mike Vincent also opposed rezoning, as did Councilman George Cole, who said it was not appropriate to place the most intense land use in such close proximity with the least intensive land use in the county.
Vincent said he supports property rights to a point. “My property rights should not affect your property rights,” he said.
Councilman Rob Arlett was the only vote in favor of the plan. “If you can’t put commercial along a federal highway, where can you put it?” he asked.
I think Sussex could use some decent retail / department stores, etc….but they have to plan it out and not just plop it on the middle of farmland on a busy highway.
We need to protect our natural resources
Build something that actually benefits the people who are already here
Why can’t it be scaled back and make it more reasonable? Nothing wrong with some development on a major highway, but lets not be ridiculous about it…
Its not about squeezing every single dollar out of a project. Its not dead…the community and elected local leaders should get in and work on a reasonable compromise that can work for all.
The time to have the conversation about retail, commercial and residential development is during the revision of the Sussex County Comprehensive Plan. The Comp Plan update is supposed to provide an opportunity for all residents to engage in some civic discourse about the future of the county. It should outline expected demographic and economic changes, and provide robust plans for zoning changes, infrastructure upgrades and community services that are necessary to provide quality of life. Sounds boring? Well, it can be, and most mere mortals don’t bother to engage during the process, but trust me folks, there is no better way to set the course for Sussex than to get involved and be heard. Want more retail? Fine. The plan can figure out where it should go, and what infrastructure might be needed to support it. And while you are there, how about asking them to create some county parks, eh? Sussex is the only county with no county parks or parks department.
Oh, bless your dear heart. You need a hug and a punch in the arm from the reality fairy.
The comp plan gets rediscovered every few years by a bunch of do-gooder types, LWV members, and anti-development activists who are fine with the subdivision they moved into seven years ago from New Jersey but NO MORE. Study the comments received about past comp plans – they are the same thing over and over, from the same types of people.
The plan is not a magic bullet. More like a hill of beans. Just because something is zoned AR-1 in the plan doesn’t mean it’s staying that way. That’s the whole purpose of rezoning requests and conditional use applications. If you want to fight development, you’ll have better chances studying the code, doing your research on impacts, and fighting it project by project, armed with the same tools the developers and their attorneys use. Learn the process. Use the process. Rule the process. Don’t expect that you can show up every five years, testify about the comp plan in vague terms, and go home.
Oh, and the plan doesn’t “figure out infrastructure.” DelDOT and school districts do that, after the fact, because Delaware is a fucking schizophrenic state.
As for the parks, the comp plan can’t change the scope of county government. Get a council member to propose creating this new agency and spending money on it, and you can talk. And how much do you want your taxes raised by to cover the costs?
As for Overbrook, Sam Wilson was the surprise vote on this. He must be growing mellow.
We’re spending enough on rt1 to make it limited access. To put this north of the Nassau bridge just doesn’t fit with what Rt1 is becoming as a hiway
Here’s a thought…why not move this plan to the western side of the state, say maybe Seaford, where there are already two or three abandon strip malls with tons of empty parking lots that could be turned into a hub that might draw people to the area for positive reasons (tax free shopping!) while not disrupting the flow of traffic to the resorts that we are spending money on trying to enhance. It would also bring more jobs (yes, lower end ones, but better than no jobs at all in that part of the county).