CHESAPEAKE CITY — A hot topic filled Chesapeake City’s Town Hall last Tuesday: the proposed construction of Chesapeake Village II near North St. Augustine Road.
The development would include 68 single family attached homes which will be 27 feet wide and range from 1800 to 2100 square feet. Amy DiPietro, a civil engineer with Morris & Ritchie Associates, and Mike Dropik with LGI Homes pitched their “neo-traditional” architecture to appeal to the historic town.
With this style, the driveways will be located behind the homes, so passing drivers will see the architecture rather than parking lots. They plan to have an attached garage with two parking spots per lot and an additional 42 spaces in an overflow lot to accommodate guests, totaling 178 parking spaces.
The main entrance to the development will be off of North St. Augustine Road. According to officials, a traffic study still needs to be done as the project remains in the very early stages of planning.
Many residents voiced their concerns about the development increasing traffic to an already congested road, due to it being a short-cut for drivers coming to and from Delaware.
Community members were also concerned about the quality of density the new houses will bring to the town. They expressed concerns that once there’s one new development, there will be another and another and so on.
Others mentioned the already overflowing school system, and wondered where these new families would fit into that equation.
Planning Commission member Bill Staker was concerned about protecting the town from the development being used for low income housing. He proposed the town include “owner occupied” requirements in the contract to ensure the area becomes an enriched development with increased property value rather than at risk of being bought up and rented out. However, with a price point of $425,000, the homes will likely house middle to upper class families.
“The development is not going to devalue the rest of the town, if anything it’ll help,” Planning Commission member Rick Webster said.
The development would likely have the homeowners association cover maintenance of the property to keep everything looking nice, according to the developers.
They also plan to implement a 300 ft buffer along the nearby stream and a 100 ft buffer on the intermittent stream, in accordance with the Department of Natural Resources Critical Area Buffer requirements to prevent runoff.
Before moving forward, the project will also need to conduct a study on the water and septic system, since an additional 68 homes will be a huge influx to the town’s system. The property will further need to be rezoned, as it doesn’t currently meet zoning requirements. A stormwater management plan will additionally have to be reviewed by the critical area commission.
Officials noted that the property has been annexed into the town and the developers have been trying to build on it for a while. Planning commission members extended their thanks that LGI Homes and Morris & Ritchie are compromising and accommodating their needs, as past builders were not accepting of the town’s views and values, and wanted to add double the amount of homes in the area.
“These people are really willing to work with us,” Webster said.
Following the meeting, the town plans to send the developers a comment letter to review, allowing them to adjust their plans accordingly in order to move to the preliminary stages. Once the property has been closed on, the developers plan to begin development soon thereafter. They predict the project will take between 18 months and two years before completion.
Local News
