GEORGETOWN — While a straight approval for Northstar Property’s subdivision wasn’t in the cards, conversation about the proposed development is far from over, as there are several more hearings to be scheduled while the county planning and zoning commission investigates transportation issues.
Wednesday’s meeting of the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission was dedicated to the Northstar Property proposal, which comes in four parts: rezoning a 12.7 acre portion from AR-1 Agricultural Residential to C-3 Heavy Commercial, rezoning about 8 acres from AR-1 Agricultural Residential to MR Medium Density Residential, granting a conditional use to allow multi-family housing of 94 units on that 8 acre section, and finally subdividing 379 acres of a more than 400 acre lot into 758 single-family lots.
After several hours of presentations and comments, for and against, it became clear the commission wasn’t going to decide anything about the proposal during that session.
Formally, the commission decided to defer action on all four parts of the proposal, which means three sections will have public hearings during a future Sussex County Council meeting, while the ball remains in planning and zoning’s court on the subdivision ruling.
However, it did decide to close the public record on the topics, which, according to Vince Robertson who is acting as counsel to the board, puts the issue on a timeline.
“We’ve got a 45-day window since the record wasn’t held open on this. That means, we have to have made recommendations and a decision by no later than the Aug. 21 meeting,” he said.
With the timeline in mind, the board decided to schedule a discussion of the matter for next week’s meeting, currently scheduled for July 24 at 2 The Circle in Georgetown.
During the testimony it emerged the proposed neighborhood lies within the Transportation Improvement District agreed to between agency and county, and the board required additional information about its requirements before moving toward a vote.
“Remember, this is in the Transportation Improvement District and it’s a little bit different. We don’t get a Traffic Impact Study and a Traffic Impact Study Review Letter,” Mr. Robertson said. “One thing I do want to check on, there was a lot of talk about “phasing,” in terms of how phasing relates to Mulberry Knoll and one or two other things.”
Mr. Robertson said this situation has similarities with what happened at Scenic Manor, where signalization of an intersection was approved as a condition of the use, but it was later determined the Transportation Improvement District regulations overrode the condition.
“If this is acted on favorably, I don’t want us to assume we are good to go because it’s conditioned on a certain threshold for Mulberry Knoll, and then we find out that, well, that’s superseded by the TID agreement,” he said.
The commissioners and counsel discussed methods to force the completion of road improvements to the area before major development could begin, but Mr. Robertson contended he needed to review the agreement before he could give an opinion on the possibility.
“If the development gets approved, I think everyone wants to see that road built as soon as possible,” Robert Wheatley, board chair, said.
Since the next meeting of the Sussex County Council comes after the next scheduled planning and zoning meeting, the earliest the remaining three Northstar Property items could have their hearings is July 30.
Staff writer Brian Gilliland can be reached at 410-603-3737 or bg@iniusa.org.
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