County allows more time for Arbors at Cottagedale
The clock is ticking, but the developer of a 168-unit apartment complex near Lewes now has a county-approved timetable to get work underway.
At its Sept. 29 meeting, Sussex County Council voted 4-1 to back a planning and zoning commission recommendation to suspend the time extension for developer CB Lewes LLC for six months to allow more time before construction of Arbors at Cottagedale must be substantially underway.
Under the approved plan, work on the complex, off Plantation Road on Mackenzie Way, must be underway by July 1, 2016.
Rezoning and conditional-use applications were set to expire on Jan. 1, 2016, but approvals and permits to start remediation of a brownfield site on the property have held up site work necessary to start work and meet the deadline.
Councilwoman Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, voted against the time suspension saying she also voted against the applications five years ago. Deaver had pushed to reduce the density of the project by allowing 80 units.
Sussex County Council approved the 18-acre apartment complex in March 2010, the first under the county's affordable rental housing program, which provides a 20-percent density bonus and an expedited application review for developers taking part in the program. The project will offer 26 affordable housing units.
Approval and construction were contingent upon cleanup of the Jackson Pit site, a state-certified brownfield location. Five buildings will have 30 units and one building will have 18 units with playgrounds, a pool and pool house.
The brownfield site, behind Lewes Home Depot and neighboring Eagle Point subdivision, was for decades a dump site for household and lumber debris.
The developer will pay for the cleanup, which will be monitored by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. No date has been a date set for cleanup to start.
In the request for more time, Frank Kea, a consultant working for the developer, provided county officials with a detailed timeline dating back to 2004. It showed that the project has received all agency approvals, and a final plan has been submitted for remedial action to cleanup the brownfield site.
Under the remediation plan, a small area of soil will be removed from the site, organic debris will be removed and disposed offsite and an environmental covenant restricting the use of groundwater on the parcel has been filed with the Sussex County Recorder of Deeds Office.
The project drew opposition from several groups including the Eagle Point Coalition. The primary concerns of opponents were high density on a relatively small parcel and increased traffic in a congested area.
Steven and Robert Campbell, owners of the property, purchased the parcel in 2013 from Frank Rubino Companies.
