DelDOT: Adequate facilities ordinance would help Sussex

Passing an adequate public facilities ordinance could give Sussex County officials more clout when it comes to requiring developers to provide road improvements. That's the message the Delaware Department of Transportation sent to county council in a recent report on the proposed Gills Neck Village Center.

In addition, DelDOT officials reiterated that data from a 2006 traffic impact study on the proposed rezoning for the center is adequate for council to make a decision.

Developer J.G. Townsend Jr. & Co. is seeking to rezone an 11.6-acre parcel at the intersection of Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road from AR-1, agricultural-residential, to B-1 neighborhood business district to construct a 75,000-square-foot shopping center. The county's planning and zoning commission has recommended approval of the application.

With a public facilities ordinance in place, Sussex officials would have authority to require upgrades to specific roads and intersections to meet expected levels of service, said DelDOT county coordinator Bill Brockenbrough. Levels of service at intersections are rated as passing to failing based on how long a driver has to wait during peak hours.

Without an ordinance, Sussex officials could still deny an application, but have little leverage to force developers to provide specific intersection and road improvements.

That concept surfaced in a letter from Brockenbrough in answer to a series of questions posed by county council regarding the proposed Village Center in Lewes. Council was seeking answers to why an updated traffic impact study was not needed; DelDOT used data from a 2006 study. The letter also states DelDOT has no current traffic count for intersections adjacent to the site.

County council has left the public record open until 4:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 2, for public comment on information provided by DelDOT and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to council's questions. Copies of the replies are available at the county's planning and zoning office in the county administration office at 2 The Circle, Georgetown, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Once the public record is closed, council can then take action on the application.

Ordinance could provide clout

Brockenbrough said if Sussex County had an adequate public facilities ordinance similar to the other two counties, county officials could require developers to make improvements to meet a minimum level of service at specific intersections in the year when a development would be complete. To do that would also require an up-to-date traffic impact study.

Without an ordinance, Brockenbrough said, Sussex officials evaluate land-use decisions regarding transportation using broader criteria.

Brockenbrough said under state law when DelDOT determines – on the basis of a traffic impact study – that a rezoning would cause level of service to decline, the county cannot rezone the property unless the developer takes appropriate action to maintain the current level of service or unless county officials find the benefits to the general public outweigh the detriment caused by the decline in level of service.

Brockenbrough said traffic improvements required in a 2009 agreement with developer J.G. Townsend Jr. & Co. are appropriate measures for the proposed Village Center.

“An updated TIS could provide additional information but as we understand the county's obligation in the rezoning process, that additional information is not essential,” Brockenbrough said.

He said a 2006 study for the Gills Neck Village Center rezoning application examined how traffic would be affected in 2014 at 11 intersections and three proposed shopping center entrances. The study looked at weekday morning and evening and summer Saturday midday peak hours based on a 521,000- square-foot retail center, 456 dwelling units and a 1,000-seat performing arts center, which was the developer's plan at the time.

Two years later, he said, responding to a change in the plans to a 330,000-square-foot shopping center and 472 dwelling units, a DelDOT consultant analyzed what the impact would be on traffic in 2014 based on that plan.

The project has now been reduced to no more than a 75,000-square-foot retail center based on the maximum size permitted in the county's B-1 zoning districts. Because of the dramatic reduction in the scope of the project, DelDOT officials said an updated traffic study was not needed.

Intersections are rated from A, the best, to F, the worst, based on delay times. During the 2008 review by DelDOT, four of the 11 intersections affected by the project were failing or near failing or were projected to be failing during peak hours in the future. In Sussex County, D is considered the minimum adequate level of service.

In response to a council question about level of service at the Kings Highway-Gills Neck Road intersection, Brockenbrough said without further analysis, DelDOT officials don't know what the level is. “That is because DelDOT has not counted traffic on either road or at the intersection of the two roads for some time,” he said.

He added if county officials approve the rezoning application for Village Center, the developer will be required to provide updated traffic counts and level-of-service analysis as part of the traffic operational analysis, which occurs during the site-plan approval process.

Brockenbrough said it could be argued that some of the seven remaining intersections would need improvement if a new traffic impact study was conducted. A 2016 traffic analysis completed for the Wescoats Road project examined five of those seven intersections, taking into account traffic from the Village Center, which was proposed at 235,000 square feet at the time. Brockenbrough said the level of service was found to be acceptable at the five intersections.

Brockenbrough said that leaves two intersections – Route 1 and Dartmouth Drive, and Freeman Highway and Kings Highway. In 2015, DelDOT added a third left-turn lane on westbound Dartmouth Drive at Route 1. He said DelDOT is working with private developers to improve eastbound traffic.

“Recognizing that during the tourist season congestion along Route 1 is unavoidable, we believe there is little room for further improvement there,” Brockenbrough said.

In addition, he said, widening the road at the Kings Highway-Freeman Highway intersection would improve traffic flow, but it would run counter to the corridor management plan for the Lewes Scenic and Historic Byway and the master plan for Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road.

DelDOT, developer work on roads

Of four intersections in the study, Brockenbrough said, under the 2009 agreement, the developer is responsible for improvements at the Kings Highway-Gills Neck Road and Clay Road-Kings Highway intersections. Improvements at the Kings Highway and Gills Neck Road intersection – including new turning and through lanes – are nearly complete.

Brockenbrough said if the rezoning application is approved, the developer would be required to improve the Clay Road-Kings Highway intersection, including installation of a traffic signal.

Brockenbrough said other road improvements could be required depending on a pending traffic operational analysis provided by the developer on the center's proposed entrances.

DelDOT is responsible for improvements at the Savannah Road-Old Orchard Road and the Kings Highway-Dartmouth Drive intersections. Brockenbrough said DelDOT has determined that the developer's funding for road improvements would be better spent closer to the site of the proposed Village Center project.

Realignment of Old Orchard Road is under design and is scheduled for construction in fiscal 2023. Brockenbrough said DelDOT has no current plans for improvements at the Kings Highway intersection.