More lots planned for Woods at Burton's Pond
The Woods at Burton's Pond, located along Conley's Chapel Road near Lewes, may increase its size with another 19 single-family home lots.
Developer Spring Cap II LLC has filed a subdivision application for the lots on a 15-acre parcel along the southern boundary of the existing Burton's Pond subdivision, which is under construction. The addition would bring the total to 186 lots.
Although the lots would share the same entrance, and homeowners would belong to the same homeowners association and use existing amenities, the subdivision should be considered as a new subdivision, said Mackenzie Peet, the developer's attorney, during Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission's March 24 meeting.
The commission deferred a vote to a future meeting.
About the subdivision
Ring Lardner of Davis, Bowen & Friedel, the developer's engineer, said the original subdivision was approved in 2009 with 165 lots.
The remaining 15-acre parcel, which is adjacent to the closed Sussex County Angola landfill site, was under consideration for purchase by county officials as an additional buffer to the site. Lardner said when the county decided not to purchase the property, it was reserved as land that could be developed. In order for development to proceed, Lardner said, the site had to have two groundwater wells and two methane gas wells installed and monitored for three years.
He said at the end of the time period, environmental consultants prepared a report that was presented to county engineering staff, and it was determined development could proceed.
Commissioner Kim Hoey Stevenson requested that signage be posted adjacent to the landfill property to alert residents of its location.
Lardner said a 4-acre pocket of isolated wetlands would be left undisturbed and surrounded by a 50-foot buffer. He asked the commission to waive a requirement for a vegetated buffer between the proposed new lots and the existing subdivision to retain continuity in the community.
Lardner said the developer would contribute required funding as part of the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District agreement between the county and Delaware Department of Transportation.
Concerns over flooding
Three residents of the Holly Oak community along Dorman Road near the property said they have ongoing flooding issues along the road and on some lots in the subdivision. They said runoff from rainfalls drains through a culvert under Dorman Road into their community.
They said removing more trees and building more houses with more impervious surface would exacerbate the problem.
Lardner agreed with the residents that there is a runoff issue along Dorman Road. But, he said, the runoff is not due to construction on Woods at Burton’s Pond. In fact, he said, the runoff from the proposed 19 lots would be collected in swales, directed to a stormwater management pond and discharged into Chapel Branch nowhere near the Holly Oak community.
He said the runoff problems are compounded because drainage ditches are not maintained and existing drainage pipes are undersized. “The problem is coming from somewhere else, and it will continue until downstream conditions are improved,” he said.
He said water flow begins north of Conley's Chapel Road into a pipe and ditch entering Holly Oak.
“We did not increase the flow or ditch depth. The area was already flooding before our project,” Lardner said.
He urged Holly Oak residents to contact staff at the Sussex Conservation District. “The problem can be remedied,” he said.
