New Overbrook proposal seeks no commercial zoning

The developer of the Overbrook site has abandoned plans for commercial zoning on a 114-acre parcel along Route 1 north of Lewes.

A controversial commercial rezoning of the site for the 850,000-square-foot Overbrook Town Center shopping complex was denied twice by Sussex County Council.

At a May 23 Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination Preliminary Land Use Service meeting, developer TD Rehoboth LLC presented plans for Overbrook Meadows West, a 105-single-family lot subdivision on 50 acres.

The developer had previously presented a plan for Overbrook Meadows, a 135-single-family-lot development on 64 acres. That plan was reviewed by state agencies in September 2017 and has been filed with the Sussex County planning and zoning office.

Both projects would be on a parcel on the east side of Route 1 at the Cave Neck Road intersection.

Dorothy Morris, of the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination, said the parcel is in a Delaware Strategies for State Polices and Spending Level 4 area where state investments do not support growth. She said Level 4 areas are designed for preservation of natural resources and agricultural uses.

However, the state does have plans to eventually improve the Route 1-Cave Neck Road intersection.

Council voted 4-1 April 12, 2016, to deny the rezoning from AR-1, agricultural-residential, to CR-1, commercial residential, for the largest commercial center ever proposed in the county.

The developers filed suit June 8, 2016, in Chancery Court against council stating three council members who voted against the application made statements not supported by the public record. The court ruled that council had to schedule a rehearing on the application.

On April 12, council voted 3-2 to deny the application for a second time.

Access has surfaced as a key issue in both applications. The Route 1-Cave Neck Road intersection is included in a state transportation plan for a grade-separated interchange with an overpass – similar to other projects on Route 1 – but there is no timeline for the project.

The developer has a design in progress for an interchange to access the parcel, with a secondary right-out-only exit road on the northern border of the property line. Stephen Gorski, senior project manager with Duffield Associates, stated in a Feb. 20 PLUS review response that construction of the proposed interchange could take place from the fall of 2019 to the summer of 2020. “Funding to be determined,” he wrote.

During the May 23 PLUS meeting, Delaware Department of Transportation's Bill Brockenbrough said the developer has several options for the interchange: wait for DelDOT to build it; design and build it; or work out a public-private partnership.

Gorski told Brockenbrough the developer is interested in the public-private partnership option.

http://stateplanning.delaware.gov/plus/developer_resp/2017-09-08-dev-response-1.pdf

https://stateplanning.delaware.gov/strategies/documents/2015-state-strategies.pdf