Sussex P&Z hears plans for Vintners Reserve
At its Jan. 12 meeting, the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission heard preliminary plans for a proposed residential planned community off Janice Road in the Nassau area near Lewes.
Applicant Janice CRP3 LLC of Owings Mills, Md., presented plans for Vintners Reserve, which includes 316 townhouse units on a 61-acre parcel between Lewes Fire Company Station 2, Nassau Valley Vineyards and Whispering Pines Manufactured Home Park. The applicant is requesting a zoning change from AR-1, agricultural-residential, and C-1 commercial to MR-RPC, medium-density, residential planned community.
In addition, a request has been made to change the Sussex County comprehensive plan future land-use map designation of the property from commercial to coastal area. Currently, the property has a split designation, with most designated as commercial except for a pond, which is designated as coastal area.
Owner of the property is AAA Storage Limited Partnership LLC. Dating back to the 1960s, a section of the parcel was used as a borrow pit for construction of Route 1.
Plans for project
Ring Lardner, Davis, Bowen and Friedel president and senior engineer, said road improvements in the area are upcoming. He said Janice Road would be improved with 10-foot travel lanes and 5-foot shoulders during the Minos Conaway-Route 1 grade-separated interchange project scheduled to begin this year. A connection to the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail is also part of the project.
The applicant would be required to contribute funding to the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District.
Access would be provided for emergency vehicles, with a pedestrian-crossing trail, to the Vineyards community south of the parcel.
A 20-foot forested buffer is planned along the northern, southern and eastern property lines.
He said there is a 50-foot easement shared with the AAA Storage facility. The main roads in the proposed development would be 32 feet wide, which exceeds the 24-foot requirement in county code.
Lardner said an open space area in the middle of the proposed community would have a pool and pool house. Other amenities include a dog park, a play area and a playground. Open space would include 29 acres of the property.
He said the applicant is also seeking two deviations from code to reduce the average lot size to 3,000 square feet and reduce the side-yard setback from 20 feet to 10 feet.
David Hutt, the applicant's attorney, said the density of Vintners Reserve would be 5.12 units per acre, which is less than other nearby communities, including Whispering Pines at 6.6 units per acre, Vineyards at 11.94 units per acre and Sandbar Village at 12 units per acre.
He said the requested reduction in lot sizes would allow for more and better use of the open space.
Hutt said, as far as the requested change in the future land-use map is concerned, residential use makes more sense than a large-scale commercial project at the site. “It's not appropriate for commercial or business, and the proposed use is compatible with the surrounding residential area,” he said.
What does vintner mean? A vintner is a wine merchant or a person who makes wine. The name relates to Nassau Valley Vineyards, one of the neighbors of the proposed project.
