Milton planners await agency reports on medical office rezoning

Faced with an unusually packed house of residents raising questions, Milton Planning and Zoning Commission deferred on whether to recommend rezoning a nearly 8-acre Mulberry Street parcel to allow a medical office complex.

At its Jan. 21 meeting, the commission unanimously voted to delay a recommendation until it receives comments from the state’s Preliminary Land Use Service, or PLUS, on traffic and open space issues related to two proposed 40,000-square-foot buildings. The commission also left the record open for public comments until the end of February. 

Town council has planned a public hearing on the rezoning request for Monday, April 6. 

Preliminary site drawings show the campus would include more than 400 parking spaces, two stormwater retention ponds and trees screening the campus from adjacent houses. Plans have not been finalized because developer Phoenix Holdings must first have rezoning approved before it can request a hearing on the site plan. John Paradee, attorney for Phoenix Holdings, said traffic-impact studies have not yet been done, but  Delaware Department of Transportation could request one during PLUS review.

Phoenix Holdings is planning for one of the buildings to be used by Beebe Healthcare for outpatient services for doctors, specialists and medical technicians.  Paradee said there would be no emergency services, no ambulances or helicopters. The second building would house additional medical offices. 

Commissioners Richard Trask and George Cardwell each asked Paradee about traffic issues at the site, but Paradee had few answers. Paradee said the campus would provide “double, maybe even triple-digit jobs” in both construction and when the campus is built, but he could not provide further specifics. 

Many in the audience agreed with Trask when he asked why such a facility could not be built on Route 16, where it would be more appropriate. Paradee said Phoenix Holdings desired to build downtown to provide a valuable service to residents that would be easily accessible by foot or by bike. He said the campus would be a low-intensity use of the property. 

Cardwell asked: What if the land is rezoned commercial but Phoenix Holdings does not build what is proposed? A rezoning from R-1 residential to C-1 commercial would open up a slew of uses such as restaurants or commercial retail businesses. Paradee said Phoenix Holdings would be willing to include restrictive covenants that would limit use of the site to medical offices only.

Trask, Cardwell and Commissioner Lynn Ekelund all agreed that they wanted to hear from DelDOT and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control before they would consider recommending a rezoning. 

“I’m not ready to make any recommendations yet,” Trask said.

The Jan. 21 meeting was not a public hearing. Because a decision on rezoning rests with town council, Trask was not required to take public testimony. However, since more than 50 people turned out, he agreed to let them speak and express their concerns.

Ginny Weeks, 119 Clifton St., said, “I don’t think commercial belongs there. I think it’s wrong for the neighborhood. When I look out my window, I expect to see my neighbors, houses, gardens. I expect a certain amount of privacy. An 80,000-square-foot building is the same amount of square feet that’s in the Tunnell Cancer Center. I can’t tell you what this will do to the neighborhood.”

Joe Fisher, who lives in Cannery Village, said restrictive covenants limiting the use of the property to a medical facility only was tantamount to spot zoning and should not be allowed. 

Milton resident Allen Sangree said Phoenix Holdings cherry-picked items out of the town’s comprehensive plan to make it sound like this was a perfect project. 

“You’re talking about two 40,000-square-foot buildings. That is not of scale with the rest of the neighborhood. Is there a dire need for this zoning change? No! There’s many other areas where this could go up,” he said. 

Gary Loveland, a resident of Cannery Village, said a medical facility in downtown Milton is a good idea, but he did not think this was the right location because traffic would conflict with school traffic going into H.O. Brittingham Elementary School. 

Norm Cohen, 338 Union St., said, “To me, this is a suburban office park that they want to put in the middle of a historic residential district. I think it’s inappropriate. It’s a good plan. They're good jobs. The problem is they don’t belong on this particular site.” 

Development at this particular site has been a source of controversy before. In 2014, Loblolly, the property management arm of Draper Holdings, owner of the Mulberry Street property, proposed rezoning the land to R-3 residential to build 88 condominium units at the site. However, the plan was met with citizen opposition and did not come to fruition.