Stage is set for July 17 Northstar public hearing

In what will probably be a record-long public hearing, the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission has scheduled a public hearing at 1 p.m., Wednesday, July 17, on the Northstar mixed-use community on 433 acres along Route 9 and the north and south sides of Beaver Dam Road, one mile west of Five Points.

A hearing before Sussex County Council will have to be scheduled as well.

The plan includes 758 single-family home lots, 94 multifamily units and 96,000 square feet of commercial space. The developer must file rezoning applications from AR-1, agricultural-residential, to C-3, heavy commercial, and from AR-1 to MR, medium-density residential, and file a conditional-use application for multifamily housing.

All commercial construction would be on 12.7 acres along Route 9.

Included in the plan are 94 affordable apartment units on 4.65 acres along Beaver Dam Road that would be under the Delaware State Housing Authority low-income tax credit program.

The preliminary plan includes three miles of shared-use pathways to provide linkages to existing subdivisions and two-and-a-half miles of pathways within the proposed community.

The project includes several park areas and 166.5 acres of open space, or 44% of the total acreage.

Proposed road work

The property borders Route 9 across from the Vineyards, and runs along portions of Beaver Dam Road in several areas. One of the proposed major road improvements includes the first phase of the Delaware Department of Transportation’s Mulberry Knoll to Route 9 connection road. The plan includes a section of that road from Beaver Dam Road to Route 9 at the Vineyards intersection, which will be dedicated to DelDOT for public use.

The plan also includes a proposed connection from the project on the south side of Beaver Dam Road to Lewes Crossing for vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Northstar is in the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District and would be required to contribute funds per unit and per commercial square footage to a fund for road improvements in the district, besides other road improvements required by DelDOT.

At buildout, the average daily traffic would be 13,359 trips.

Access to the parcel would be from Route 9 and Beaver Dam Road across from the Coastal Club community.

Against the project

A campaign against the project, as well as the Cool Spring Crossing project on Route 9, is being led by Sussex Preservation Coalition.

The coalition board has held several meetings urging residents to get involved by writing letters, contacting county officials and signing an online petition in opposition to the project.