Kent Planning Commission desires further review of The Landings proposal

Delaware State News

DOVER — The Landings are still up in the air.

The Kent County Regional Planning Commission voted Thursday night to table a preliminary application by Tony Ashburn & Sons to build houses on 342 acres west of Leipsic outside the Growth Zone Overlay District.

During a public hearing a week earlier, the planning commissioners heard a succession of Leipsic residents speak against the project even though the proposed development lies outside their town’s corporate limits.

A decision was expected Thursday night, but after an executive session Commissioner Gene Thornton made a motion to table the application until Sept. 10 because further review of documents is needed, and legal concerns need to be addressed.

Mr. Ashburn’s counsel John Paradee contends that the application meets all requirements for preliminary approval, but the residents of Leipsic say their Town Charter gives them a voice in the decision-making process.

According to Chapter 2, Section 7-G of the Leipsic Comprehensive Plan, the town has no interest in future annexations but it is concerned about potential development of surrounding areas. The document designates a one-mile "area of concern" or Intergovernmental Coordination Area, and recommends that the town "enter into a memorandum of agreement with Kent County for reciprocal notification and coordination on land use and development activities within the Area of Concern."

One possible snag: Although the state approved the Leipsic Comprehensive Plan in November 2006, the town never entered into the specified agreement with Kent County.

In a letter to the Kent County Regional Planning Commission written on Tuesday, Leipsic Town Council Secretary Nancy Goodfellow asked that The Landings proposal be denied or tabled until the developer meets with town residents and addresses their concerns, which include pollution, highway traffic, flooding and possible failure of the proposed on-site septic system.

"The town of Leipsic requests that this project not be allowed to proceed forward, until the developer has obtained the consent of the town of Leipsic," the letter states.

Mr. Paradee has said he stands ready to meet with the town.

"He knows where to find us," Nancy Goodfellow said Thursday night.

The vote on the motion to table the application was 6-0, with Albert Holmes Jr. abstaining.

Town officials, residents concerned about 130-home, 342-acre proposal

Delaware State News

LEIPSIC — A bitter battle that’s long been brewing between a builder and this bucolic bayside village may be headed for Kent County Levy Court for resolution.

The Kent County Regional Planning Commission will decide at its business meeting Thursday night whether to approve and send to Levy Court an application for a proposed housing development called The Landings west of Leipsic.

Tension between representatives for the builder and residents of the town grew visibly during a prolonged public hearing of the planning commission last Thursday night.

If given the go-ahead, Tony Ashburn and Sons will build more than 130 houses on a 342-acre tract bounded by the Leipsic River and Dyke Branch, and divided by Fast Landing Road (Del. 42) west of incorporated Leipsic. The builder’s legal counsel, John Paradee, urged the seven-member planning commission to send the application to Levy Court for approval.

"The commission’s decision must be based on the preliminary planning stage," said Mr. Paradee. "This application meets all the code requirements for preliminary plan approval."

Much of the opposition to the development stems from its proposed location in the midst of the vast and ecologically sensitive tidal marshlands of the upper Delaware Bay. Concerns include the proposed on-site septic system, road maintenance, pollution and the loss of fertile farmland.

Although the development lies west of incorporated Leipsic, the town’s government has insisted on participating in the process in accordance with the Leipsic Comprehensive Plan.

That plan, adopted in November 2006, institutes a one-mile area of influence or "Intergovernmental Coordination Area," said Nancy Goodfellow, a member of Leipsic Town Council.

Because of concern over the project’s environmental impact and its impact on the health and welfare of town residents, the Leipsic Planning & Zoning Commission voted on June 30 to oppose The Landings.

The commission is chaired by Nancy Goodfellow’s husband, Jay Goodfellow.

"The Leipsic Planning and Zoning Commission has held at least six meetings in the past year, and not once has a representative of Mr. Ashburn been present," Jay Goodfellow wrote in a letter to the county planning commission last week.

At the public hearing on Thursday, Commissioner Paul Davis asked whether the project’s engineers took into account recent studies on global warming and rising water in tributaries.

"The boundary lines on your site plan are going to change drastically with the rise of water," Mr. Davis told Mr. Paradee.

"It’s speculative to think about what global warming might mean to this project," Mr. Paradee responded.

Mr. Paradee reminded the commissioners of the December 2008 ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court that the Kent County Regional Planning Commission doesn’t have authority to deny applications outright.

Charles Hopkins, who lives on Fast Landing Road, was among those who spoke against The Landings at the public hearing.

"This is contrary to where the state and Kent County have been trying to go," he told the commissioners.

William Jacobson, also of Fast Landing Road, called the proposal "the opposite of smart growth," and asked whether the site plan’s 100-foot buffers allow for the rising sea level.

Mr. Jacobson showed slides of the tidal surge that swamped the Leipsic area during the floods of May 2008, and wondered whether Leipsic would join flood-ravaged Kitts Hummock and Bowers Beach, which he called "taxpayer burdens."

Leipsic is "a waterman’s town" with a character the residents want to maintain, Nancy Goodfellow said on Friday. She noted that 40 residents — from a population of about 220 — hold commercial fishing licenses. That would all change if The Landings project is approved.

"The town has no official record of what the developer is planning on doing," she said. "He knows we’re here. He’s just ignoring us."

Mr. Paradee maintained Thursday night that "we stand prepared to meet with the town."

He knows how to get there. He used to be the town solicitor.