Delaware State News
DOVER — Three long-stalled Loockerman Street development projects, often cited as central to the continued revitalization of downtown Dover, could get rolling again.
A city committee on Monday cleared the way for reducing the amount of space that must be set aside for recreation at apartment buildings and other relatively high-density housing downtown. Current law, which requires as much "open space" on Loockerman Street as in the suburb-like settings closer to the city limits, has been blamed for preventing construction of scores of apartments planned by developer Michael Zimmerman.
The Parks, Recreation and Community Enhancement Committee forwarded to City Council a proposal to reduce the downtown open-space requirement by more than 70 percent.
"This appears to be the last major impediment to construction of Franklin Hall, the Collegian and Jackson Hall," attorney Constantine F. Malmberg III, who represents Mr. Zimmerman, said after the committee meeting.
The Collegian, with some 100 or more luxury apartments, would occupy the empty ground where Capitol Office Products, the old Dover Newsstand and Dover Hardware stood. A restaurant would be on the Collegian’s ground floor.
Jackson Hall and Franklin Hall would be farther west, at the Lockermann Street intersections with South Governors Avenue and South Queen Street, respectively. The latest plans for those buildings were not immediately available.
Mr. Zimmerman has complained that a variety of city fees would have added too much to the rent of proposed apartments. One such fee is imposed on developers who choose to pay for recreational facilities elsewhere in Dover rather than provide all that ordinarily would be required at their project sites. The greater the required open space, the higher the fee.
Although some of the other fees that had faced Mr. Zimmerman have been waived or reduced, the open-space requirement remains a significant obstacle, Mr. Malmberg said.
City residents can comment on the proposed change in a yet-to-be-scheduled public hearing.
Dover’s economic development director, Bill Neaton, called the current open-space requirement "much too restrictive."
"I think the city realized the requirement for open space should be segregated between suburban areas and downtown," Mr. Neaton said.
Current law requires that about two-thirds of an acre be designated for recreation at a 100-unit apartment complex, regardless of location. Under the proposal, a downtown 100-unit project would need just 7,500 square feet of recreation area, and the developer could provide as little as 2,500 square feet at his site if he donated money to finance recreation elsewhere.
City Planning Director Ann Marie Townshend said the change is reasonable because of the nature of downtown. "The streetscape itself is a recreational feature," which encourages walking, she said.
But the proposal doesn’t solve all of Mr. Zimmerman’s problems with open space, according to Mr. Malmberg.
By requiring 2,500 square feet of recreation area on-site, it would make some smaller projects cost-prohibitive, Mr. Malmberg said. Two such victims, he said, could be M Annex and Z Annex, proposed by Mr. Zimmerman to house Wesley College students on opposing corners of Governors Avenue and Division Street. They would contain a combined 45 rooms.
