Council hears Gulfstream Glen Cove rezoning and conditional use request; both matters deferred after extensive discussion

Sussex County Council took testimony and extensive discussion on a proposed rezoning and conditional use for property near Millville filed by Gulfstream Glen Cove LLC, then voted to defer both matters for further consideration.

Mackenzie Pete, an attorney with the law firm Saul Ewing representing Gulfstream Glen Cove LLC, presented the change of zone request (AR-1 to MR) and a conditional use to allow 46 single-family detached units in a multifamily regime on roughly 12.32 acres just outside the town of Millville. Pete said the planning and zoning commission unanimously recommended approval at its March hearings and that the applicant submitted a package including site plans, drainage and environmental assessments, a public facilities evaluation, and correspondence with DelDOT and other technical agencies.

Pete described the site as primarily immature woodlands with a small non-bridal wetland of about 0.2 acre and a surrounding resource buffer; she (Pete) said the project proposes approximately 8.12 acres of open space, about 66% of the site. "The project will benefit from central water and sewer," Pete told the council, noting sewer service would be provided by the county and central water by Tidewater. Ron Sutton of Civil Engineering Associates explained buffer and tax ditch relationships and showed that trees and separation would remain between existing homes and the proposed lots.

Council members and staff questioned the applicant about access and traffic, DelDOT spacing and entrance rules, tax ditch maintenance and potential need for tax ditch right-of-way amendment to install a culvert between a stormwater pond and the tax ditch, wetlands protection and potential impacts to nesting great horned owls, and how the submitted open-space calculation was made. Pete and the project team said DelDOT determined the project would generate fewer than 50 trips in any hour and fewer than 500 trips per day and that DelDOT had flagged an alternate entrance as not meeting spacing or deceleration-lane requirements; the plan shows a single permitted entrance on Burbridge Grove (a 50-foot right-of-way through Windmill subdivision) and a proposed 10-foot shared-use path along part of the frontage.

Council members pressed technical questions about the resource buffer width (an average 30-foot buffer proposed, narrowing to 15 feet in one location), the treatment of open space under the county code that applied when the application was submitted, the status of existing deed restrictions that refer to "only single family detached dwellings shall be constructed," and the potential removal or management of trees in the tax ditch right-of-way. The applicant said wetlands would remain undisturbed, that stormwater would be managed in two wet ponds discharging to the tax ditch via a culvert to be installed, and that tax ditch maintenance would be addressed during construction and via the tax ditch committee and amendment process.

After the hearing and discussion, a council member moved to defer the change of zone for further consideration; the motion passed on roll call. A separate motion to defer the conditional use also passed. The council closed the public record for both applications. No in-chamber public testimony was offered and the county operator reported no remote callers for these items.