Sussex County Council on [date not specified] closed the public hearing on a proposed amendment to the county's future land use map (FLUM) and related zoning and conditional-use requests tied to the 637-acre Cool Spring Crossing master plan, but left the record open for further technical questions to agencies including DelDOT, the Cape Henlopen School District, local fire companies and the State Forester.

Dozens of speakers, led by the Sussex Preservation Coalition (SPC), urged the council to delay any change until the county's comprehensive plan update, the Coastal Corridor/DelDOT studies and recommendations from the Land Use Reform Working Group are complete. "Not now, but not never," said Joe Pica, a Lewes resident and SPC presenter, arguing the scale of the proposal requires broader public deliberation.

The matter drew repeated concerns about transportation and concurrency. "The trip generation for the Cool Springs development is estimated to be 33,359 vehicle trips," said Rich Barrasso, a member of SPC, who presented mapping from DelDOT's permit tracker and argued the Cool Spring traffic impact study (TIS) did not fully integrate nearby developments and background buildout. Multiple speakers warned that Route 9 already faces capacity, safety and evacuation constraints and that planned dualization and other DelDOT projects have been repeatedly rescheduled.

Speakers also pressed council on public services. Jill Hicks, president of the Sussex Preservation Coalition, noted the applicant's housing proposal includes 700 rental units of which 175 were described as affordable at 80% of area median income; the developer labels roughly 525 additional units "affordable market rate." Hicks said that label is unlikely to produce housing affordable for the county workforce and that Cool Spring might "eat its own" by adding service-demand without providing commensurate workforce housing.

Legal and plan-based objections were raised repeatedly. Jim (last name redacted), representing SPC, urged the council to honor the 2018 FLUM and flagged precedent: past amendments moving land from low density to growth have been small (he cited an average of ~1.75 acres in prior low-to-growth changes), while Cool Spring would reclassify roughly 637 acres. Jack Young, addressing findings under Delaware law, said the applicant had not met the burden of competent, substantial evidence and urged denial of the ordinance and related applications.

Several residents and petitioners presented signature counts. Johannes Sehr said his group collected 392 validated online signatures; Lisonbee Monroe submitted an additional 120 door-to-door signatures; others delivered petitions totaling hundreds of local signatures opposing the amendment. Speakers from nearby subdivisions described congestion at community entrances and safety problems for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Council and staff questioned DelDOT representatives and the consulting traffic engineer about whether the Cool Spring TIS included the Henlopen TID background buildout and recently approved projects such as Northstar. DelDOT and the engineer said background growth from the Henlopen TID was included in forecasting though some individual parcels may not be listed as "committed developments" in the TIS scoping memo.

After public testimony the council voted to close the public hearing but keep the record open so council members could submit written questions through staff to DelDOT, Cape Henlopen School District, the State Forester and the local fire companies; those agencies were given two calendar weeks to respond in writing, and the public and applicant will have two calendar weeks after the agencies' responses to submit further written comment.

The ordinance and related zoning requests at issue were identified in testimony as: Ordinance No. 23-07 (FLUM amendment), change of zone 20-10 and conditional-use filings (24-41, 24-42). The council did not take a final vote on the ordinance at this meeting.

The public record contains competing estimates of scale and service impacts: the developer's outreach materials cite approximately 4,600 residents on project materials while an earlier consultant estimated 5,624; SPC used a working estimate of about 5,000. Two developer consultants offered differing school-impact projections (566 students and 409 students). Nearby projects noted in testimony included Northstar (about 749 homes, cited ~12,000 daily trips) and Azalea Woods (approx. 580 homes, ~5,223 average daily trips).

What happens next: council staff will collect written questions from council members and transmit them to the named agencies; the agencies' written responses will be posted and the public may file written replies within the two-week response window. The council has not scheduled a final decision date.

Context: Speakers emphasized the pending county comprehensive-plan update, the Coastal Corridor study, the Land Use Reform Working Group recommendations and DelDOT funding uncertainty as material context that, they said, should inform any large FLUM amendment affecting the Route 9 corridor.