Supporters of the Cool Springs Crossing proposal urged the Sussex County Council to approve the master plan at the public testimony portion of the hearing while some council members and technical representatives pressed on traffic, state planning maps and school impacts.

Tim Scribe, a nearby landowner who also identified himself as a mayor and commissioner elsewhere, told the council the project offers an opportunity to invest in infrastructure and public spaces and called the proposal a chance to build a "livable community." Brian DeSabatino, CEO of EDIS, praised the developer’s track record and the project’s potential for internal capture of trips, arguing internal retail and mixed uses reduce pressure on county arteries.

John Horner of the Homeowners Association of Delaware cautioned that Office of State Planning investment‑level maps are guidance rather than a categorical prohibition on state spending and argued the scoring system can be misleading in localized cases. Horner said the maps are under review and urged councilors not to assume a lack of state funding if an area is mapped at a lower investment level.

Council members and staff focused questioning on three technical issues: traffic projections and internal capture assumptions, the permanence of affordability for the project’s workforce units, and school enrollment estimates. A planning appendix in the record produced different pupil estimates; the transcript cited both an estimate of about 409 new Cape Henlopen pupils and a figure given elsewhere in the record of 449, which councilors flagged as inconsistent. On workforce housing permanence, the applicant confirmed that 25% of units will be governed by Sussex County’s SCARP program, while other workforce‑priced units are tied to building type and not permanently restricted from later conversion to market pricing.

After the public testimonies the council took a brief recess; no final votes on the rezoning/RPC application appear in the transcript provided.