CLNCC Meeting With Speaker: NCC Council 12th District Candidate Kevin Caneco, 7PM February 18th In Christiana

February 2020 Meeting Notice

CIVIC LEAGUE FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY

7:00 – 9:00 pm Tuesday, February 18th

Christiana Presbyterian Church
15 N. Old Baltimore Pike, Christiana, DE 19702

NCC Council District 12 primary candidate Kevin Caneco joins us as guest speaker to discuss the NCC Land Use process and ideas on how to improve it [facebook campaign site: Kevin Caneco around the 12th]. Back in January, Kevin wrote this wake up call about a Bayberry land application bait and switch:

Business as usual needs to change in this county. The long awaited Bayberry Town Center plan of soccer fields and a walkable town center atmosphere has been scrapped for 140 new townhomes, a proposed fast food joint and another strip mall. This is an egregious breach of trust done with no community input. I call on members of the Council to oppose this revised plan. It’s time for this nonsense to stop.

*NOTE: this plan's NCC Planning Board public hearing is March 3rd (see meeting information below)  

We are also happy to receive a presentation from the End Debtors' Prison campaign, a Network DE program [https://www.thenetworkde.org/fines-and-fees] to learn more about their initiative.

Also, the Old County Road Community will share how they are fighting back against a set of unfair NCC BoA waiver decisions for a proposed senior housing facility, 'Harmony at Glasgow'. They are currently raising funds for legal assistance to confirm that they have a case for appeal in the Superior Court. Civic League members who are so inclined, can send some money their way to their GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/protect-suburban-zoning-code

Project ID: 20190223 South side of Old County Road, 1,700 feet west of Glasgow Avenue. Major Land Development Plan to subdivide existing parcel into two lots and develop one lot into a 200,000 s.f. assisted living facility. S Zoning. (App. 2019-0223-S)

And in case you missed it, NCC Councilman David Carter is smack in the middle of a land use process argument with the Executive Branch under CE Matt Meyer. His Ordinance 19-120 [Read Ordinance 19-120 HERE] was filed in December and immediately deferred to the Executive Branch for review and a PLUS hearing. Ordinance 19-120 gives Council the right to file text amendment proposals for the UDC without having to provide their Ordinance first to the Executive Branch for two weeks of closed door scrutiny before the public is allowed to review the documents council wishes to file. A discussion of where Rich Hall (NCC DLU GM) is with this process adjustment request can be heard on the audio for the February 7th NCC Council Land Use Committee meeting [find the Feb. 4th audio: https://www.nccde.org/AgendaCenter/County-Council-1] And John Flaherty is distributing a letter of support for Carter's Ord. 19-120, (Find his letter below.)

A CLNCC 2020 goal is to work toward the transformation of the land use process so that the Executive Branch will have less power over our fates. CLNCC feels that it is improper for hugely impactful land use plans to be sent to the Board of Adjustment before the plan gets a Planning Board hearing. This practice sets up an unfair barrier for communities. Once BoA clears waiver requests, a community is left to challenge BoA decisions in Superior Court as the only remedy. If BoA would come after an initial Planning Board hearing, the waivers sought would not have an unfair benefit under a legally bound decision so early in the process.  The Barley Mill Plaza plan and this Glasgow plan are recent examples.

Listen to the council meeting discussion with Rich Hall [the Feb. 4th audio: https://www.nccde.org/AgendaCenter/County-Council-1] for a brief discussion of a bill being introduced by DEM State Senator, Bill Bush, known as - Delaware State Chamber of Commerce Ready in Six - to force the counties to speed up land use processes for specific projects. Hint: it was not well-received.

3 Civic Action Notices:

NCC Department of Land Use survey -

New Castle County is exploring options for expanding land protection and is looking for your input as to what to protect and how to pay for it:https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdxqaJueRMx_wFVR5…/viewformWe need as many people as possible to take the survey to let the County Council know how important preserving open space and agricultural lands are.The survey is open until 3/17/2020.

HOA Community Leaders Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School located at 2575 Glasgow Avenue in Newark. 

At this meeting, Sen. Stephanie Hansen will be joined by Rep. Earl Jaques, and Councilmen David Carter and David Tackett. The discussion will focus on land use and development. 

Hodgson Vocational Technical High School, 2575 Glasgow Avenue, Newark, DE 19702

*DEPARTMENT OF LAND USE, PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA

7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, 2020 

Multi-Purpose Room, Gilliam Building

67 Reads Way, New Castle

App. 2019-0675-S/Z. North side of Boyd's Corner Road, east of Jamison Corner Road, west of North Bayberry Parkway. Exploratory Major Land Development and Title Subdivision Plan, Rezoning, and PLUS Review for Bayberry Town Center proposes a 701,947 SF mixed use development with 277,915 SF of nonresidential uses, 145 single family attached dwellings and to reconfirm the previously approved rezoning of 0.80 acres of Neighborhood Conservation (NC-21) and 69.09 acres of S (Suburban) to Commercial Regional (CR) by Ord. 08-022. Section 40.31.113 and 40.31.114 of the New Castle County Code requires that any record plan submitted after County Council adopts a rezoning shall be in general conformance with the development depicted on the approved exploratory or preliminary plan that was relied upon by County Council when it granted the rezoning. Ord. 20-012 will reconfirm the rezoning of 0.80 acres of Neighborhood Conservation (NC-21) and 69.09 acres of S (Suburban) to Commercial Regional (CR). CR Zoning, CD 12. St. Georges Hundred (T.P. 13-013.00-243).

Project ID: 20190554 Northerly side of Boyds Corner Road. Minor Subdivision Plan to subdivide lot 757 and private open space parcel POS 5C to add 4 single family detached lots; extinguish lot line between Lot 757 and POS 5C; remove existing structures on Lot 757; increase total number of lots from 951 to 955; remove the description of stormwater management facilities in parcel POS11; adjust construction phasing lines; eliminate 15 foot trail access connection. Village of Bayberry-North. S Zoning. (App. 2019-0554-S)