About Us

Founded in 1962, the Civic League For New Castle County is an organization comprised of community civic associations, umbrella civic groups, good government groups, businesses, and interested individuals. The League provides a forum for education about, discussion of, and action on issues relating to the impact of government on the quality of life in New Castle County

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Civic League For New Castle County Annual Meeting 7PM Tonight In Christiana; Featured Speaker: Transportation Secretary Jennifer Cohan



Civic League for New Castle County
Annual Meeting
Date: Tuesday, May 16th, 2017 
Guest: Jennifer Cohan, Secretary of Transportation
Time:   7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Location: Christiana Presbyterian Church 15 North Old Baltimore Pike Christiana, DE 19702
Click here to see the meeting agenda.
Click here to
Become a CLNCC Member


Click here to view
CLNCC County Comments


Here's a May County Comments submission by Tom Dewson that focuses on one of DelDOT's primary functions in the county land use - the process that determines an applicant's Scope of their specific Traffic Impact Study:
County Land Use Process Under Threat - Will County Administration Act?
All residents of New Castle County need to be aware of a serious threat to the integrity of the County Land Use approval process.
Since December, concerned citizens have been fighting the deeply flawed traffic study underway at Delaware National, the 262-unit residential development proposed for the former Hercules Golf Course.   
As designed, the traffic study fails to account for over 20,000 vehicles per day.  The issue isn't the 16 intersections identified for study.  It's the failure to properly account for traffic at these intersections.   
The recent Toll Brothers Supreme Court decision was clear--traffic capacity is allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the County is the final decision maker.   
The County Code is similarly clear--trip generation from projects with recorded plans must be included.  Yet, to date, the County has refused to account for
- 2.2 million square feet of approved but unbuilt space at AstraZeneca and the Experimental Station 
- over 1 million square feet of existing but vacant space at AstraZeneca, Experimental Station, Barley Mill Plaza, 4250 Lancaster Pike and Chestnut Run Plaza
All clearly have traffic rights that precede any new development, and all clearly impact some of the 16 intersections being studied.
As expected, objections have been raised that "the approved but unbuilt developments aren't close enough to be considered" and that "traffic studies haven't considered vacant space in the past".  None of these objections hold water.  
Everyone who travels Route 141 knows it's a major employment corridor.  Morning traffic flows from the suburbs to employers along the corridor, and returns in the evening.  As for vacant space, this is a unique situation that can't be ignored -- vacant space is huge, it's nearby and it has prior traffic rights.   
We filed a formal objection with the County in early March, and we await their response.  The County Administration has a watershed decision to make 
 Left unaddressed, the integrity of the land use process will be seriously undermined -- for this and all future projects. 
Tom Dewson

The News Journal touched on this subject in an April 20, 2017 story by Xerxes Wilson: Hercules golf course project hits familiar concerns

The math of calculating how many vehicles stream near the former Hercules Country Club off Lancaster Pike continues to complicate an effort to build 262 homes on the 205-acre property. An attorney for landowner and Newport-based developer Greg Pettinaro briefed neighbors on the development plan for the property and an ongoing traffic study that will partially determine what sort of road improvements the developer must make to execute the project.
Traffic concerns and calculations have dogged a several-years-long effort to build houses on the property, and the county is fresh off spending tens of thousands of dollars successfully defending all the way to the Delaware Supreme Court its decision to block a previous development on the land over traffic issues. That plan was being pushed by Toll Brothers, which was going to buy the land from Pettinaro. Now, Pettinaro's representatives have been conducting an updated traffic study as he seeks approval of a development plan that mirrors that previous effort.
"The traffic study is deeply flawed," said Tom Dewson, a community land use activist. "We are not missing 20 or 30 cars a day, folks. We are missing over 20,000 cars a day that are not reflected in the traffic study as it is scoped today."........The scope of the ongoing traffic study understates traffic in the area by not considering approved expansions at AstraZeneca as well as the DuPont Co. Experimental Station on Del. 141, said Dewson, who was a figure in the successful fight to block a major development at Barley Mill Plaza that also ended up in the state's highest court over traffic debate. He argues the traffic counts being used in the study are also flawed because it does not consider 1 million square feet of vacant office space in the region at complexes like DuPont's Chestnut Run Plaza and Barley Mill Plaza, which is also owned by Pettinaro.
........A county official at the meeting said local regulators are considering Dewson's objections. It's a debate that will weigh heavily on what local highway intersection improvements Pettinaro must pay for in order to build the project. Toll Brothers objected to the county's requirement that it make pricey improvements to the intersection of Lancaster Pike and Centerville Road leading to the death of the company's development push.

And here's Bill Dunn's follow up on the environmental issues for this land use project: MLCA: Environmental Issues Disregarded By DNREC And Hercules Country Club Developers


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

CLNCC Resolution In Support Of The Delaware Marijuana Control Act



HB 110 will be heard in House Finance and Revenue Committee today. 


At the April monthly meeting, the Civic League for New Castle County passed this resolution in favor of the Delaware Marijuana Control Act:

The Civic League for New Castle County

Resolution in support of HB 110: The Delaware Marijuana Control Act

WHEREAS, The Civic League for New Castle County passed an informal resolution in support of the legalization of recreation marijuana at the February 2016 Board Meeting, and

WHEREAS, In the General Assembly, HB 110, AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 AND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE CREATING THE DELAWARE MARIJUANA CONTROL ACT, has been formally introduced with bipartisan sponsors and cosponsors, and

WHEREAS, regulation and taxation of marijuana will provide economic stimulation and revenue to the State, and

WHEREAS, an opportunity will exist for entrepreneurs to rehabilitate vacant and underutilized warehouse space for cultivation and packaging, retail space for sales and specialty shops, manufacturing space for the purpose of using the primary plant materials for edibles, and the accessory plant parts for paper products, textiles, resins, rope, oils, soaps, lotions and composite materials, as well as the recovery and reuse of farmlands that could otherwise be sold and potentially developed purposes other than agriculture, and

WHEREAS, as a victimless crime, for too long, prohibition of marijuana has had detrimental effects on communities by entering otherwise nonviolent offenders into the penal system, and entering to their record a criminal charge, which can prevent future employment and the ability to receive education scholarships and grants, and

WHEREAS, our Police and Public Safety officers have serious, more pressing crime to focus their limited resources upon,

NOW, THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF THE CIVIC LEAGUE FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY that the passage of this legislation is strongly encouraged, and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Assembly should act in haste to ensure the passage of HB 110 with a veto proof majority. 


Also, you can listen to yesterday's WDEL audio rebutting many of the claims that will be heard from opponents at the public hearing today:

Supporting Legal Marijuana: Delaware Criminal Attorneys Tom Donohue and Adam Windett




Wednesday, May 3, 2017

CLNCC Lobbyist Report For Early May 2017



Click on the link below for my report for early May. I'm the CLNCC Registered Lobbyist and I write a little news report on committee activity in New Castle County government and the General Assembly which I shared on my blog, Delaware Way, this morning before heading to Dover. 

Nancy Willing, Lobbyist
Civic League for NCC
(302) 294-1939

Civic League For New Castle County: Things Of Interest - Early May 2017

CLNCC May 16, 2017Annual Meeting and Elections. Guest speaker Jennifer Cohan, Delaware Secretary of Transportation. Don't forget to pay your 2017 - 2018 dues!  
Check the Civic League for New Castle County May 2017 newsletter HERE for updates on TIS status for Hercules LLC and Wharfage fee proposal.