Updated: Old Hercules Chemical Station Tract Residential Development Plan Before NCC Planning Board 7PM Tonight In New Castle

Update: From WDEL - Residents oppose a development at a former country club for mainly traffic concerns

This same plan was rejected by the Delaware Supreme Court over the traffic impact. 

Will NCC CE Matt Meyer allow his land use department to throw us under the bus with tricks we're seeing like the reduction of the scope of the impact study with this now-Pettinaro former Toll Brothers project? 

A Canterbury Hills Civic Association Board Director sent this alert: 

I just wanted to make sure you were aware of (and could perhaps post information regarding) Tuesday's Planning Board Public Hearing which will address the Delaware National development, which has been resubmitted in almost entirely identical form to that rejected by the Planning Board two years ago, and which may well be approved this time around.

NCC Planning Board Public Hearing

7 p.m. tonight

James Gilliam Building

77 Read's Way, New Castle, DE 19720

Read the Agenda HERE

App. 2016-0461-S:  South side of Lancaster Pike (SR 48), east side of Hercules Road.  Exploratory Major Land Development Plan and PLUS Review for Delaware National. The plan proposes to consolidate 4 existing parcels and subdivide into 158 single family detached lots and 104 townhouse lots. S (Suburban) zoning district. CD 2 and 3.  

Tonight's meeting will be interesting to say the least. This particular land use residential development application has been subject to many years of going through the paces for concerns over both traffic and environment. 

Under New Castle County Council Executive Matt Meyer, the Land Use Department has significantly reduced the scope of the traffic impact study for this plan now submitted by Pettinaro, a point which has been under fierce contention since the December 5, 2016 NCC Scoping Meeting:

August 24, 2017RE: New Castle County Planning Board Public HearingApplication 2016-0461 -- Delaware National 

Dear Members of the Planning Board, 

I am writing to alert you to serious deficiencies in the recently issued Traffic Impact Study (TIS) for Delaware National, the 262-unit residential development proposed for the former Hercules Golf Course. As designed, the traffic study fails to account for over 10,000 vehicles per day. 

The TIS is deeply flawed in 2 respects: 1) traffic from over 1 million square feet of existing but vacant space at AstraZeneca, Experimental Station, Barley Mill Plaza (exclOdyssey School), 4250 Lancaster Pike and Chestnut Run Plaza is unaccounted for; and 2) traffic from committed developments (previously approved but unbuilt space)included in the TIS appears to be seriously underestimated. 

On Item 1 -- vacant space – the issue is that existing vacant space has traffic rights that precede new development. Recent Supreme Court decisions have reaffirmed that available traffic capacity is allocated on a first come/first serve basis. County Code Sec 40.11.130 requires that "Future traffic shall be projected by the inclusion of trip generation from projects with recorded plans...". All existing space has a recorded plan.  Also, consideration of vacant space is recognized as an engineering best practice as evidenced by the testimony of Mr. Brian Keaveney of Pennoni Associates, a leading traffic engineering firm (http://www.umtownship.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3105). Vacant space is also regularly included in traffic studies nationwide. 

The intent of State and County law, and engineering best practice, seems indisputable  -- projections of future traffic need to include vacant space when material, unless it can be demonstrated that the vacant space has been permanently abandoned. Proceeding with a traffic study that fails to address a known material deficiency is irrational, arbitrary and capricious. Yet over 1 million square feet of vacant office space is currently unaccounted for in this TIS  -- the equivalent of some 8,000 vehicles per day that are missing from the analysis.

As for the argument that "traffic studies haven't considered vacant space in the past", this is a unique situation that can't be ignored -- vacant space is huge, it's nearby and ithas prior traffic rights. 

On item 2 – committed developments – the issue is that traffic from previously approved but unbuilt space needs to be accurately estimated. DuPont Chestnut Run and Little Falls Lots 9,11,10 – several of the committed projects in the TIS -- comprise 778,000 square feet of approved but unbuilt space that will house some 3,000 occupants. Yet the TIS estimates that only about 40% of these office workers will arrive/depart during the peak AM and PM hours. Based on real-world experience along area roads, this appears low by several 1,000 vehicles per day. 

My schedule may prevent me from attending the public hearing and thus I’m providing this testimony in advance. We believe these deficiencies need to be addressed beforeproceeding with this project and respectfully request your leadership and assistance in resolving these critical gaps. 

Sincerely,Tom Dewson10 Squirrel RunWilmington, DE 19807302-383-4771 

cc: Senator Gregory LavelleSenator Anthony DelcolloRepresentative Deborah HudsonRepresentative Gerald Brady

Also, this specific parcel was the site of Hercules Experimental Station (where they developed Agent Orange) which added to residents' concerns about the contaminants from golf course pesticides over the rest of the old Hercules Golf Course acreage:

State of Delaware Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) Appeal 2012-07 filed by Milltown Limestone Civic Alliance on Secretary's Order 2012-A-0009 approving the Final Plan of Remedial Action for Hercules Road and Lancaster Pike Site near Wilmington, New Castle County (DNREC Project No. DE-1492) dated March 22,2012.

Also see ~

2017 Updated: Former Hercules Golf Course Development Plan Public Meeting Set For 7PM Thursday At A.I. DuPont High School 

2017 MLCA Statement to DNREC at Public Meeting

2009 Lawsuits against Toll Brothers’ Greenville Overlook development dismissed

2010 Pettinaro to develop Delaware National Country Club

2010 Residents sound off on proposed golf course development

2011 Environmental Issues disregarded by DNREC - CLNCC

2014 Toll Brothers' Appeal Of County-Denied Traffic Impact Study Is Set For 6PM Thursday - NCC Board Of Adjustment

2016 Ruling affirms New Castle County power to block sprawl 

2016 Mill Creek developer takes county traffic rules to court 

2016 Push to redevelop old Hercules golf course begins anew 

2016 Supreme Court: County can make developers improve traffic

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