Save Our County Coalition Writes: Stop Rezoning At Barley Mill Plaza

From the inbox ~ Please attend the following important meetings: Barley Mill Plaza - We OPPOSE the Stoltz application to rezone 40% of Barley Mill Plaza to Commercial Regional for a strip mall and hope to have a large crowd in attendance at both meetings to support OPPOSITION.

Tuesday Oct. 4 from 3 to 5 p.m.
NCC Land Use Committee
800 N. French Street, Wilmington,
8th floor conference room (will likely be moved to Chambers, 1st Floor)
The public is allowed to speak briefly. Council will vote on Oct. 11.

Tuesday Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.
NCC Council meeting
Council Chambers, 1st Floor
800 N. French Street, Wilmington,
New Castle County Council will vote on the Barley Mill Plaza zoning application. The public has three minutes per person to address Council.

20 Montchanin Road - We OPPOSE the spot rezoning. Stoltz has applied to rezone a portion of the property to introduce commercial uses into the heart of the Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway, undermining decades of thoughtful land use planning in the area. Oct. 6 is the deadline to submit letters and comments to the Land Use Dept. and Planning Board regarding 20 Montchanin Road. Letters of opposition can be sent to LandUse@nccde.org

Plus, some highlights from (WNJ) Adam Taylor's story ~ Stoltz rezoning war hits final stretch

The THREAT...[Stoltz] lawyer has publicly stated that unless he gets approval for all of them [the four compromise agreements from February: one for Barley Mill; one for Greenville Center; one for the former Kirkwood Fitness Center property; and one for the former Columbia Gas site on Montchanin Road] as submitted, he will build even bigger projects that he already is entitled to build under current zoning laws.

The DEAL... [Former County Executive Chris Coons] worked out the deal with Stoltz in private, without CRG...........The Sept. 2010 deal got rid of the proposed tower at Greenville Center and reduced the size of the development plan at Barley Mill Plaza by 1.2 million square feet............ In addition to the smaller plan for Barley Mill, CRG negotiated deed restrictions with Stoltz -- restrictions that would be privately enforced. The group says those deed restrictions offer long-term protections -- including no more expansion on the site and prohibitions on big-box stores, convenience stores, gas stations and a four-story cap on the height of office buildings. Save Our County, which includes former CRG supporters, emerged after the compromises were announced because so many community members thought the deals favored Stoltz too much............There is a master agreement between CRG and Stoltz that says all four projects must get approved by the county in order for any of the deed restrictions in the private agreements to go into effect............ SOC remains concerned that the Coons-Stoltz deal was crafted when Pam Scott was still Stoltz's attorney. Scott's husband, Paul Clark, succeeded Coons as county executive and Scott resigned from Saul Ewing to avoid a conflict of interest for her husband............ "The compromise plan is a sweetheart deal because it gives him the commercial rezoning he needs and got him out of building a residential component in a bad housing market," SOC leader Tom Dewson said............Greenville resident Pete Shannon backs Save Our County. "What the county government is doing here is taking a shot for a few jobs, but what the plan will really do is allow an out-of-state, multimillionaire to make even more money," Shannon said. "And the plan that will do it will create a lot of traffic and other problems for people in New Castle County".............."It is the most significant decision to take place since the state decided to not widen the Tyler-McConnell Bridge based on a planning study that 141 should remain a commuter, not a commercial, corridor," said Christine Whitehead.

The Comments
NancyWilling - The NCC Planning Board rejected this rezoning. Read through their report (it is on the county web site under Boards - rezoning recommendations) http://www2.nccde.org/landuse/PlanningBoard/Rezonings/default.aspx If Mr. Beck chooses to deride Save Our County members as naive and inexperienced in "big land use decisions", he surely won't depict the Planning Board with such contempt...oh wait.....and I don't find it useful to suggest that Pam Scott's original set of plans were a bluff. That may have been true but it doesn't help garner public understanding of the issues. Certainly, the Pre-Compromise plan for BMP was not code compliant according to some. The towers didn't have the offset necessary according to NCC Land Use Code and there were never stormwater plan submissions.

The worst of all - and Adam Taylor didn't even bother to mention it- is that Del Code states that no resoning shall be approved without a traffic impact study. Between Pam Scott-Paul Clarky, Mr. Coons and Mr. Culver's dirty work with new growth models, NCC is now attempting to decree that their newly streamlined 2-step land use review process --which forces a council vote on rezonings BEFORE Traffic Studies Are Available-- is legal. It is not legal under State Law.

DoubleDensity - County Council must see there is no Community agreement with Stoltz, just a backroom deal. The vitality of our County depends on rejecting an Instant Mall with Commercial Regional zoning along Route 141. The current and correct OR zoning promotes buildings for technical jobs, not redundant shopping in our County, already commercially saturated.If Council doesn't hold the line, the Developer says he would not have County restrictions on a 90 acre site at our key crossroads. Maintaining County control over a development of this size is imperative and this should be the Council's only priority. Due to Coon's ambiguous Redevelopment agenda, public aid perks were offered to Developers to increase the maximum density of a site. This aid ~should not~ apply to BMP, but makes defeating Commercial rezoning there unquestionable.Council must insist no Commercial, except the 3 acres Stoltz could build, if it builds out a full 80 acres of offices, in a 22 to 1 ratio. Interstate shopping would force us to build 4 lane bridges at Thompson and McConnell. Also, a cloverleaf intersection at 141 and 48 would be needed to allow traffic to move. Give away 37 acres of unjustified Commercial and destroy our Community by giving in to BLACKMAIL? ~ No spot zoning, Council stand strong!

HelpNCC - Lets call this for what it is--highway robbery. Stoltz is trying to steal something that doesn't belong to them--OUR way of life. BOTH of the plans on the table will destroy our community...without question. And who is willing to bet the farm that KPA and Greenways can/will defend the limited deed restrictions proposed. Why not give the community a chance for a better outcome...STOP THE REZONING.

standupjoe - "He worked out the deal with Stoltz in private, without CRG."Stoltz is coming off as a big bully. He's forcing his plans down the throat of county officials and the residents that live there. How he even got that far is questionable, given that "the deal" was done in private. He's bound and determined to change the landscape and environment, and the very lives of the residents that live within an ear's shot of his mega facility. The majority used to rule, and if that were still the case, he'd never even get close to the drawing board. Don't you hate it when these big developers with grandiose ideas shove their way into neighborhoods that don't want them? LIke Toll Brothers building their mini-mansions on the former Hercules Golf Course...nobody wanted them either, but unfortunately, those of us who actually pay our taxes and cast our votes, don't have a say in what happens to our communities.

(WNJ image)

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