Coral Lakes (S-2021-06)
(fka Coral Crossing, Commodore Grant, Novosel, Novosel Adkins-Gray)
On this page:
Council Upheld P&Z's Approval on 10/11/2022
Two Separate Appeals by Citizens Filed on 7/22/2022
P&Z Voted to Approve - 6/23/2022
Hopkins voted no. He was evasive about the reasons. After being asked several times, he finally said that one of his issues was the wetlands area.
Kim S. said, "I am voting not voting," and read fast her prepared reasons for not voting for it.
Bruce Mears said he did not like it but had to vote yes because the application complies with the code.
Holly Wingate voted yes, and Bob Wheatley voted yes.
Appeal to the Council by Schell Brothers - Remanded Back to P&Z
Hearing at the Council on 5/24/2022
Council remanded it back to P&Z to take a public vote and clearly state their reasons for votes by 8/31/2022. No more public hearing or comments.
P&Z DENIED it on 3/10/2022
The process
As a major subdivision, before the application is submitted to P&Z, it has to be reviewed by the process called PLUS (Preliminary Land Use Services) conducted by the Office of State Planning Coordination (OSPC). Various state agencies review the application and OSPC produces a report.
There will be a public hearing at P&Z (scheduled 1/27, Thurs. 5 pm), and the public may send comments to P&Z or speak at the hearing.
Usually, the public record is closed at the end of the hearing. P&Z will discuss the application at the end of the meeting, but will probably defer the decision.
How to View the Application Details
The PLUS application (submitted by the applicant) and the State's report (response) are public records.
Usually, on Friday morning before the public hearing, P&Z's agenda and the application packets (often 100s of pages) become available online.
However, the applicant is supposed to provide all files by 10 days prior to the public hearing and they can be viewed at the P&Z office in Georgetown.
Summary of Application - from the PLUS records
New Site Plan for the subdivision has been submitted that seems to have less trees than in the plan submitted for PLUS 2020-11-05.
There were 4 PLUS reviews (with 4 different IDs) for this parcel - see 'History of Parcel' page. The previous 3 times, the applicant did not follow through with the application process.
The last PLUS Review (PLUS ID 2020-11-05) was for 304 homes, but the public hearing notice for the application says it is for 315 homes - a big concern
The parcel is 152.35 acres with several wetlands scattered throughout the parcel. In 2019, the PLUS application showed 30 acres of non-tidal wetlands, but now only 4.87 acres.
Out of 143.5 acres of forest, 95.5 acres will be cut down.
The area is known for flooding.
Robinsonville Rd is getting filled up with new subdivisions - Acadia, Beechwood, Chase Oaks, Tidewater Landing, Kindletown, Outer Banks, . . .
DelDOT estimates the average daily traffic will be 2,892 car trips.
This parcel has a small portion in the state's Investment Level 3, but mostly in Investment Level 4 because of the distance from services combined with the presence of wetlands and environmental features that should be protected. The state does not support new development activities and suburban development in Investment Level 4.
As a Cluster Subdivision, the application has to meet the 'superior design' requirement. One such requirement is that 9% of the parcel (approx 14 acres) must be a contiguous open space.
