SPECIAL MEETING

June 17, 1981

A Special Meeting of Council, for the purpose of a public hearing to consider rezoning 61.6+ acres of the Richardson Tract, was held on June 17, 1981 at 7:45 p.m. with Mayor McDonough presiding. Members present were Messrs. Bewick, Boaman, Hardcastle, Carey, Witt, Carson and Richter.

The following is a verbatim record of the rezoning proceedings as prepared by office of the City Planner.

Councilman Hardcastle delivered the invocation.

Mayor McDonough announced that he would like to open with saying he would observe certain ground rules for the benefit of all. He asked that anyone who comes to speak would try to be as complete as they can in one appearance so they do not have repeat performances all evening long by somebody remembering something they should have said and wants to come back, or trying to rebut something that someone said. If there is a statement of fact to make there would not be a time limit on them if they are reasonable. He would not like to see someone at the podium take it over for 35 minutes. He hoped the speakers would stay somewhere near 5 minutes. If they need a little longer, fine. The ideal thing would be if there were several that represented groups or opinions or ideas, to represent them for that group, rather than each and every individual member giving his piece of that opinion. He asked for courtesy since this was a very emotional subject on both sides. Try not to let your emotions get away and strive for some set of motives so you really know where they are coming from. Please assume that everyone is here to get all the facts out and to make a decision. He then asked Mr. Roe to read the formal application, he would then ask the developer to make a presentation because those who have not seen the presentation are not too sure what this public hearing is all about. They need to know officially once and for all what it is the developer is proposing. At that point he would declare the public hearing open and ask that anyone who wishes to speak to come down to the podium, give his name and address or if there is some sort of technical opinion, then his title or whatever expertise he says he is bringing to this meeting. Unless there is an objection, the only way this public hearing makes sense is if there are questions on the development, that the developer be allowed to answer. When he said there would be no repeat, to him it would not make a lot of sense to ask some question about traffic and if the developer tries to answer, then to say you have already had your turn, that does not make a lot of sense. By the very nature of the hearing, the developer is going to have to be available to answer questions. He would ask him not to propagandize. He will have his chance when he makes his presentation at the beginning. At that point he would ask the developer to answer the question and that question only, not to elaborate on it. So with that in mind if there is no objection he would ask Mr. Roe to read the application.

Mr. Roe then read aloud the formal application request for a rezoning of the Richardson tract located on the north side of Walker Road, east of the Dover High School, west of the First Baptist Church property and bordered on the north by Silver Lake, for the purpose of development for constructing offices, commercial, townhouses and mid-rise apartments by Krapf and Sons, Wilmington, DE, the equitable owner. The present zoning is R-20; the requested zoning is RG-5 mid-rise, RG-3 townhouses, RG-0 residential and offices, C-2A limited commercial. The lot area is 61.6+ acres with an average lot width of 1,000' and depth of 3,000'. The site plan has been prepared by Edward H. Richardson, Inc. and the proper amount for the fee of $332 has been submitted.

On May 11, 1981, the rezoning request was initially presented to the Dover City Council. Along with the request, the developer was required to furnish a deed, to answer the questionnaire contained in the Comprehensive Plan booklet, which information has been supplied and forwarded to each member of Council. The record should show that a letter has been sent to the State Office of Management, Budget and Planning so the City of Dover could comply with the State Land Use Planning Act. This case was labeled by the State as carrying Lupa number 05148101.

Mayor McDonough asked the developer if he had a presentation ready to make to the audience. After the presentation, he would declare the public hearing open and any and all of the facts or statements would be subject to question.

Mr. James McGinnis, representing Alpha Realty, Krapf Construction & Pierce Crompton, came to the podium and displayed a rendering of the conceptual plan for the Richardson Tract proposed development. He stated he would try very hard not to duplicate a lot of the information and comments they had made at the initial meeting but rather to go over what they feel are the important salient points of this proposal and to bring the Council up to date on the events and different activities that they have been undertaking since their last visit. Very briefly, he thought everyone realizes the contents of this plan are deliberately a combination of land uses. A very small convenience commercial center on Walker Road, a two story campus like open space office park to the rear of that to about half way back into the site, a very exclusive and very high quality custom townhouse development adjacent to Silver Lake in itself, and then a small five acre parcel located toward the rear of the property whose current intention is housing for the elderly. They feel these land uses are not always appropriate for this area but are in fact compatible with both the neighborhood, the overall land use arrangement in that section of the City of Dover and they are in keeping with the concepts and the general principles of the Comprehensive Plan. They feel it is a very exciting high quality program. The development itself is currently thought to take about five years for total completion. A normal phase development. They are programming the entire development to occur within about five years. The entrance of the community is still where it was shown on the original plans at the Planning Commission meeting opposite Carol Street. They still feel this is the most optimum location for that primary entrance onto the property. He would discuss the traffic impact study a little later and there is still a review going on with the Division of Highways related to the traffic and the overall entrance location. The plan on the bottom of the site plan indicates graphically what they are trying to accomplish with this kind of campus development. The two shades of green shown on that plan are literally intended to be shades of green. Either natural vegetation of existing landscaping along the lakefront and through the swale or drainage ditch down the middle or lawned grassed landscaped areas. The entire frontage of the property along Walker Road is proposed to have a significant landscaped buffer. This will take the form of two things; heavily landscaped plant materials since there is nothing now there but a fence, heavily landscaped at the entrance not only for the buffering aspect but for the visual quality of the entrance to the community and in certain places where warranted, they would except to have some berming, some low mounding of natural earth covered with ground cover. The site is very unique from one point of view and that is it recedes from Walker Road. Very little of the total development can actually be seen from Walker Road. The way it looks on that plan literally the small commercial area to the front and the first few buildings on the proposed two story office buildings would be the only things visible. The rest of the project a few of the buildings to the rear of the front section would be visible and beyond that, they feel quite strongly that the townhouses, the balance of the office space and the mid-rise proposal to the rear would literally be invisible to Walker Road. That is due to two things, the topography of the land itself and the very substantial existing stand of trees right down the middle of the property. On both the zoning plan and their illustrious site plan they do not intend any improvements at all in those existing woodlands. The drainage ditch will remain exactly as it is. That ditch as it has recently been improved is totally sufficient to accommodate the drainage flows from this proposed development, in addition to those existing flows from the High School and adjacent areas which are currently flowing through it. There will be no adverse effect whatsoever from the run off and storm water from this project into this tax ditch and consequently into Silver Lake. The plan itself has been really quite carefully studied both from a marketing point of view, the land use point of view and the physical point of view. That was his own, primarily, bailiwick. They have conducted soils investigations several years ago on this site. That has been essentially confirmed with not only the Soil Conservation Service but the Department of Natural Resources. The soils on this site are extremely conducive to the intended development. In terms of ground water location bearing normal engineering qualities of the soil, the site is totally suitable for the intended uses. The utilities on the site, sewer, gas and water currently exist of Walker Road. They have had discussions with the Planning Department and the City Engineer, the Public Works Department and on their initial investigation of the proposed usage of this land have indicated adequate capacity for all utilities. They do feel their own sewer system will be working from gravity from the entire site back to the middle of the property where they will collect their on-site sewage and by a lift station they will pump up to the existing pumping station adjacent to Woodcrest Avenue. There is the possibility that the capacity of that pumping station will have to be increased and they are aware of that from conversations with Public Works. The capacity of the line holding their 90,000 gallons-per-day discharge is adequate to handle that flow. With regard to what is always a serious concern in the City of Dover, because of the flat topography, is the question of drainage and storm water management. As he had indicated at the Planning Commission meeting during the course of the second phase of approval on this particular project they have to go back to the Planning Commission and the City staff for their review. At that point, detailed engineering analysis of the storm water management plan would be proposed. Their office has looked at the property preliminarily at this point and they see a combination of on-site detention systems and other devices that would essentially decrease the amount of water running from the site. Based on the plan before them, the difference between what is currently running off of the Richardson Farm as it currently sits and what is proposed by this plan increases by about 20% of water. The rate of discharge or the speed at which the water exits the site will remain the same. That would be controlled through reduced pipe sizes, detention basins and other engineering techniques. They think that in the overall development of this they are aware of certain erosion problems on that site due to the agricultural use. The furrowing, the planting methods of the crops and soybeans on there now, have over the years caused a certain amount of erosion of some of the Sassafras soil. They feel that with re-contouring of the land, with the re-establishment of lawn and grass areas the existing somewhat negative aspect of erosion from the site into Silver Lake will be essentially eliminated. The open space along Silver Lake itself is intended to be a private open space area for passive recreation, due to the very steep embankments. Along Silver Lake they do not foresee any active use of that particular land. The trees will remain, the banks will remain, there will be no development whatsoever in that area. Looking closely at the layout of the house lots you will see that the property lines for the houses are actually set back a considerable distance from the top edge of the bank. That scenic pedestrian walkway is to be owned and operated and maintained by private civic association for the owners enjoyment. They do not intend to propose this particular piece of land as public park land or public open space. The main collector street coming from Carol Street in through the property all the way back to the townhouse area is currently thought of as a multi-lane heavily landscaped collector boulevard. This again reflects some of the quality of the design that is currently thought about for this project. They envision berms on each side of that mound to provide adequate buffering and screening between the different areas. They see that open farmland area as requiring considerable landscaping which would not only benefit that marketing aspects by enhancing the overall appearance of it but it will also have a certain environmental quality to it. They are interested in breaking down that space a little bit which is currently an open field. There has been a comment received from the Division of Cultural Affairs regarding the possibility of Indian artifacts on this property. They have worked with Miss Stocum on several occasions with Cultural Affairs and for the record, the developers are in agreement with the standards as stated in the Delaware Policy which is essentially that the owners of the land to grant to Cultural Affairs the opportunity to come onto the site to conduct their own archeological excavation. We have arranged this sort of thing, a standard agreement really, with Cultural Affairs on about three or four major projects in New Castle County within the past year. This is something which is very normal and very easy to accomplish and they are agreeable to cooperating with them. The other aspect in the Land Use Plan is the idea of the commercial development on Walker Road. This is unusual and distinctive from most of the development plans the City has been presented with before. The primary reason for that commercial development is really to support the commercial or the office space located behind it. This concept is currently the practice in New Castle County and two of Mr. Crompton’s developments at Barley Mill Plaza and Concord Plaza indicate very well the environmental quality of an office park. A lot of his landscaping has been planted. The total population of the office space really warrants having a convenience center. As he had mentioned at the Planning Commission meeting, this is not intended to be anything but a primary support service for the offices so that employees at lunchtime for instance can literally walk from an office building through a set of landscaped courtyards to get to a sit-down restaurant. There is absolutely no fast food proposed in this plan. They can see other opportunities for something like a personal service such as a barber shop or something of that nature. This is a very common practice in larger office parks. Really what is does is cut down on traffic time going in and out of the site and it’s really a convenience thing. There is also a proposal at this point which they feel very strongly about and that is they would like to have the provision for a drive-in bank facility. They believe that due to the lack of one in the area and the particular population and intention of this development a bank would be a very welcome addition there. Traffic - They have been very busy and very active with the Division of Highways over the past month. They have done two things in concert with the Division of Highways. The first was the preparation of a preliminary traffic report and this is done under the direction of the Division of Highways. That was submitted to the Division of Highways on June 2^nd. The procedure is they review a lot of the assumptions that are made in this preliminary study and they add on other requirements. The last time he was here he said they had intended to do an intersection analysis at three locations. They have now completed their analysis of seven intersections. The more they looked, the more they did. The final traffic impact study dated June 15^th, has also been submitted to the Division of Highways. The object of the impact study is really to reduce opinions, concerns to a specific measurable analytical facts done by a combination of counting the traffic that is out there now which they did on several occasions. They even, at the request of the City of Dover, added in another factor because they found out the day they were out there doing one of their first counts on Pear Street they found out that the seniors were off that day. Since the seniors register one hundred vehicles they added into their traffic counts 150 vehicles to accommodate for the senior trips that they could not count that day. They feel that is a very conservative number which should more than adequately cover the absence of counting the senior vehicles. The reason for the 150 is they assume all of them had cars and would have driven that day. In addition to that you assume a certain amount of car pooling or parents or whatever. That number is in the study. They have done counts on several intersections and it is his understanding that the State Division of Highways is supplementing Richardson and Associates’ counting with some additional studies of their own. This document has a conclusion to it. This is their professional opinion which is based on the projections of not only their project as proposed but it also has a total growth rate on top of the existing traffic on Walker Road today. They have added in one percent per year for additional growth traffic. The study is very conservative in terms of its projections because it does not imagine gasoline at $2 per gallon. They do not take into consideration any car pooling or any doubling up that is currently going on in our society. They assume no mass transportation or any staggered work hours or any other flexible time periods. In other words, the traffic impact study that they have done assumes the worst possible condition for traffic on Walker Road. Their conclusion is very simple. Based on some recommendations that they have made in this study, namely, to provide an acceleration an deceleration and turn lane at the Carol Street entrance to this property, to install some traffic controls, for instance the traffic study at the Woodcrest-Pear Intersection would actually propose a traffic signal there and possibly related to that and this is something the Highway Department will have to agree with and that is the right-of-way or road width of Walker Road along their frontage is forty-four feet. It is an effective four lanes of traffic. The highway is currently striped as a two lane road. In other words, the road itself does not get full use of its own capacity. There is only one center stripe and then there is a 22' section of pavement with curb. That is adequate to accommodate two lanes of traffic. Their recommendations do not include the widening of the road or any taking of property or anything of that nature. They feel, based on their own study and in their own professional opinion from doing a lot of these studies with the Highway Department, that an adequate level of service which is namely the level of service “C” can be accommodated on Walker Road and its major intersections. Literally, from Saulsbury Road all the way past four or five streets that they front on, down to State Street and Governors Avenue all the way up to Route #13. The increase from this project on those networks will maintain an adequate level of service. The standard of adequate level of service, as he understands it to be from the Highway Department right now, is level of service “E”. They feel that with some of these minor modifications to the street system that the traffic can be handled with no adverse effect. There is going to be additional traffic on that street. As he mentioned at the Planning Commission meeting, they have done an exercise of comparing a totally residential development to the proposed development and where their project generates about 6,500 vehicles per day in traffic, a totally residential development will generate about 8,000 vehicles per day. Their project can only generate that traffic on Monday through Friday. The bulk of the traffic is generated by office use that obviously is not true after hours or on weekends. The housing for the elderly as shown to the rear, generates very, very little traffic in this proposal. The same comparison is true of utilities. The plan proposed essentially is 350,000 square feet of office space will utilize less utilities, less highway activity than a comparable residential development. He concluded his presentation and deferred to Mr. McGinnis or to the Mayor.

Mayor McDonough said unless there is some closing statement from the developers or if he has covered about all of it, he was prepared to open the public hearing. He added that perhaps the best thing to do would be to open the public hearing and then if anyone has any questions of Mr. Tevebaugh, the questions could be directed to him.

If they do not wish to, they may just come down and take the podium, so be it. But just wait there until he opened the public hearing to see if someone has questions first on his presentation.

Mayor McDonough gavelled the public hearing open and asked if anyone in the audience wished to address this proposed rezoning, or to ask Mr. Tevebaugh any questions on his presentation, to come down and give their name and address and their capacity and give their own statement.

The first to come to the podium and speak was Mr. William Richardson, 225 Walker Road. Mr. Richardson said the land under discussion has been in his family for a number of years and at the present time he personally does not have any financial interest in that particular piece of property. He has always been in favor of using the land along Walker Road and Silver Lake to enhance the value of that land and to add plantings to help that where possible. In the last ten years efforts have been made to find an organization capable and experienced in the financial ability to develop this particular tract of land in a method that would be beautiful and beneficial to the area and would help the City of Dover as a whole. He believes the Krapf organization is capable of doing that. He very much favored the proposed plan as it has been given this evening and it would be a distinct asset to this area and to the whole City of Dover. Mr. Richardson said he thanked them for hearing him. Mayor McDonough asked if any member of Council had any questions of Mr. Richardson while he was at the podium. No questions were asked.

Mayor McDonough asked if anyone else wished to be heard to come down and give their name and address.

Reverend Charles Drummer, 404 Walker Road, came to the podium and requested permission to submit a petition containing signatures opposing the zoning change. The petition lists 524 signatures, 51 representing the Fairview Elementary and the Dover High School teachers. Also, 71 signatures represent Dover citizens outside the Fairview Lakewood area. Also on another petition there are 11 signatures which represents 100 percent of the school bus contractors. Reverend Drummer read aloud the petition opposing any change in the single family zoning designation. (See attached petitions) Reverend Drummer then submitted the petitions to the City Council and handed them to Mr. Roe.

Mayor McDonough asked if any member of Council had any questions of Reverend Drummer. No questions were asked.

Mayor McDonough thanked the Reverend and acknowledged the next speaker who came to the podium.

Mr. Allen Hedgecock, Executive Vice-President of the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce, stated he was representing the 19 directors of the Chamber, two of whom were ex-officio. He read aloud a resolution from the Chamber supporting the rezoning for the proposed development and upon concluding, gave a copy to Mr. Roe for the record.

Mayor McDonough asked if anyone had any questions of Mr. Hedgecock. No one spoke. Mayor McDonough thanked the speaker and invited the next speaker.

Mr. Jack Fisher, 710 Carol Street, spoke next to oppose the proposed development and explained that during the past several weeks there have been unfortunately some attempts to get one group against the other and the press he believed was somewhat responsible. Some words were said that may not have been said about the subject and generally speaking the citizens in this area are concerned about their neighborhood. On the other hand, they are realistic enough to realize that this property must be developed. The Richardsons have every right to sell their property with the least amount of interference possible. They also acknowledge that the developer and the builder should be able to build to help develop this fine City and to make it a better place to live than it is now. He was very proud of that. But there were some things for which he felt there was a need to point out and through a series of statements and questions he would like to have answers. The engineer spoke well of the project and although he did not accept the kind invitation to visit the Barley Mill project and the Concord Plaza he did however make a personal attempt to get there. There are some things about this project he felt should not be overlooked. The Concord Plaza, in his mind, was set among what is already a commercial area just off of Route #202 where the people are well familiar with commercialism and business development. The commercial area in question along Walker Road in the Concord Plaza, the one he did visit, he did not visit the other, is not along the highway. It sits back, he would estimate roughly 75 to 100 yards in the center of the Plaza. It is not on the highway where it would encourage off-street commercialism. As the engineer spoke he heard and has seen the very lovely campus type sites and there is no doubt and it is obvious to the eye, it is quality building with meticulous care to landscape and care for the land. He was sure it was a pleasure to work on and a pleasure to live on and whatever else is done on the property. However, they must look very strongly at the surrounding area, which was not intended obviously for this type of commercialism or business. They do have questions and on concluding with his talk he would refer to the statement given to the Council earlier having to do with the marketability of this particular project. It is no secret that high interest rates, building costs and inflation have created a real estate flop and Dover is no exception. For sale signs are everywhere for the more expensive properties; some have been up for sale for many, many months. They have checked with various multi-list services and learned that during the first six months of this year in the entire central portion of Delaware from the area of Cheswold to Bowers Beach the average home sold cost just about $45,000 and took 85 days to sell. The average commercial property sold cost only $26,500 and was on the market some 100 days. There were only 13 of these sold. His first question was, in all due respect to the builder and all his studies that have developed, where is the market for all these expensive townhouses. Has anyone seen how many of the Robino built townhouses in Retreat are empty and they are on a golf course. Is this going to be another abandoned project of empty foundations when the realities of today’s market, and tomorrow’s too, sink in. He knew the argument could be put forth that Turnberry sold well, but a whopping one hundred more in this little community which this developer envisions certainly has to be well beyond saturation. And if it isn’t, where is the professional outside market survey to support it. They could find none and they know of none. He wished to quickly at least present one possibility. He wished now he had let his remarks go until after some of the traffic information had come out in a bit more detail that they had been able to uncover. The twenty some residences along Walker Road on the south side are going to be subjected to a great deal of traffic noise and a great deal of traffic period. There are a number of fine homes there that the neighbors are very proud of and suppose one of them wants to sell and cannot sell because of the traffic noise and the traffic noise and the traffic dangers to children. If they had to move out of the City and cannot sell, then they would come to the Council and say they are unable to sell their property as a residence and if Council could change the zoning to accommodate a realtor or an insurance agency then he could sell and take his money to purchase a home elsewhere. Admittedly, this is a sad story and purely conjecture but it has every bit of possibility and would be the deterioration of the neighborhood. He would like to get the engineer and builder’s mind off this beautiful project and it is no doubt great. He loves the Waldorf Astoria for its beauty but was this the place to put it? With those few remarks he thought Council should give serious consideration to zoning which opens this up to commercialism, business and a significant destiny of people and vehicles.

Mayor McDonough asked the audience to refrain from applause which only prolongs the meeting and he wanted everybody to have a chance to speak who wanted to speak. Then he asked if anyone had any questions of the speaker, none were asked and Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next person to speak to come to the podium.

Mrs. Marjorie Records, 111 Walker Road, expressed her concern for the truly frightening traffic situation which approval of this rezoning would impose on north Dover, as well as the major portion of central Dover and the community routes leading into the area. There seems to be little or no disagreement that this is a complex issue with many highly favorable aspects including high costs, safety, lack of funds to achieve a proper and long term solution, not to mention the fact that no one seems to have any good ideas of what might be done that wouldn’t tear up the whole community. It seemed to her that before any decision could properly be made in this zoning change, there would have to be some very specific and complete information. Not from the developer or the realtor, but as to precisely what the impact on this City is likely to be, what could be done about it and at what cost. Also, it seems there would be a need for considerable time for negotiations and discussions with the developer to determine just what he would contribute and to get that in writing before approving any zoning change. She understands this development may extend over a period of five years and anything having to do with roads always seems to take forever. Five years of construction, mud, traffic out onto our streets, torn up roads and detours are a bid price to ask of a community. The solution should be made a good one and a permanent one to be done right at the outset and not after we’re in trouble. She said she knows of a lot of roadwork that badly needs to be done elsewhere in Dover and we don’t have the money.

Mayor McDonough asked if there were any questions of Mrs. Records.

No one spoke and Mayor McDonough acknowledged another speaker who came to the podium.

Mr. James Hutchison, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church, who own the property immediately east of the proposed project. Their property is about 7 acres and they intend to build a new church building and in fact have already retained an architect who is working on the preliminary plans. The final plans appear to indicate that construction may start next year. They plan to spend over a million dollars for their new church or a million and a half, so they are really interested and concerned with what this development might be. He took a copy of the plan and put it up in the church sanctuary at Division and Bradford Street and there has been no organized resistance or campaign against this at all. Their church structure will be four to six hundred feet away from the nearest building there and will be about the size of those buildings and will not be close or cluttered. The house which is on their property now is roughly on the front line of where their church will be and they intend to move this house to the rear and use it as the caretaker’s house in the future. The church is not opposed but that is not to say an individual member might not live nearby and would object. No one in the church he talked to nor the Pastor thought there would be anything detrimental but in fact, they thought it would enhance the appearance and the value of the property.

Mayor McDonough asked if anyone had any questions of Mr. Hutchison. No one spoke. Mayor McDonough then acknowledged the next speaker.

Mr. Donald Bayard, 523 Ross Street, came to the podium and asked the question of what were the timing and projected City revenues and expenditures. First of all, what expenses was the City going to be responsible for. What is the proposed timing of City revenues. Has the City staff, or any of the committees such as the Utility Committee, prepared any plan or report that addressed the cost of timing of the necessary modifications to support this proposed development without regard or to whom would assume the responsibility or the cost. Specifically, is there a detailed plan of the responsibility for the cost and the timing of the following improvements and services: Sewage, water, electrical connections, sewage pumping capacity, will a new pumping station be required for the additional load, will existing pumps be required for the additional load, will existing pumps have their life shortened, will a new well be required. If current wells are utilized would the increased usage result in increased salt intrusion or sea water intrusion, now or in the future. Who will correct this problem. The required modifications to feeder roads, the bridge over Silver Lake, is it really capable of withstanding the proposed increase in traffic. Increased road maintenance resulting from higher traffic levels throughout the Walker Road and feeder roads, traffic control improvements, lights, wiring, controls, snow removal, street cleaning, trash collection, police protection, fire protection, street lighting, installation and maintenance, emergency services, ambulances, senior surrey service for the proposed mid-rise apartments for the elderly, also the equipment requirements to provide for increased service levels, additional police cars, snow plow, trash truck, fire equipment, ambulances, senior surrey, additional street sweeper, etc. Additional personnel requirements and associated benefit costs to provide increased service levels, provisions for improved drainage and cost of settlement ponds if they are required, provision for control of erosion and the resulting silting of Silver Lake and the dams down stream. Provisions for flood control during periods of prolonged heavy rainfall in the immediate area and downstream, resolution of silting problems in the future, and lastly, if the developer is to assume any of the cost of providing and maintaining any of these facilities or services; have written legally enforceable agreements been prepared which would be binding on him and any subsequent owner. He submitted if not, that is seems inevitable that they as taxpayers could end up paying for all or some of these modifications.

Mayor McDonough asked if there were any questions of Mr. Bayard. No one spoke and Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next speaker.

Mr. Edward Biter, 320 Walker Road came to the podium and stated they are informed that the present traffic load on Walker Road is running at about 7,000 vehicles per day at the present rate. The proposed development population will total about 3,000 people. Assuming that they leave and return at least once a day and probably do the same for lunch, you multiply the 3,000 by 4, or 12,000 vehicles per day total. Add this together and your have approximately 19,000 cars, buses and trucks somewhere on Walker Road every 24 hours. Should the people in the area be subjected to such a monstrous traffic flow? It is stated that traffic of this magnitude would surely demand the destruction of Richardson Park at Walker Road and Governors Avenue. Must we lost our cherished parkland for one builder’s desire. The entire north side of Dover even old Dover and State Street will experience a new kind of noise and traffic level. It is their understanding that federal aid has run out on the Saulsbury Road construction. There is no more, other than, he believed, 200 yards. How will they link up with Denny’s road now. Anybody who has traveled Saulsbury Road now, knows that if you meet a truck coming the other way, you had better watch yourself, it is quite congested at the present time. They can’t foresee truck traffic alleviated any on Saulsbury Road. When the crossing gates on Pennsylvania Railroad close periodically, how will emergency vehicles be handled with the increased traffic, would this not propose a serious problem? Would not a pedestrian overpass surely have to be constructed to let our children walk to school from the Fairview area? There are but a few of the traffic related problems that must be resolved.

Mayor McDonough asked if any member of Council had a question of Mr. Biter.

Mr. Boaman asked the question did the Mayor want to let Mr. Krapf or Mr. Tevebaugh answer some of these questions now or make notes and answer questions later or present them at a later date.

Mayor McDonough answered that he suspected from the written presentations they had heard and by taking turns asking questions, he would favor letting them all ask their questions since he wasn’t sure the developers were prepared at this point to answer any or all of these questions. He asked if the developers have seen these questions prior to tonight’s meeting or were they hearing them for the first time. Mayor McDonough said they will continue with the presentations from anybody in the audience and at the end they will ask the developer . . . . . .

Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next speaker.

Mr. William Aicher, 507 Ross Street, addressed the gathering and admitted being a little biased in this emotional issue but he did wish to bring out something which was not a direct question but was impertinent to the situation. He said he has been in Dover for 3½ years, having come from Dayton, Ohio. Dayton is a large city, he was used to malls, used to industrial parks and quite a bit of sirens, fire engines, police departments and a lot of social disorder because of various ethnic groups. To be quite frank, his first two weeks in Dover were concerting, he was nervous, upset and wasn’t used to not hearing sirens and wasn’t used to not having problems. He certainly wasn’t used to knowing all his neighbors or a lot of them. Coming into Dover is a beautiful experience and when you come down-state you see some nice homes and on Governors and other areas, it’s nice and he wasn’t used to that. He said he wasn’t saying that to be humorous but was saying it to be honest. Bigger is not necessarily better and he understands the Council has a vested interest in this since they want to see Dover grow. The gentlemen who presented the project were not unbiased either since they have a specific purpose here and it is financial. Pointing to his four week old son in the audience, he said he also has a two year old at home and he likes it here in Dover. What he sees potentially coming is what he left. He admitted his was an emotional plea but he understands there is going to be some development required and if it has to be developed all he was asking was, for the people who are doing it, to give guarantees that exactly what they state they are putting in, will be there, period.

Mayor McDonough asked if there were any questions of Mr. Aicher.

No one spoke and Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next speaker.

Mr. William Flayhart, 8 Ironwood Circle, The Hamlet, came to the podium to say that he is a local businessman engaged in retail merchandising with his wife and over the last several months they have heard vigorous discussions of the financial troubles of the City and of the needs to have a balanced budget. Most merchandisers and most residents of the City realize that only through carefully guided growth can they achieve the development of their tax base to be able to support the services and the quality that they should like to maintain.

Having experienced some of the development during the last 12 years that he has lived in Dover, he would be the first on to recognize, support and hail the requirements that the developer be bounded in every possible manner to complete the development as initially stipulated. We have a number of semi-completed, quarterly completed or barely established developments already and perhaps we indeed therefore need to much more strictly watch their development. He also felt most strongly that he developer in question has unarguably one of the finest reputations in the State of Delaware and he has no association whatsoever with the firm, and that also in the area of Richardson Estates a development of this nature with adequate safe-guards may be a solid security for the future of the City of Dover in terms of a facility which maximizes the use of the land while preserving its historic beauty and which, with adequate safe-guards, could significantly add to the tax base of the City of Dover as a whole. Every citizen and every councilman should realize we can’t have it both ways. If we stagnate, we condemn ourselves to stagflation. If we develop intelligently, we have one of the best tools available to us to broaden the tax base of the City and to have a means by which, while preserving their homes, and he lives in the area also, and the access and egress roads to them, we may be able to still avoid the precipitous and continuous rise in taxes, real estate taxes which is our only alternative. A negative vote on well thought out projects with adequate safe-guards is a pro-vote on taxes, and an increase in taxes. As citizens, we can’t have it both ways. Therefore, he was willing to accept, to support and go along with, whatever situation or decision is developed but we must fully realize that to condemn ourselves to non-development is indeed to condemn ourselves to stagflation and continuous escalation of our individual retail property costs in taxes or a corresponding continuous downward spiral and deterioration in the services which they have come to expect and enjoy in this particular community. A vote for solid responsible development is a vote in favor of attempting to come to grips with our future instead of the ostrich like burying of our heads, he said in conclusion.

Mayor McDonough reminded the audience to be courteous and that everyone was entitled to their own opinion. No questions were asked and Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next speaker.

Mr. Amos Burke, 520 Fairview Avenue, spoke to express his appreciation for the opportunity to address the Council. Dover is a beautiful City, it’s a great place to live and work. He is, as he feels most of the people are in the audience tonight, very anxious to support this Council, in its efforts to ensure that the City grows in an orderly and proper way. T do this we must make every effort to ensure that we keep what we have now that is good. Improper growth can have a very destructive effect on those good things. It is his understanding that the Planning Commission, when it transmitted this proposal, stated in essence, that this proposal is consistent and that it conforms to the Comprehensive or master Plan. He finds this difficult to accept while he would not claim to be an expert in land use planning, he has reviewed the land use map which is a part of the master plan. This map shows this area in question as residential, low to medium density. The land area along Silver Lake is shown as conservation or recreation, which could seem to imply that it could be considered as public or park area. He fully realizes that comprehensive plans or master plans are not and should not be cast in concrete. They must, however, be worthwhile, to be used as a framework or a guide to development. He finds it extremely puzzling that a request to rezone to commercial, office or high density use, how it possibly can be considered consistent with or in conformance with the master plan. Also the areas around Richardson Estates, Fairview and Woodcrest, for example, are zoned for low density residential use. It would seem that the master plan in this instance, as it now stands, provides excellent guidance for the development of the Richardson Estate area. This issue with consistency to the master plan is critical to preserve what is good in the general area. It is much too important an issue to brush aside lightly in looking at any proposal for rezoning. He thanked again the Council for the opportunity to speak and added it would really be great if the next newspaper article, concerning this issue, read something like this: The City Council once again responded in a positive manner to the concerns of its residents and proved that its master plan is meaningful. It turned down this request for rezoning.

Mayor McDonough asked if there were any questions of Mr. Burke. No questions were asked. Mayor McDonough then acknowledged the next speaker to come to the podium.

Mrs. Andrea Hammond, 506 Ross Street, came forward and said she regrets these questions are not being answered as they proceed because she feels that some of them which they feel so important will be lost in the shuffle. She felt there should be answers for every one of them because this apparently is a well-planned presentation and they surely have thought of all these things but possibly have not brought them up before. Her question was, if this rezoning is approved for C-2A, RG-0 and all those letter and so forth for the mid-rise, the townhouses and so forth, what guarantee, what iron-clad guarantee do they have that they will not all be commercial; that they will not all be mid-rises and that this project which she is not saying is exactly the way it should be but that it will be completed exactly the way it has been proposed. To her, approving these rezoning requests, is like signing a blank check. She doesn’t believe in doing that because of the consequences they may incur. She then asked if anyone had any questions before she sat down. No one asked any questions.

Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next speaker who came to the podium.

Mr. Robert Harrington, Hickory Dale Acres, north of Dover, stated he is a teacher and is in private practice as a marriage and family counselor. As such, he is concerned about the changing character of their neighborhoods and although no longer a resident of the City of Dover, he was addressing this gathering because his wife and he do all their trading int eh City of Dover and thereby support this City. They also own property within the Capital School District. Silver Lake is both a source of recreation and enjoyment for both of them. He has been an interested, often amused but usually angry observer of the situation created by the attempt to change the face of the shore at Silver Lake and that the beautiful adjacent neighborhood. He fears that they will very soon observe another of many steps in the demise, the death of representative democracy. An institution which, if it ever existed in their country, has experienced a slow death over many years adding much despair to the very people it was intended to serve. If the decision to rezone Silver Lake over the wishes of these people, their constituents, please remember this gathering tonight the next time they lament the atrophy of the City of Dover electorate. He has read that some Councilmen would not accept emotional arguments. That is an outrageously arrogant disregard for their heritage, their dignity and their integrity as citizens. Any person with an ounce of idealism left in him can cope with the emotional arguments that led to the creation of this very nation and the unique and precious character of our neighborhoods.

(Tape changeover - Resumed during applause)

Mayor McDonough asked if there were any questions from Council of Mr. Harrington. No one spoke.

Mayor McDonough acknowledged the next speaker to come forward.

Mr. Bernard Greenfield, 901 Wilson Drive in Woodcrest, handed out copies of a printed statement to the Council, and thanked them for this extra evening to be heard. The Woodcrest Civic Association which he represented as the Vice-President, explained that they had gotten a bad rap in the newspapers. They were not against development of the City for the sake of advancement or all the people for tax income and what have you. They were not against Krapf Incorporated, they are fine builders as evidenced by Luther Towers and he was happy to see they get their work out and get it done on time.

It was not a question of just being against development as such. He has a petition that was sent out with wording basically the same as the Fairview and Lakewood Tract opposing any change in the single family residential zoning of R-20 for the Richardson Tract. They have from the Woodcrest Development, not counting the apartments, there was some talk of people strong arming to get signatures but they were asked by the little woman that was the Manager of the Woodcrest apartments not to canvas the people there so they backed off. They had a few signatures but since they were incomplete but a lot of feeling at the Woodcrest Apartments and Woodcrest Arms was that there was going to be a problem with traffic. From the 197 signatures from the plus or minus 1100 homes in the Woodcrest area, he believed they have about 145 homes altogether. They have 21 signatures from school teachers at Central Middle School who traverse this area, many who go back and forth to work. Some live in Woodcrest, some live on State Street but they know traffic is going to be a problem. He began quoting from the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Book in his presentation by referring to that part in the Comprehensive Plan on Page 37 which reads under Growth: “Require sufficient information with all the development proposals to ensure that the proposed use is appropriate to the site and the development is well planned and will be properly implemented and that he cost and benefits, both fiscal and non-fiscal to the City are clearly understood. This information will be used by the Planning Commission in making written recommendations to the City Council regarding rezoning applications.” Now they have talked to the contractor, the developer and the attorney for Richardson Estate who has talked to their Civic Association and they have told us that this is a conceptual plan. There is nothing binding in this plan. It is an artist’s conception, if he may go that far, of what they foresee or what they would like to have built on there. From asking the Woodcrest Civic Association from what they could determine to the many questions asked there seems to be no definitive plan. Differing answers were given when the questions were asked of the Developer, the contractor, the City Planners and City Councilmen. None substantiated by any kind of documentation. He then referred to item 3 under Growth which was to discourage speculative rezoning. That is in instances, he will read the whole thing so he won’t be quoting out of context, where the applicant does not intend to act as a Developer in order to ensure better planning and implementation of development. This can be accomplished by requiring more complete information in support of rezoning requests and also by examining such requests in light of the current and near future market for the type of development proposed. Now, they are not engineers in Woodcrest and there is not an engineer in the place that he knew or who spoke up anyway. They are just concerned homeowners. He asked the question how is it that this proposal has come this far. That is, to a rezoning hearing. He referred then to the Development Process on Page 92 of the Comprehensive Plan and since the Councilmen probably didn’t have their books with them he was well prepared to read it. He read from Page 92 the first step in the Development Process is for the Developer to meet informally with the City Staff and review the Zoning Ordinance, Map and the Comprehensive Plan. That he imagined has been accomplished. When that is done it refers you to Page 96. The next step is informal meetings with the Developer and City Staff, possibly Planning Commission. After that the City Council refers to the Planning Commission for a recommendation. Developer prepares all plans and information required by Zoning Ordinance plus additional information required by the City. The Planning Commission reviews the proposal and recommends approval if consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan for this area is zoned low density on the front facing Walker Road and medium density the other side of the canal, some call it a swale. They all know it out there as the canal. This proposal is not consistent with it because the contractor is asking that it be zoned R-5 and RG-0 which is high density and C-2A which is General Business. He has heard it called Residential Commercial, medium small business, it is General Business, which R-5, RG-5 may be allowed with buffering in a medium density housing area. In other words the RG-5 may be allowed in the back in the medium density housing area. The Comprehensive Plan does not call for G-5. RG-0 and C-2A according to the plan are not allowed near low density residential which right across the street is the Fairview Development. From the way he reads the instructions, the way the City Council bought or had the Kling people from Philadelphia work up the Comprehensive Plan it was accepted and paid for, $125,000 in 1975, to work up this Plan. There hasn’t been any change in this particular area and the way he understands the instructions is, if the area called for a low density housing and not in this particular area but in any area that called for a low density, or let’s say that called for commercial housing or commercial industry before and somebody wants to build a low density, its marked low density now but it was zoned commercial there’s no problem then with going forward to change it to what shows on the Master Plan or the Comprehensive Plan. They are asking you people as he said he didn’t know how it got this far because there has never been any set, fully filled out plans, sites or letters of market studies or anything that he knows of given to the Planning Commission for their approval and if they are going by the Comprehensive Plan they can not even approve it, because the Comprehensive Plan says you will not approve it. Again, he added he didn’t even know why they were here tonight. The he said he wanted to ask some questions and you won’t be able to answer them because he has about twenty of them. Some have been already asked and he wouldn’t go into all of them. First of all, has a complete environmental impact statement been received as part of this proposed plan. While they are worried about the lake itself, silting due to the construction that would be going on, when they have five story buildings you have a lot of dirt dumping to do to get at the foundation. When this gets pumped into the lake or wherever there’s going to be some silting problems and from what he can understand they’ve already got some silting problems at the dams lower down. He would hate to see the lake back up anymore than what it does downstream when they do have their flash floods and what not. He doesn’t want to see a Smyrna Bridge wash out like they had in Smyrna or something down here. He didn’t know, he is not an engineer, but do they have environmental impact studies to tell us whether this can happen or is not going to happen or what. With erosion around the lake edge, who will handle that when a lot of the trees are down. They stated they are going to leave the trees up and that it is going to be a park that is going to be taken over by the Civic Association that will be there. When this Civic Association finds out that they will be legally responsible for that whole area for anything that has to be done there, for any damage that is done or anybody who gets injured there they are going to find out that the Association if they do take over that land that you want to give them are going to be buying a pig in a poke. They have an area like that in Woodcrest that has been set aside for a park and if they take it over, they have the bills. They can’t afford that, so the area just sits there. He doesn’t now know exactly how it is now, part City, part theirs, but every once in awhile somebody goes out and cuts the grass, but they have not taken any of it over as a Civic Association. Who will build the retaining wall, the sea wall around that lake when erosion gets to the point that due to children playing there, you won’t keep the kids away and the trees start falling over. Some of them are already down. There is about a 15 foot drop-off from the ground level down to the lake which with construction going on there is erosion which will even be worse due to the run-off. Some of these trees are going to start going down. Who is going to build the sea wall. Maybe not next year but five years from now, or maybe six years from now. Who is going to pay for it after you may have your project completed and gone. He said he thought he knew the answer to that one. How much will condemnation of land cost now which the contractor has stated he would have to widen the road, Walker Road. He had heard different. He has heard that State requirements or possibly Federal requirements will cause a widening of that road. Was the City willing to pay to buy the property they will have to condemn to make that road wider. How long will the contractor be liable for costs necessitated by this project during the five to seven years, he has heard both reports, that the project is supposed to run before its completion. Where are 2000 office workers this was again from meeting with the contractor and the developer and the Richardson’s attorney, it could be a little more or it could be a little less, where will these workers park when according to the State count and you have these letters too from the State, when there is only 1170 parking places that they could make out in that plan. That means, if the is counting right, 830 people possibly will be parking on Carol Street. He said he was trying not to get emotional but they said this was just a conceptual plan maybe there is another positive plan in the mill that will be going to the Planning Commission but again he wanted to reiterate that he didn’t know why they were here since they haven’t gotten anything definite from the Planning Commission to rezone, to rezone on what, with what information. The other question he has was why has C-2 or C-2A been referred to in project documents as Neighborhood Commercial when in fact C-2 or C-2A is General Business. Many of these questions have been asked by the State Planners and he has heard some Councilman say well some people in the State have got it in for us so it kind of half way gets written off a lot of what the State Planners have asked but he felt they were pertinent questions. And he thought they should be answered before any final decision is made. He stated this project is basically wrong for this community. The area