Why Should Delaware Care?
Atlantic Fields is a plan for a mega-sized shopping center in the Lewes-Rehoboth Beach area. It would bring big-name stores like Costco, Target and Whole Foods, but it would also bring more traffic congestion to an already crowded corridor.
The Sussex County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to deny a rezoning needed for Atlantic Fields, a major retail project that would have brought a Costco, Target and Whole Foods to Delaware’s beach corridor, but has also raised concerns over traffic.
The shopping center, proposed by Baltimore-based developer Southside Investment Partners, would include 665,000 square feet of retail space, making it about half the size of the Christiana Mall. It would be located about 5 miles from Delaware’s beaches and a mile southwest of Route 1.
The vote came after a five-hour public hearing in October in which over a dozen residents made comments to the council, with all but one opposing the project, citing the increased road traffic it could bring to Route 24.
Dozens of residents came out to see the vote, and the hallway outside the council chambers filled with applause, shouts of joy and hugs after it was done.
Nearby resident Gary Vorsheim, who has lobbied against the project with resident group Route 24 Alliance, told Spotlight Delaware he thought the unanimous council vote was “absolutely amazing.”
“I mean, we were hoping that it would be denied, but a 5-0 result is just incredible,” Vorsheim said.
Whether the developer would seek to appeal the denial of the five-member council to Delaware’s Superior Court is not immediately apparent. Representatives of the developer did not appear to be at the meeting and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still, hope is not lost for a Costco in Southern Delaware.
The developer of a new proposed retail project off Route 1 near Milton, called Ocean One, told Spotlight Delaware that he has tried to persuade Costco representatives to relocate to his development. They have not yet responded, he said.
A week earlier, the Sussex County Council approved a mixed-use plaza just west of where Atlantic Fields was proposed to be built. That project, named Belle Mead, also drew local opposition but ultimately earned a 3-2 approval by, in part, offering long-needed affordable housing units as part of its plan.
Perhaps crucially, Atlantic Fields offered no housing as part of its plan.
The rezoning request would have moved the 70 acres of land from agricultural-resident (AR-1) to planned commercial (C-4).
Why did the council deny the rezoning?
Councilwoman Jane Gruenebaum was the only member of the council to speak before the vote. The rest of the members said they agreed with her statement.
Gruenebaum said she believed Route 24 simply could not handle the tens of thousands of additional vehicle trips the shopping center was estimated to add.
“The list of transportation deficiencies that exist today or that will be felt if this development gets approved are too great,” she said.
The Delaware Department of Transportation has planned upgrades to the corridor, but those are not likely to be made until at least the early 2030s — after the plaza was to have opened in 2028.
Gruenebaum also said she felt projects in the C-4 zoning district need to be mixed-use developments, with both housing and stores.
“The housing component is important because it allows people to reside near where they shop, thus cutting the necessary trips on the road,” she explained.
Councilman Steve McCarron spoke after the vote was cast, acknowledging the economic benefits the project would have brought, but said the local infrastructure simply cannot handle it.
“There are regions of this country that would welcome the level of demand Sussex County has sustained for decades, but growth without infrastructure is not success,” McCarron said.
The $175 million Atlantic Fields proposed to employ nearly 1,000 construction workers during building, and then about 1,750 permanent staff members, according to a presentation from the developer to county officials.