A dozen Brandywine Hundred residents voiced their opposition Tuesday to a proposed town center at the southwest corner of Concord Pike and Beaver Valley Road.
Testifying before the New Castle County Planning Board, residents’ concerns centered on traffic and the perception that Concord Pike was already built-out with retail centers.
Stoltz Realty Partners, a Bryn Mawr, Pa. based developer, is proposing the Shops at Brandywine Valley – which its planners described as a “mixed-use center” with residential and retail space, as well as a hotel. The 43-acre parcel is owned by the Woodlawn Trustees.
The revised plan is significantly different from the original proposal in that it no longer features an unpopular New Jersey style jug-handle system that would have rerouted some traffic from Concord Pike through the 43-acre property. The other significant change is the addition of 50 residential units from the previous version, which had been criticized by some as commercial plan disguised as a mixed-use project.
The latest version calls for 237,000-square-feet of retail, 211,000-square-feet of residential and the 80,000-square-foot hotel.
The south end of the property, where a nursery is currently located, is zoned commercial but the rest is zoned residential. That means a rezoning would be needed for the plan to move forward. Because it is a mixed-use plan, the rezoning would be voted on when the plan itself comes before the New Castle County Council, rather than needing to wait for a tri-annual rezoning.
Talleyville resident Richard said he liked what he saw.
“As far as shopping is concerned, U.S. 202 is a Mecca – always has been, always will be,” he said. “This will really be a showplace for our community and a feather in our cap.”
He was alone in his praise.
Concord Hills resident Nancy Stone said she thought the plan was aesthetically pleasing, but did not fit at such a busy corner.
“All this construction is taking away from my quality of life,” she said. “It sounds like a really nice utopia, but I think it’s the wrong place to put it.”
Charles Landry, president of the Council of Civic Organizations for Brandywine Hundred, agreed that traffic was a concern. He said the organization was looking forward to seeing the results of a traffic study and said he hopes Stoltz makes the necessary improvements to Concord Pike to accommodate any additional traffic.
Arden resident Amy Pollock said she had concerns about plans to allow traffic to turn from southbound Concord Pike into the heart of the town center’s “Main Street,” where a low speed limit is proposed. She said traffic could spill out of the center onto Concord Pike, causing dangerous backups in the right lanes.
Janine Warner, communications director for AIG Marketing, which has 1,000 employees at its complex on the north side of Beaver Valley Road, said the company was concerned that the additional cars using the center would make it difficult for workers to get in and out of its parking lot.
George Haggerty, general manager of the New Castle County Department of Land Use, said AIG itself could be part of the solution to reduce congestion in the area and suggested the company look into staggering its work shifts so fewer employees were commuting during rush hour.
“The issue of peak hour traffic is of concern to us and we believe one of the ways it could be addressed is for larger employers to take some steps to alter their peak trips,” he said.
Pam Scott, the attorney for Stoltz, said it was too early in the process to offer specifics about the final traffic plan, but said the plan could not be improved unless all pertinent code requirements were met.
Jeffrey Beck, representing nearby Grace Episcopal Church, said he believes it would be more appropriate to build a residential subdivision on the site than more stores and John Datner, who lives in the Village of Brandywine, said he believes the area is saturated with hotels.
“I’m not sure if having another hotel is pie in the sky or if someone has studied to know another one is needed,” he said.
