During a public hearing before the Feb. 3 Townsend Town Council meeting, the Mayor and Council accepted revisions to the land use portion of the Town’s comprehensive plan, which will be submitted to the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination and reviewed in a Preliminary Land Use Service meeting.
The revisions are an addition to the comprehensive plan created in 2003.
Mayor Dave Raughley said the state now requires the town and other similar municipalities to provide a long-range plan that includes 10 to 15 years, rather than the original five-year plan.
He said the Town’s plan must comply with New Castle County’s comprehensive plan and the state’s strategies for annexation and growth.
“Ed [O’Donnell, town planner for Townsend,] has put together what I think is a great plan that not only allows for strategic growth within the town, it also allows for protection from growth on the western side of town for a long time,” he said.
Raughley said the plan includes an area of proposed future annexation north of Townsend, where two farms are currently located. The owners of those farms have entered an agreement with the Town that when they decide to sell the farm and develop, they will annex into Townsend.
“It only makes sense to make those farms our main area of growth,” he said.
Raughley said the plan also includes a “greenbelt,” made up of farms along the outside of Townsend that will be zoned as preservation, allowing them to be protected for approximately 25 years.
“I was concerned about growth outside the west side of town because all that traffic would have to come through Main Street,” he said. “This plan limits that.”
O’Donnell said the U.S. 301 Bypass Project in Middletown also allows for a lot of growth in Townsend.
“It opens up access,” he said. “That’s just what Route 1 did for southern New Castle County. It opened it up for growth.”
Home daycare request
The Mayor and Council held a Board of Adjustment hearing before the regular meeting, in which Townsend Village I residents Hector and Ivonne Romero requested a usage variance to open a home daycare at 123 Edgar Road.
Hector said Ivonne has been working in a child daycare for more than nine years, and they found they could provide a better service to families by opening their own daycare.
“My wife loves the kids and she loves what she does,” he said. “I’m just here to support it.”
Hector said he and his wife have taken the proper steps to obtain a state license for the daycare, but must have approval from the Town first.
Ivonne said the daycare would be open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and would include a full-day and half-day program.
Town Engineer Tom Wilkes said zoning ordinances would limit the daycare to six children, and there must be 40 square inches of space per child inside and 100 square feet of space per child outside.
Wilkes asked if there was a concern about children playing near the outdoor swimming pool that the Romeros own.
Hector said the pool is gated, and as part of the daycare during the summer months, the family may offer swim lessons that the couple’s two older children would be certified to teach.
Dina Maoiszka, a neighbor of the Romeros, said she was against the daycare because Townsend Village I is a restricted neighborhood that does not allow businesses in the development.
“We moved from a place where there were businesses going on, and it just was not something I wanted for my family,” she said. “There’s all this traffic going on.”
Ted Jagioser, another resident of Townsend Village I, said he had concerns about the safety of the swimming pool and allowing businesses to enter the neighborhood.
“There are reasons why people moved to that community,” he said. “This opens the door for other businesses to come in.”
The hearing was tabled when Council learned adequate notice was not given to all residents within a mile-radius of the property. The hearing will resume when proper notification is made to Townsend Village I residents.
Townsend, Del. —
