Editor’s Note: The following letter to the editor appeared in the Cape Gazette, Lewes, Del., and was written by Dick Snyder of Lewes in opposition to the Love Creek Landing RV park proposed for the community.
The long-awaited report from DelDOT’s consultant on the Lingo TIS document has finally arrived. An explanation for why it took over two months to finally surface isn’t apparent, especially after reading it. There is little new information to help shed light on how this widely unpopular project will be assimilated into what is a predominately peaceful suburban district made up of single-family houses without causing massive disruptions to travel for both residents and other vacationers.
(As a quick aside, it is curious to note that townhouses originally proposed as part of the Love Creek Landing development off Robinsonville Road were originally denied by the county because they wouldn’t be in keeping with the type of housing already present in the area, but a 600-site RV park with code-violating cabins might be OK ?….but I digress).
Many hours and many pages have been devoted to arguing the merits or demerits of the traffic generated from this site, disagreements over the choice of trip generation models and assumptions, concerns about the how to safely handle oversized vehicles at undersized intersections, etc. The primary cause for all of this dissention and study is simply that the site proposed for this park is one of the least well-suited one can imagine. It is in the epicenter of about nine miles of secondary and tertiary roads, any of which at any given point in time comes into play. No amount of “suggested route marketing” as proposed by the consultant will alter that situation. If you don’t believe me, try entering points A and B (B being the proposed site) in your favorite GPS app and see what comes up.
For example, no RV driver burning one gallon per mile will subject themselves to the long delays on Route 24 all the way down to Plantation Road if they can make an exit on to Robinsonville Road and travel down to Cedar Grove to avoid them. (By the way, both the original TIS and the consultant’s review virtually disregard traffic coming into the site from points west on Cedar Grove.)
I could go on, but the point is, and it was made with several aerial photos at the council hearing several months ago, none of the existing RV parks/campgrounds in the area offers access over a variety of ill-suited secondary roads. They are a short, straight shot off of either Route 1 or Route 24, leaving the drivers no choice. As stated previously, even if this is a five-star campground, it just doesn’t fit in the proposed neighborhood.
Finally, the conspiracy theorist in me may find one reason for the lengthy delay in receiving this report. The DelDOT traffic consultant seemingly wanders off the ranch by stating his opinion that this project is consistent with both the “Livable Delaware” document and the Sussex County Comprehensive Plan. He may or may not be competent to make those calls, but in any event, in my opinion, they go well-beyond his purview, making me wonder about what really went on in those discussions between the consultant and Lingo’s people that DelDOT admits occurred before the report was final. But as Dennis Miller says, “I could be wrong.”
