A proposed 354-lot townhouse development near Smyrna received compliments from Kent County Regional Planning commissioners, but the plan may lead to another stoplight on Route 13 because of the additional traffic.
Commissioners voted 6-0 for conditional approval of the Ellery Farm plan on about 82 acres inside the county’s growth zone on Route 13 North at Twin Willows Road during the commission’s business meeting Sept. 11. The property is south of Smyrna town limits between Ridgewood Manor mobile home park and the Twin Willows housing development.
Entrances and exits to the development include a right-in, right-out entrance/exit on Route 13, north of Twin Willows Road, and an entrance/exit on Twin Willows Road, east of Route 13 – both without stoplights.
However, in the traffic impact study for the development, a stoplight is recommended at Route 13 and Twin Willows Road.
If the stopllight is required, it would be the fourth in a stretch of about 2 miles on the highway, between Big Oak Road/Brenford Road and Spring Meadow Drive/Hickory Ridge Road. The latest light in that section was installed when the NKS beverage distribution warehouse opened in 2022 on Big Woods Road north of Twin Willows Road.
On Dec. 4, Sarah Keifer, director of county planning services, said the developer has two years from the preliminary approval to get the final plan approved.
Will a stoplight on Route 13 at Twin Willows Road be required in that plan? Keifer referred that question to the Delaware Department of Transportation.
The Ellery Farm development’s traffic impact study, approved by the Delaware Department of Transportation, recommends a stoplight: “Should Kent County approve the proposed development … the developer should design and construct improvements at the intersection of U.S. Route 13 and Twin Willows Road as required for signalization of the intersection.”
But the trafffic impact study is "the first step," said DelDOT Community Relations Coordinator Brittany Klecan on Dec. 4.
“Through the subsequent plan review process the developer will coordinate with DelDOT’s traffic engineering section, who are responsible for DelDOT signals, and DelDOT’s subdivision section, who are responsible for record and entrance plan reviews,” Klecan said.
Those DelDOT groups will decide how the traffic impact study recommendations should be implemented in the development's plans, she said.
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How much will the Ellery Farm townhomes cost?
Jonathan Contant, representing Ellery Farm developer K. Hovnanian Homes, said the developer's plan for this neighborhood is to offer more affordable homes, an idea many government leaders have been asking for.
“The governor has acknowledged that we have an issue with housing, with affordable housing, for first-time homebuyer housing,” said Contant said at the Sept. 4 public hearing for the Ellery Farm preliminary plan.
“In conversations with some Levy Court commissioners as well as others up and down the state, one of the things they asked us is, ‘How can we bring the cost of housing down?’ And the answer is higher density,” Contant said.
Prices in the Ellery Farm neighborhood will depend on costs at the time of construction, but Contant's estimate was the low $300,000s.
The median price for all homes sold in October in Delaware was $397,815 for existing homes, not new construction, according to the Delaware Association of Realtors.
Homes will be built on a concrete slab, with no crawlspace and no basement.
The development will be hooked into the Kent County sewage system. Water will be provided by Artesian Water Company.
Along with a park area, plans for the neighborhood include a pedestrian path around the perimeter with a connecting path to the park, sidewalks on both sides of the streets, stormwater management ponds and about 15 acres on the northeast side of the property along Route 1 that will be left alone as a natural area.
As for parking, each home will have a one-car garage and single-lane driveway for two spaces per home, with 139 spaces for overflow parking in small bunches throughout the neighborhood. That’s a total of 847 parking spaces, more than the county requirement of two per home, which would be 708.
A safer school bus stop proposal draws praise
The proposal for a school bus stop in the neighborhood instead of at the entrance on Twin Willows Road was highlighted by planning commissioners at the public hearing.
“I want to congratulate you and God bless you for putting these kids first, without an ordinance in our code,” said Commissioner Delbert Mills Jr. “That’s exactly what we need in every development.”
The plan is for the bus to pull into the development to a stop at the area set aside for a park, where parking will be available for parents to drop off and pick up their children.
In an interview Nov. 19, Mills said he’s seen first-hand the need for safer bus stop locations after 45 years in the business as a driver and an owner.
“Years ago, you rarely had a problem, but over the years as developments have blossomed, we’re still picking kids up along main roads and that can be a dangerous place to get cars stopped while you pick up kids,” he said.
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Drivers can be impatient and try to go around the bus as soon as the red warning lights on the bus are off, Mills said, and sometimes a driver approaching the bus in the opposite lane just ignores the red lights and continues driving past the bus as children are starting to get on or exit.
Plus, the corner of a development entrance and a main road isn’t an ideal place for kids to wait for the bus, he said.
“It’s safer for kids” to have the bus stop where there’s less traffic, Mills said.
Planning Commission Chair William Jester and Commissioner David Peterman also complimented the developer’s plan for a school bus stop near the neighborhood park.
Reporter Ben Mace covers real estate and development news. Reach him at [email protected].
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