Coral Lakes, a Sussex housing development once denied, approved on appeal. Here's why

Schell Brothers’ plan for the over 300-home Coral Lakes development on Robinsonville Road in Lewes, denied by the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission in March, has been approved following an appeal to the county council.

Coral Lakes was opposed by a vocal group of citizens, many associated with the group Sussex2030, who decried the plan to fill or disturb about 25 acres of unregulated nontidal wetlands and the destruction of 95 acres of mature forest. Many of them spoke against the application at a hearing in January.

In March, Commissioner Kim Hoey made a motion to approve the plan and recited a long list of reasons for its approval. Perplexingly, she then voted against it, as did all the other commissioners, save for Chairman Bob Wheatley. None of the commissioners provided their reasoning.

Schell Brothers appealed to the county council, which found in May the commission did not carry out a “logical review” of the application as required. They sent the Coral Lakes plan back to the commission “for further consideration of the entire record” and a re-vote.

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The commission met again in June. At both that meeting and in March, county attorney Vincent Robertson explained Delaware law requires the commissioners to vote in favor of subdivision plans that comply with the county code, though they may impose "reasonable conditions."

“A lot of people, understandably so, feel like (a plan) shouldn’t be approved in this location, or it shouldn’t be approved because there’s too much traffic, or it shouldn’t be approved because there's other subdivisions in the area or they just don’t want it, the land should be left vacant,” he said. “But that’s not what the law says.”

The time to “get involved with land use,” Robertson said, is when the council is creating a comprehensive plan or making laws the commission must follow.

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“When the commission gets to the point where it’s acting on a subdivision, it's simply following the laws,” he said.

In June, Robertson himself read the motion to grant preliminary approval for the Coral Lakes Plan, with the only notable condition being that the originally proposed 315 homes be reduced to 304.

Commissioner Keller Hopkins voted no without comment until urged to provide reasoning by Roberts and his fellow commissioners.

“One of my reasons is … I have issues with the wetlands area,” he said, and provided no further explanation.

Commissioner Kim Hoey Stevenson declined to vote, citing the wetlands as well.

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“This plan is a perfect example of the failure of our county ordinances, not because they do not stop the development but because they do not provide the flexibility to leave a swamp alone and still build to permitted density,” she said. “As part of this vote, I again ask the council to start a group to update our ordinances.”

Commissioners Phil Wheatley, Holly Wingate and Bruce Mears voted in favor of the application.

“I voted against this application (in March) because of the trees, the wetlands, the flooding, the wetlands, etc.,” Mears said. “Unfortunately, as council explained, it complies with the subdivision and zoning code."

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Lewes-area housing development Coral Lakes, once denied, now permitted