Residential Real Estate Archives - Delaware Business Times

Economic Development, Government, Insider Only, New Castle County, News, Residential Real Estate

🔒 New Castle County bans southern septic subdivisions

Taylor Goebel September 14, 2021

NEW CASTLE – The New Castle County Council voted in late August to ban major subdivisions on septic systems, in a bid to protect water quality and limit sprawl development in the county’s rural areas ...

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Government, Insider Only, Kent County, New Castle County, News, Residential Real Estate, Sussex County

🔒 Delaware reassessments land in hands of Texas firm

Katie Tabeling August 24, 2021

A nationally known software and management services provider company has landed three separate contracts with Delaware’s counties valued at a combined $27.8 million to reassess the 482,097 properties in the state. Tyler Technologies Inc., headquartered ...

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Commercial Real Estate, Insider Only, News, Residential Real Estate

🔒 Project aims to bring 800+ homes near Middletown

Jacob Owens August 18, 2021

MIDDLETOWN – A new project aims to bring another large planned-unit development to the Middletown area near a popular Route 1 exit ramp. Greggo & Ferrara, a multi-faceted construction, real estate and development firm based ...

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Education, Insider Only, Kent County, News, Residential Real Estate, Sussex County

🔒 As real estate booms, schools will be tested by influx

Katie Tabeling August 16, 2021

In 2005 when Tony Immediato moved to sleepy, quiet Middletown to open his own restaurant, the population was around 9,300 and there were seven schools in the Appoquinimink School District. Now as a realtor with ...

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Commercial Real Estate, Insider Only, News, Residential Real Estate

🔒 N.Y. firm buys Claymont apartments for $51.5M

Jacob Owens July 28, 2021

CLAYMONT – A New York real estate investment firm has acquired The Edge at Greentree apartments in a $51.5 million deal, the largest multi-family sale this year in Delaware and one of the largest single ...

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As the Middletown area grows quickly, county officials sought to restrain sprawl to areas built up with sewer service, like The Estate at St. Anne's, seen here. | DBT PHOTO BY ERIC CROSSAN[/caption] NEW CASTLE – The New Castle County Council voted in late August to ban major subdivisions on septic systems, in a bid to protect water quality and limit sprawl development in the county’s rural areas south of the C&D Canal. The split vote permanently extended County Executive Matt Meyer’s three-year moratorium on the use of septic systems in developments with more than five parcels – regardless of property size – in the county’s Suburban (S) zone. Under Substitute 1 to Ordinance No. 21-018, which passed 8-4, owners of properties with on-lot wastewater systems can transfer development rights to lots served by sewer. The ordinance’s targeted areas include the East Wing, roughly east of U.S. Route 13 and north of Pole Bridge Road, and the West Wing, roughly west of Route 896 and north of Bunker Hill Road. Both areas currently lack county sanitary sewer service but are within planned service areas. Without a timeline, however, major subdivision proposals have been floated for communities that would rely on septic tanks in those areas over the past few years. Arguing that the increased use of septic would lead to sprawl and further risk pollution of state waterways, the New Castle County Department of Land Use successfully lobbied in 2018 for a one-year moratorium on major development plans that utilize septic systems, keeping future major subdivisions in limbo as county officials worked to come up with a solution. Ten years ago, that department saw proposals for fewer than 90 units of septic, but in the last three years that number has increased tenfold, a sign of rapid growth in the county’s housing market, especially in the Middletown area. Environmental groups like the Delaware Nature Society and some county officials believe the recent vote will help direct development to infrastructure that protects water quality: According to Meyer’s environmental initiative GreeNCC, 90% of Delaware’s water bodies are currently polluted, and the average home on a septic system pollutes significantly more nitrogen to the environment than the same home on central sewer. Richard Hall, general manager of the county’s department of land use, noted in a previous meeting that septic systems have a roughly 20-year lifespan, with that time shortened if not properly maintained. The New Castle County Council unanimously approved an 18-month extension of Meyer’s initial moratorium in January 2020, giving county officials more time to study the problem. Without a permanent moratorium, which went into immediate effect Aug. 31, the county’s suburban zoning district had the potential for more than 5,000 new septic-dependent lots. Opposition to the ban drew from a diverse group, including farmers who argued their land values would drop under the development restriction, as well as residents worried that it would contribute to high-density housing in areas that lack the infrastructure and emergency services for more homes. Council President Karen Hartley-Nagle voted against the ordinance. “I just can’t believe we would devalue farmers’ land and not compensate them,” she said during the contentious hours-long meeting. “We’re going to lose what is left of the farmers in the county because we are not supporting them, and now we’re taking away value from the farms.” Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, supported the ordinance. “I've seen the downside of septic systems that were well-intended in other parts of the state that ended up failing and caused massive impacts on the waterways, and massive cost to homeowners,” he said during the Aug. 31 meeting. “This is an opportunity to set it right.” At the same time, O’Mara encouraged safeguards like farmland preservation programs to help farmers in New Castle County. “I think if we do those three pieces around amenities, farmland preservation and smart infrastructure, we can have the kind of planning that frankly nowhere else in the state has, that maintains the rural landscape, and has the high-quality natural resources and the housing that we're going to need as the population continues to grow,” O’Mara said.