671-home Odessa National project nears completion
Building permits on hold for decadeslong development
- New Castle County and the developer of the Odessa National project near Townsend have reached an agreement.
- The project has been hung up by permitting issues since February.
- Work on the final phase is now expected to finish by September.
New Castle County and the developer of the 671-home Odessa National project near Townsend have reached an agreement to at least partially end a logjam that has blocked the last phase of construction on the contentious development that has seen some residents voice concern about the quality of work.
Granting of building permits for new homes has been halted for six months in the sprawling community of single-family homes and townhouses off Fieldsboro Road.
The lag is due to New Castle County building rules that require developers of subdivisions to complete and give residents control of neighborhood common assets like stormwater ponds, community centers, landscaping and other amenities once a development is 90 percent done.
But because many of the community features are not complete, construction on the final 10 percent of Odessa National can’t proceed, frustrating residents who are eager to finalize their supervision of community amenities and get a neighborhood association in place.
Developer Capano Homes did not return a request for comment.
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David Perlmutter lives in the Odessa’s Southerness neighborhood and co-chairs a task force created to coordinate residents taking over control of community features once the development is finished. The group has been in talks with Capano for years about issues in the development.
"We have these amenities that they are allowing us to use which are nice, but we don’t know what we are going to inherit,” he said. “The fact that you don’t own these amenities, we have very little control of them.”
Back taxes also cited
The permitting issue is the latest wrinkle in a project that’s faced various setbacks.
Set on farmland in once remote southern New Castle County, the project is the forerunner to mega developments like Whitehall and Bayberry, which are seeing hundreds of homes built south of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.
It was started by developer Joseph Capano, who died last year. Capano Homes sold individual lots to home builders to resell, and the project was split into seven neighborhoods.
Residents started moving in around 2006, but Don Mueller, who also co-chairs the neighbors group, said problems with sidewalks, drainage ponds and community center being unfinished or poorly constructed were discovered in Southerness.
A community center, which opened in 2012 and was a selling point for the development, also needed repairs for water leaks. Earlier this year, the developer had to replace flooring.
"We bought homes under the premise that these things would be available to the community," he said.
Problems were also discovered on the development’s tennis courts, where the surface is sloughing a year after construction. Residents also said there were promises of an outdoor spa next to the pool. Today, there is a hot tub jammed in a corner of the community center.
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"They put the hot tub in the community center with no plumbing," Mueller said. "It is ludicrous."
As the development reached 90 percent completion, New Castle County Land Use Department in February rejected new building permits to complete the community, citing features that were incomplete or needing maintenance before they could be turned over to community control.
Separately, Odessa National Golf Course LLC, which is associated with the Capano organization and owns a golf course attached to the community as well as a clubhouse and other buildings on the property, also has more than $170,000 in taxes owed to New Castle County and nearly $500,000 to the Appoquinimik School District. The property serves as part of the required open space for the development.
The entity hasn't paid county taxes on the property since 2011, when it began to appeal the valuation used to set its tax bill. The years since have seen the developer argue to the county and Superior Court that it is being billed too much. The appeal is still pending with the Board of Assessment Review.
County government is responsible for collecting delinquent taxes owed to local government and local school districts. Officials have authority to withhold building permits for a developer when taxes are owed. But because the housing plots and the golf course are owned by different corporations, the county cannot hold building permits for any entity other than the golf course company, George Haggerty, who runs the New Castle County Land Use Department.
Collection efforts cease whenever a tax valuation goes under appeal, county officials said.
"They have appealed the taxes and there is due process for that to occur," Haggerty said.
The back taxes also have been seen as unfair to those who live in the subdivision as well as others in the Appoquinimink School District, which recently raised its tuition tax that serves students with special needs.
Others have raised concerned that the golf course's tax burden will eventually become residents problem. If the course does belly up, the land must remain open space and could be transferred to community ownership. Land Use Department Assistant Manager Jim Smith said the community will not be liable for the back bills because all taxes must be paid before any potential transfer of that limited liability company's property.
A solution found
Mueller said residents of Southerness have been in negotiations with Capano's organization about turnover over control of the community center and other features for years. The task force he sits on negotiated with the county and developer to create a list of items that need to be resolved, like redoing the community center's tennis courts and finishing sidewalks, along the open space in the development.
In return, the developer has agreed to post a $94,000 bond and to finish a list of items. Those issues include fixes to building code violations in the neighborhood's community center and would allow construction to start again on the final 10 percent of the Southerness neighborhood, a 225-home, age-restricted section of Odessa National.
The bond option is something that has been used in other developments that have seen construction halted by incomplete community features, Haggerty said.
He said the county may look to strike similar arrangements as in Southerness to allow the final houses to be built in the remainder of Odessa National's neighborhoods.
"At some point, you have to get where people are not living in construction for another five years," Haggerty said.
The new bond is in addition to a larger one posted at the beginning of construction that can also be tapped to finish the community features.
But not all residents are satisfied with the agreement. Ron Angelo, who also is a Southerness resident, feels the transition committee didn't adequately point out issues that needed to be resolved.
"There are some major flaws," Angelo said. "Some of these issues could end up costing the community big time."
He also has filed a federal complaint alleging parts of Southerness violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and other rules because the homes are built too close to sidewalks, resulting in vehicles in driveways blocking access.
"They should have never given the Capanos that density," Angelo said. "There is not enough room for those houses."
Haggerty, whose department oversaw the approval process, said the project met guidelines. County building rules have been changed since Odessa was approved, but that doesn’t mean parts of the project were built in violation of rules.
"Those homes complied with the code at the time," Haggerty said.
County officials said they’ve targeted the end of September for residents to take control of the community features in Southerness.
Perlmutter said he’s ready for the finish.
"We are holding our breath," he said. "After 10 years of problems, we think it is going to be solved soon."
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.