NCCo: Brandywine Country Club development must be scaled-down or reworked
Plans to build 563 new residences on the grounds of the now-defunct Brandywine Country Club will likely have to be scaled down.
New Castle County government has told developer Louis Capano that the 408 apartment units he wants to build alongside 155 new homes on the 111-acre course is too many. The ruling is an incremental step as the development moves toward approval but local resident groups who have been protesting the project see it as a victory.
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"We want to make it the best it can be," said R.J. Miles, board member of the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred. "We don't see how it can be the best project if the applicant is asking to have a density greater than what makes sense."
Earlier this month, county land planners told the developer the number of apartments included in the plan did not fit within local development rules. It was part of a number of critiques dealing with roads, site layout and parking that the developer will have to rectify or solve through seeking a variance from the local Board of Adjustment.
Under the proposed development, such a project may include a mix of residences but no one type can comprise more than 40 percent of the housing offerings. Under the plans submitted in January, apartments would have been more than 70 percent of the projects. The issue is how local rules defines apartments.
"They were under the assumption that they could split the apartments into two different types: garden apartments and high rise," said Marco Boyce, a planner for the county's Department of Land Use.
While there are different types of other housing, like townhouses, listed in county code, the rules do not differentiate apartments.
Miles, who is also president of the civic association for the nearby McDaniel Crest neighborhood, said the number of apartments was one of many issues raised by CCOBH.
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"Apartments are apartments are apartments," Miles said. "You have to treat them all the same."
The county's letter to Capano's attorneys also suggested the developer design traffic calming improvements for Shipley Road, one of the two exits from the development.
The letter also suggested the developer relocate a road connecting U.S. 202 through the development to Shipley Road. Current plans have the road running along the course's southern edge, raising the ire of neighboring residents.
John Tracey, an attorney for Capano, said his team is working to relocate the road more toward the middle of the development per the county's comments.
He said the group is currently considering how to address the issue with the number of apartments.
"Receiving an initial comment letter with the classification of unacceptable is not at all unusual, particularly when you need discretionary approval like a rezoning," Tracey said. "We are reviewing the department's letter in the context of this plan and working to address those comments."
The developer may seek a variance from the local zoning rules to allow for the full apartment plans. They could also potentially subdivide the parcel and develop apartments separate from the single-family homes.
Rich Hall, General Manager of the county's Land Use Department, said the letter was the first formal, written feedback submitted to the developer, which is still in the early stages of approvals. The plans already required a rezoning, which New Castle County Council has the authority to reject.
Tracey could not comment on how long it may take to submit a revised path forward to county regulators.
Miles said residents are watching.
"It is our responsibility to help the community accept there will be something there but to also be a participant in the process to make sure what is there is the best it can be for the rules and the community," Miles said.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@