DelDOT says $13M for overpass for Overbrook Town Center
An overpass associated with the proposed Overbrook Town Center commercial complex on Del. 1 would cost $13 million to build, the Delaware Department of Transportation says.
The cost estimate is DelDOT's most precise guess yet of what it would cost to significantly rework Del. 1 and Cave Neck Road, where a developer has proposed to build an 850,000-square-foot shopping center. The developer, TD Rehoboth LLC, had estimated the cost at $13 million to $15 million in the past. TD Rehoboth has pledged in public hearings and DelDOT talks to contribute $8 million towards road improvements, including an overpass, turn lanes and several traffic circles.
DelDOT has said it planned all along to make improvements to the interchange several years into the future. If the project is approved, DelDOT said in a March 7 memo to the Council on Transportation, the state would bump it up in the schedule and require TD Rehoboth to spend at least $8 million on the Cave Neck Road-Del. 1 interchange, along with donating rights-of-way and paying for design costs.
"Should [Sussex] County approve the rezoning it is anticipated that DelDOT would leverage public funds against the $8 million developer contribution to meet the total construction costs," the DelDOT memo said. The new cost estimate, then, means about $5 million of taxpayer funds could be devoted to the work.
STORY: In close vote, Overbrook gets key endorsement.
Nearby residents have organized to prevent the development, citing traffic impacts and a worry that the development — it would be the county's largest shopping center, by far, if built — is wildly out of place in its largely rural setting. Sara Kraft, a member of the Overbrook Town Center Coalition, asked other members in an email blast to attend council meetings in March and April in case the vote comes then. The Sussex County Council hasn't yet voted on whether to grant the developer's request to rezone 114 acres of farmland as commercial property, a necessary step for the project.
"We want to show them that we continue to be concerned with their decision," she said of the council members.
The Overbrook issue is not on the council's posted agenda for Tuesday.
Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, on Twitter @JamesFisherTNJ or jfisher@delawareonline.com.