Lewes Waterfront Preserve received a positive recommendation for final approval from the Lewes Planning Commission at its April 23 meeting, but commissioners weren’t exactly enthusiastic about it.
“Personally, I don’t like 89 townhouses. I don’t think that’s what we should be putting in there, but that’s what’s allowed under the AX-RES zoning,” said Chairman Drew McKay. “I think we have to vote on what we have before us within the parameters of the code and regulations that apply to this particular project.”
Setting Properties Inc. submitted an application for the 34-acre New Road property in fall 2019 under then-recently adopted annexation zoning, which offered developers the opportunity to build projects with less-stringent regulations than all other residential zones in the city. The zoning was created to entice developers to annex and build in the city instead of going to Sussex County for approval.