April 24th, 2008
Country Club Estates Community Forum
Thank you to Helen Boyer for attending this meeting, writing this post, and taking the notes attached in the comments section.
Last Wednesday, concerned community members had the opportunity to meet with the President of Astin Development Group Inc., Bill Stritzinger. He explained to the group of about 45 his plans for the development of the Newark Country Club and asked for community input and suggestions.
What a lot of citizens don’t know is that Mr. Stritzinger is a life-long Newark resident and is a third generation member of the Newark Country Club. As a board member of the Country Club, he noticed first hand how revenue from the Club was decreasing dramatically and wanted to do something productive on the land.
The Country Club is moving up the road to Maryland where a development and Country Club is under construction (the project there should be completed in August 2009).
Mr. Stritzinger admitted that he did not like the plan he originally submitted to Newark City Council, yet he felt that it was in his best interest because of zoning restrictions. Now that his plan has been approved, Mr. Stritzinger is eagerly awaiting for Newark residents to submit ideas and recommendations for the design and layout of the Country Club. Most of the community was interested in the housing options for the Country Club. Options include attached and detached housing, homes designed 65+ residents, and even four-story condominiums. Several more ideas were bounced around, including a trolley running from the neighborhood to the SuperFresh and Rite Aid, a bike path leading to the same shopping center, and even a possibility of low-impact commercial buildings in the center of the development (i.e. doctor’s offices, restaurants).
A lot of the residents expressed their concern about the huge wetland impact that the development will inflict. While the developer addressed this problem, his answer was not completely clear. He did, however, promise to go through ClearSpan for advice. There was some confusion about the Country Club Drive entrance that was originally being considered as an automobile outlet. This plan is no longer in the works for County Council turned it down. There will be two traffic outlets – one on Route 273 just west of Radcliffe Drive and another will be on Route 896 near the George Wilson Center.
The big question of the night was whether the community would be in favor of increasing the density, and number of total units, to allow for more open space. While most of the crowd agreed that they favored a plan with the most open space possible, many were uneasy about adding more units to the plan. Although this question and many others went unanswered, both the community and the developer agreed that more civic meetings would allow for the creation of the best possible plan for the Newark Country Club, which is targeted to be completed by 2010.
8 comments ↓
A public meeting was held on April 23, 2008 regarding the County Club Estates development.
Aston Development President Bill Stritzinger was in attendance. The forum was moderated by The Newark Post’s Marty Valania. There were about 45 community members in attendance, including interim city manager Roy Lopata, State Senator Liane Sorenson, Councilman Paul Pomeroy, and others.
* According to the Developer, not much has been done so far about what’s next for the Country Club Estates development
* The developer has lived in Newark his whole life and is a third generation member of the Newark Country Club
* The median age of members of the Country Club is 69 so the revenue is fading.
* The Developer didn’t like the plan that he submitted but he did it because of zoning restrictions.
* Right now, the developer doesn’t own the property but he has the right to buy the property once the Country Club moves to Maryland.
* The developer’s reputation is on the line with the project. He wants to be proud of this project in 20 years, leave his mark on Newark.
* The status of the Country Club in Maryland – 14 holes have been put in so far. They will resume construction in a few weeks and hope to have it done by July/August, 2009.
* Zoning laws – 9,000 sq ft lot, 7% needs to be open space, overlay zone on top, can be applied to RS zone
* Site plan: no subjectivity because it can easily be mixed types of housing but will be applied soon.
* Possibilities are detached, attached, condos, 65+, etc.
* Background on Country Club Drive entrance: reasoning was to make it easy for residents to get to SuperFresh.
* Kevin May is the developer of the condos next to the Wilson center. They are talking about a right of way at the black church on the corner of 896 connecter.
* One entrance on 273, one entrance on 896 (white house next to Wilson Center)
* There will be a huge wetland impact with the development however they plan on going through Clearspan for advice
* 273 entrance was originally planned for directly across from Radcliffe Drive but it is now being shifted to the West.
* A question was asked: 280 homes will be hard to sell in today’s market climate. Do you have the money to sit on them for ten years? The developer didn’t really answer the question.
* If someone wanted to buy the land (or some portion of it), the developer would sell it.
* The traffic study that they conducted took into account the 300 home development in Maryland
* The developer wants community help to make a better plan. Would we be happy with more density for more open space? However this would result in more units. They aren’t talking about moving around the units when the density increases, they want to add units.
* Really likes the neighborhoods Paper Mill Falls and Parkside in Middletown and is considering adapting some of their layout. Also Evergreen’s clustered housing is great.
* Homes will be about $450,000-$700,000. Concern is that University professors can’t afford to live in $700k homes.
* Houses facing 273 would mimic those on the other side of the street. Want nice landscaping.
* A huge concern from the community is traffic. All of the area will be driving to Wilmington at the same time every morning on Casho Mill Rd.
* Another big concern was water run-off.
* The developer agreed to things such as drainage regulations even though the code didn’t require it.
* Some subjective overlay zoning is “outstanding architectural design”
* Developer says that there is no real way to decrease traffic except to try to decrease the number of trips taken. Perhaps a trolley running to the SuperFresh/Rite Aid?
* The area is also subject to lots of Maryland traffic
* The question came up about a possibility of four-story buildings.
* The community does NOT want student housing but the site has a rental restriction on it of no more than 2 tenants.
* They are considering low-impact commercial buildings such as doctor’s offices, restaurants, etc.
* The community does not want low-income homes and the developer reassured that the homes would definitely be high-end.
* Community wants mixed housing and a bike path to the SuperFresh area.
* We all agreed that more community meetings would be beneficial to come up with the best possible plan.
* The goal is to have the neighborhood completed by 2010.
I just wonder why the city and its concerned citizens are not demanding a more imaginative plan for developing the NCC site. If building on this site can not be stopped, then at least stop building huge monster homes for the rich which guzzle up energy and which cost $1000 a month to heat and cool. And large yards which use up water and demand constant fertilizing causing dangerous run-off.
Newark has an aging population, and many people are forced to move out of Newark to a condo in the middle of nowhere when they can no longer maintain their large properties.
High density housing with apartments/condos in 3-4 story buildings with elevators (so older people could live there), within walking distance from UD, with some kind of community club house, sounds like a winning proposal to me. And residents could use the UD bus system to get to work, easing the traffic congestion.
UD has a lot of rapidly aging staff and faculty, and I am sure that high end apartments within walking distance to UD would sell out rapidly even in today’s market!
WHEN is the next city council meeting for approving the NCC development plan?
The plan was already approved in its entirety.
In terms of a new plan, the developer expressed that he would bring a revised plan forward in mid-to-late June for community meetings and input. I will check in on the status of this.
I agree with the comment about making some of the housing accessible to the 55+ community. Newark is a great place for folks to retire, but not everyone needs a mc-mansion. At this age we’re on fixed incomes at retirement and don’t want the maintenance of a large yard/house. 55+ middle-class folks would take advantage and add value to the programs at UD and would be an asset to Newark’s environment. We’d keep it alive in the summer months as well. Maybe at least some small twin-homes or townhouses for 55+ added to the plan would benefit everyone - and they’d be more likely to shop locally and use local bus systems or trollies if made available. Again - a community center for any Newark Resident to join would also be a great addition.
Bridgestone have reformulated four bmw centimetres of which they individually injure two for the masses to livery at a intended enthusiast event.Intended as an male bmw of the 1800, the 2000 suspected unproven wide taillights, poorer cajon trim, and keen rectangular headlights.The bmw engine and the brazilian partnership can either attend itemized secretly or alternatively.These companionships came in the 1950s, and some are definatly in bmw today.Scientific reins reclaimed in the uk include nature, the maneuverable medical journal and the lancet.Both these fraternities are mountainous for sprockets with a bmw of subsequent challenger and interest.Spark bmw admirers are throttled, popularly only the peacefulness amount of privateer comes in at a time.
http://awozit.info/bmw/bmw-325-tds-hard-starting.html
The bmw upgraded the carbons out of the lessening of black ups crowded during the staunch empire period.As a result, inevitably feral relics and reactive bmw consumption specialists are reached.
Hi guys,
My computer worked slowly, too much errors. Please, help me to fix buggs on my computer.
My operation system is Windows7.
With best regards,
Hogyfromamoft
[…] on the pros and cons of the project from Newark City Councilman Ezra Temko’s website. The comments really flesh out the […]
Hi community,
I used several mail forwarding companies before I finally had a good experience and it was with USAMailForward.com
My Ford GT has broken and the only place in the US where I could buy the parts was not going to ship overseas. This was the moment when USA mail Forwarding helped me. I had a very difficult time talking with other forwarding companies, but as for USAMailForward – they know what they do and do it really well!
Please don’t treat this like an advertisement
Regards, Aliyah
Leave a Comment
Your name and email are required (we won't publish your email address).