Posted on 04/24/2023 12:17:43 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
Citing concerns about traffic, effects on property values and environmental impact, neighbors are rallying against a developer's proposal to build 130 tiny homes behind Robscott Manor and Yorkshire Woods.
Residents of the five surrounding neighborhoods packed into a community meeting Sunday to express their concerns to the developer, Jerome Heisler of Reybold Group. Leaders said more than 700 residents have signed a petition calling on New Castle County to reject the proposal.
“It's very upsetting for so many of us,” said Krista Milkovics, a Yorkshire Woods resident who is helping to lead the effort against the project.
Reybold's proposal calls for building Arusha Village, a community of tiny homes on a 24-acre property that is sandwiched between Robscott Manor and Yorkshire Woods on one side and railroad tracks on the other.
Part of the property, a narrow strip of land along the train tracks, has been owned by Reybold for decades. The company is in talks to buy the other part from James and Trudy Reed, whose land includes a house and several outbuildings.
The houses would be between 750 square feet and 900 square feet. Each would have one bedroom and be restricted to no more than two tenants. The houses would be clustered together, with two central parking lots instead of individual driveways or street parking.
Heisler emphasized that the houses would all have foundations and will not be trailers or mobile homes, like some of Reybold's other properties.
Heisler pitched the proposal as an innovative way to bring a new kind of housing to the area that is more environmentally sustainable. The houses would all have solar panels on the roof, and their small size would make them energy efficient. The parking lots would be made from a pervious surface that reduces runoff by allowing water to seep through to the ground below, and the lots would be covered by solar canopies.
“This may not be for everyone, this type of living,” Heisler said. “But it is for many people, and that's what's important.”
The homes would rent for approximately $2,000 per month. Heisler said he expects his target renter to have a minimum income of $70,000 to $80,000, and added that he hopes the project appeals to working professionals and seniors.
“There will only be two occupants allowed in each unit, so I doubt there will be any students, even at the elementary school level,” he said, adding that the rentals would not accept Section 8 vouchers.
Several of the residents questioned whether there would actually be a market for Arusha Village at that price. Heisler said his other properties are proof that there's a demand for “updated one-bedroom apartments.” One-bedroom units in Meridian Crossing and St. Andrew's, both in Bear, rent for a similar price.
“There's an untapped market out there in Delaware that we're not being able to address,” Heisler said. “This is a new community. I'm trying to figure out a plan for different types of housing that is energy efficient, that's a little bit different, that's creative, that's walkable, that provides a blueprint to the future.”
Another resident asked what he meant by walkable. The only shopping within walking distance is Pencader Plaza, which requires crossing the railroad tracks.
“Walkable means you're going to park in the parking lot and you're going to walk to your home,” Heisler said, prompting audible laughter in the room.
Initial plans showed that cars would enter and exit Arusha Village from Gill Drive in the back of Robscott Manor. Heisler said he is aware of concerns about traffic and will ask the Delaware Department of Transportation to allow another entrance and exit onto Chestnut Hill Road. That would allow him to build an access road through a wooded area paralleling the train tracks, but he is doubtful DelDOT will approve it due to the proximity to the Robscott Manor entrance.
Robscott resident Jim Degirolano said the streets are narrow and worries what adding a couple hundred more cars will do to a neighborhood already dealing with speeding problems.
“Safety is our concern for our kids,” he said. “I raised two boys here. This is a family oriented neighborhood, single-family homes. We're invested in it. We're a good neighborhood.”
Deanna Nardi-Gurczenski expressed similar concerns.
“I live on the other side of Robscott, on Glyn Drive, and traffic is unbelievable,” she said. “I cannot imagine the effect that all of this other traffic would have on the other side of Robscott.”
Milkovics said the project could be successful somewhere else, but it is not appropriate so close to existing neighborhoods.
“What a great idea, but not in a family community with a bunch of little kids. It's just not an appropriate area for something like this,” she said. “We're not knocking the idea, just the area.”
She added that, while Heisler envisions the project as environmentally sustainable, it would result in the loss of trees and wildlife habitat.
Rich Campbell, who has 17 family members living in five houses in Robscott, recalled how the neighborhood came together when a tornado struck in 2013.
“We got to see what community is all about,” Campbell said, adding that he worries that Arusha Village would change the character of the neighborhood.
“We made an investment. I don't believe that this new proposal is going to do anything for our investment but make it go down,” he said.
Heisler said the project is in the early stages and will require several variances from the New Castle County Board of Adjustment and final approval from county council. No date for consideration has been set.
He said he is committed to working with the residents but expressed little optimism that the project will be approved.
“In the off chance this goes through, your comments will change this plan,” he said. “I want to create the best plan. I don't know everything in your community. I really don't. I'm learning. The more comments and feedback you give me, the more changes I can make.”
Yeah right. They know it will be two families per unit and they'll be drawing more power to blast mariachi music per day than that rooftop solar panel can provide in a year.
Or worse yet, damn dirty hippies.
At $2000 per month for 750 square feet, I rather think the only diversity he is going to attract is crazy rich Asians.
My home is 1,048 Sq. ft. — we built it small with a 1,400 sq. ft. deck and it lives VERY large.
THAT being said...
In my town there is a ‘tiny house’ (TH) area (I believe these homes to be 350 S. FT.) with about 20 TH in it and it’s literally taken more than 30 months to build them...
I could build one a month by myself!
It will be interesting to see how this story will develop...
My current mansion is 962 sq.ft. No basement. 1/2 acre.
Didn’t we use to call these.... “Trailer parks”?
Wasting away in Favelaville.
NIMBY
Place them 10 miles apart. Everyone spends one night and moves on to the next one. That’s 1300 miles of walking in 130 days. Good for the heart.
👍
IF they’ll give me one I’ll take it
Nope
A single wife has close to 850swuare feet of living space
In many areas the cost of land, infrastructure, permits, etc. costs so much that there is no profitable business model for anything less than a 2,500 square foot McMansion. Even when the math works no one wants small residences ‘decreasing their property value.’ We have eliminated the starter home.
Fake claim just to promote the proposal, so that people in the area will conclude just what you did.
Our neighborhood was forced by the federals to build Section 8 housing. We met the requirement by saying seniors were over represented in our population and underserved in our county housing so, volia! We were permitted to build section 8 only for those 55 and over. Not much crime from that crowd.
I heard the units are actually fairly nice and the residents keep them up well.
“No Section 8 vouchers” - Government will determine it is unconstitutional.
“Two adults” - unenforceable
“$2,000 per month rent” - taxpayer funded.
Put this in BOC(Bush, Obama, Clinton) backyard.
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