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Rezoning for Gills Neck Village Center Approved

Don Rush

The Sussex County Council gave the okay to rezone land near Lewes for the Gills Neck Village Center that was first put forward in 2008.

It has been scaled back from over 500-thousand square feet to 75-thousand square feet.

It sits just across from Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes and near the wellheads for the town’s water.

The vote was unanimous.

But council member Bob Arlett conceded that the traffic and environmental concerns by the public were legitimate.

John Mateyko, president of the Lewes Partnership for Managing Growth, said he believed the council failed to heed the research about the environmental and traffic problems presented by the project.

During an August hearing, Nick Hammonds with Jack Lingo Asset Management described the shopping center as a "first-class project". 

Mateyko did say he was still optimistic about dealing with the pressures for further growth in the area.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.