Astra Zeneca also would increase total allowable floor space to 1.6 million square feet from 1 million square feet and subordinate the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred’s role as an enforcer of the restrictions.

A somewhat revised preliminary development plan reportedly calls for constructing a single parking garage instead of providing for some parking under the buildings, which would still be connected in a chain running downhill from Powder Mill Road to a new road presently being called a ‘spur’ of state Route 141. The maximum height of buildings on the tract evidently would not be changed from what was previously stated.

There would be separate vehicular and pedestrian bridges across Powder Mill Road connecting what Astra Zeneca is calling its ‘south campus’ with the existing ‘north campus’. The company earlier had talked of a more expansive span, which perhaps would include a building housing an employee restaurant and other amenities. Keeping the public road open was perhaps the least controversial recommendation of the Blue Ball Project taskforce although there are persistent rumors that the issue is not yet finally resolved.

Second District Councilman Robert Weiner, who as a civic activist originally helped draft the deed restrictions, said it would be premature to confirm or comment on the deed restriction component of the approvals Astra Zeneca must obtain from County Council in order to proceed.

He did say, however, that conditions for granting the company a so-called ‘level of service’ waiver are rather well advanced. They provide for both the company and Delaware Department of Transportation to take significant steps to mitigate traffic congestion in the area. ‘Level of service’ refers to the time it takes for a motorist to pass through an intersection as the result of congestion there. Intersections in the Blue Ball-Route 141 areas already have low ‘levels of service’.

The entire Astra Zeneca package is to go before the county Planning Board in April and probably to Council in May. The board has scheduled a public hearing for Apr. 4, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Redding Building in downtown Wilmington. Weiner said Astra Zeneca intends to host a community meeting, open to the general public, the previous evening, also beginning at 7, in its main corporate office building off Powder Mill Road. The board usually frames its recommendation to Council at an open business meeting two weeks or so after the hearing. In addition to testimony at the hearing, written comments usually are allowed until a few days before the business meeting.

Weiner, then an officer of the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred, helped negotiate the deed restrictions in conjunction with a 1986 rezoning of what came to be known as the Blue Ball Triangle, bounded by Concord Pike, Rockland Road and the former Old Murphy Road. The late Philip Cloutier, who went on to election as president of County Council and a state representative, and Thomas Croft were the other members of the civic team. Cloutier’s widow, Catherine, now represents the area in the General Assembly.

A portion of the tract has since been developed, including the Ronald McDonald House for families of ill children, the Nemours Clinic and an office building. The rest was acquired by the state last year to be given to Astra Zeneca as one of the economic development incentives to expand in Delaware.

"When we did that 14 years ago, it was unique to vest enforcement rights in a civic organization," Weiner said. He stopped short of expressing an opinion about the reported changes "until I have a chance to hear what the community has to say." While indicating that the company is opposed to ‘phasing in’ the changes, he said County Council could "revisit the issue" if that becomes desirable in the future.

While the county will require the company to go through the usual land-use process, "we certainly don’t want to hold up Astra Zeneca," he said.

If the company does want to be able to build more than 1 million square feet on its ‘south campus’, for instance, it will be required to seek Board of Adjustment approval to exceed the maximum floor space-to-land area ratio in the Unified Development Code, he said.

Weiner also pointed out that changing or eliminating deed restrictions does not endorse specific projects if they are otherwise subject to land use approval.

He said that the ‘level of service’ waiver is tied to steps designed to produce "a 10% modal switch." That means, he explains, reducing the number of vehicles with a lone occupant arriving at or leaving the corporate complex during rush hours is reduced by that proportion.

To achieve that goal, the company will agree to provide and promote use of van transportation from off-site parking lots, some of which will be in nearby Pennsylvania where a large portion of its expanded workforce lives. It also is to encourage employee car pools. Other steps include having employees work at home – so-called ‘telecommuting’ – on staggered schedules and for shorter workweeks.

Weiner said that Astra Zeneca has told county officials that it will build in three phases. The initial one will provide for an expansion of the workforce to 5,000 from the present 2,400 by 2002. The second phase, to be finished by 2007, would bring it to 6,200 and another 1,000 would be added through the final ‘build-out’ by 2010.

DelDOT’s road building in the Blue Ball area, along the lines of the conceptual plan approved by Governor Thomas Carper and New Castle County Executive Thomas Gordon, is to be finished sometime in the 2005-07 period. Weiner said DelDOT will be prodded to complete the job on the near side of that.

It will begin with construction of a three-lane service road west of Concord Pike to accommodate southbound Concord Pike traffic during construction. That road then would be converted into a two-lane relocated northbound Augustine Cut-off. There also would be a connector built from Foulk and Weldin Roads to Concord Pike just south of Independence Mall.

In addition to building roads in the area, DelDOT is to implement a so-called ‘intelligent’ traffic signal system to provide for a maximum of unimpeded traffic flow and establish more frequent, convenient and "more user friendly" bus service, including new routes if necessary.

Weiner said he intends to seek County Council action to require free bus transportation during this year’s Interstate 95 closures. Delaware Transit Corp., a DelDOT unit, plans limited-stop service on two new routes traveling Concord Pike and Interstate 495. "Once you get people on the buses, they are liable to want to stay there," the councilman said.

He also said that the controversial proposed expansion of the Tyler McConnell Bridge, which carries Route 141 over the Brandywine, "should be tied to the Du Pont [Experimental Station] expansion and not Astra Zeneca."

He said that DelDOT is reopening public discussion of the basic question of whether a new or expanded bridge should be build in order to delay the final decision until after Governor Carper completes his term of office next January or at least until after the November elections at which the governor is seeking a U.S. Senate seat.

"He’s passing the buck to the next governor because, whatever way the decision goes, half the people will be happy and half of them unhappy," Weiner said.