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Public
unveiling of the proposals on Aug. 15 came about a year after
DelDOT agreed to tie a planned project to improve safety along
the highway into the intended Claymont Renaissance, a grassroots
effort to upgrade the area, beginning with substantial
redevelopment along a five-block portion of the heavily traveled
road.
"They
were [initially] talking just about ways to make it safer for
traffic to speed through," said County Councilman Robert Weiner
who noted that the concepts developed after that idea was
soundly rejected mesh well with what the Renaissance's
'visionary process' has defined as the future direction for the
unincorporated community.
While
attenders at the meeting were generally supportive, questions
during the presentation indicated there will be considerable
changes to the suggested scenarios, much mixing and matching of
its elements and additional alternatives proposed. DelDOT
planner Bruce Allen agreed that will be an acceptable route to
developing a final plan and announced formation of an advisory
panel to iron out the details.
"Right
now, everything is on the table," he said.
Reception
that DelDOT received was in sharp contrast to a strong adverse
reaction which greeted an effort by officials of McDonald's
Corp. to muster support for a proposal to literally bring
'the golden arches' to the intersection of Philadelphia Pike and
Harvey Road. While agreeing that the now company-managed
fast-food eatery there needs considerable improvement, neither
the Renaissance group nor those at a well-attended meeting of
the Claymont Community Coalition which followed were buying into
the notion that supposed 1950s nostalgia qualifies as historic
restoration.
"We don't
want that ugly building {and] hopefully people will not
[patronize] McDonald's if it happens," declared Coalition
president George Lossé.
"We want
to get away from the image of being all fast food and gas
stations," said Martha Schiek, president of the Claymont
Historical Society. She suggested a relatively stately brick
building and showed the group photographs of a McDonald's of
that design in Crisfield, Md.
Michael
Carr, McDonald's project manager, agreed to report the
objections to corporate higher-ups. However, he described the
idea of new outlets resembling the walk-up hamburger stands
-- accented by tall bright yellow arches on both sides of the
red-and-white structure -- which launched the company and
its dining style a half-century ago has proven to be a popular
marketing ploy in what is now a highly competitive business. So
far, there are about a dozen around the country, he said.
All three
Philadelphia Pike designs presented by Christine Wells, a
planner with Whitman, Requardt & Associates, a Baltimore-based
DelDOT consultant, featured four 11-feet-wide traffic lanes
instead of the present 12-foot ones, a bicycle lane and
shoulders on both sides and curbed sidewalks running from
Perkins Run, a stream which separates Claymont from Holly Oak,
to the interchange with Interstate 495 just south of Knollwood.
There would be pedestrian crosswalks at major intersections,
fairly free access to bordering properties and 12 sheltered
transit bus stops.
Two of
the designs include median strips for all but the block between
Manor Avenue and Wilshire Road, which is lined with business
establishments. A limited amount of curbside parking is provided
in those plans. The difference is that a 16-feet-wide slightly
elevated and landscaped median could be fitted into the
present 80-foot right-of-way while the broader one, 22 feet
wide, would require the state to take some property although
probably not any buildings.
The other
option calls for providing an additional highway lane for making
left turns, 14 feet wide and usable by both north- and
southbound traffic, along the entire length. Wells noted that
would make the pike appear wider than it presently does and
probably encourage faster speeds as drivers would also use the
center lane for passing.
Thomas
Comitta, the Renaissance's urban planner, suggested that a
fourth option, exchanging some of the wider median for wider
sidewalks, be considered. Noting that the affected stretch of
road -- 1.75 miles -- is considerably longer than was involved
in renewal projects on which he worked in places like New Hope,
Pa., and Annapolis, Md., he said that a logical way to proceed
would be to apply different or modified designs in sections.
Weiner
suggested that the design or designs eventually agreed upon for
Claymont should also be considered for Philadelphia Pike south
of Perkins Run, the generally accepted southern 'boundary' of
Claymont, to as far as Penny Hill and the Wilmington city line.
Allen
told Delaforum that he was unable to give even general cost
estimates for the options and declined at the meeting to venture
a guess about how long the project will take. Weiner indicated
the Renaissance would likethe
highway project completed in two years and the first phase of development,
involving the Brookview Apartments area, in five years.
Allen
said that the initial concepts will be presented to the newly
formed advisory committee -- DelDOT calls such panels
established for its major projects 'working groups' -- in
September and at a public hearing in October. Weiner urged him
to structure the hearing in the traditional way, with a
presentation and open discussion instead of the one-on-one
offering of comments to agency representatives which DelDOT has
used with several major recent projects. Wells noted that
advisory committee meetings are open to the public.
In a
separate context, Weiner told the meeting that "quiet dialogue
[seeking] to work out a deal economically" is going on between
developer Stuever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse and the owners of
Brookview. Steuver Brothers is involved with redevelopment of
the Ships Tavern area of downtown Wilmington. There also is a
potential purchaser of property interested in the proposed
development area, Weiner said. He declined to identify either
the purchaser or the property.
Thomas
Mallon, director of development for Archmere Academy, told the
group that that private school is in the process of drafting a
master plan for its campus, which it expects to have completed
by December. He said the school is interested in "coordinating
with the Renaissance" as is willing to commit to such things as
relocating its fence and maintaining the highway medians.
Archmere is directly across Philadelphia Pike from Brookview.
The
McDonald Corp. plan revives a rebuilding proposal rejected in
2000 by the New Castle County Board of Adjustment, resubmitting
it under the county's recently enacted economic redevelopment
ordinance. The law now permits Planning Board approval of
proposals to improve older properties short of meeting current
Unified Development Code standards. The Board of Adjustment
rejected the numerous variances the original proposal would have
required. The new system measures the value of upgrades based on
cumulative percentage improvements toward meeting standards.
The
minimum improvement required is 400 percentage points; Carr told
the Coalition that McDonald's proposal claims 1,500 percentage
points.
The
existing restaurant building would be torn down and replaced by
one closer to the highway, with the vehicular traffic flow
largely to the side and rear of the property. There would be
relatively extensive landscaping and the placing of wider buffer
areas separating it from the Lackey mansion, an historic
structure, which sits to the rear .
Besides
the esthetics of a 1950s, there was considerable discussion at
the Coalition meeting about the alleged strewing of trash around
the property and the noise of the speaker system for taking
orders from drive-up customers. Carr said new management of the
outlet is addressing both issues.
After
several of the 40 people attending the meeting voiced objection,
one -- who refused to identify himself beyond saying that he
lives nearby -- said the proposed appearance of the
establishment "would be a lot better than what's there now [and]
could grow on us."
Weiner
cautioned the Coalition not to overlook the fact that the
redevelopment ordinance was adopted -- with the Coalition
actively supporting it -- in an effort to encourage improvement
of existing properties. The community "has given [property
owners] the right to make improvements, even if they don't meet
the code; you don't have the right to demand they build an
historic structure," he said. "They're exercising a right that
we, the community, gave them."
"We
haven't given them the right to force on us a building we don't
want," Lossé countered
Weiner
replied that he, too, favors a different style building and
asked Carr if that were possible. "That's an issue that's beyond
me," Carr said, explaining that unidentified superiors in the
company will have to make it.
The plan
is scheduled to go before a Planning Board public hearing on
Sept. 3. Asked if the company's timetable for the project would
allow time for a basic change beyond that, Carr, who is based in
McDonald's regional office in Philadelphia, replied that his
assignment was to have the present restaurant replaced by
September. He is now looking for an opening by December, he
said.
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