I am New Castle County Councilman Bob Weiner, an elected official whose district includes Brandywine Hundred and portions of Claymont and Greenville. In 2000, I spearheaded and launched the Claymont Renaissance. I wrote the legislation which brought Astra Zeneca to DE without bringing additional traffic congestion. I wrote the economic incentive legislation called the New Castle County Hometown Overlay Ordinance which provided the economic incentives to bring private investment to redevelop Claymont. I spearheaded the State’s adoption of TIF/SDD [Tax Incremental Financing/Special Development District] legislation to provide gap financing to development projects with community support in appropriate instances. See www.claymontrenaissance.org. Claymont Renaissance Village is New Castle County’s first and only large scale affordable housing village with mandatory 20% inclusionary zoning. No new villages or towns have been built in DE for over 100 years. It is a transit oriented mixed use compact walkable village where residents can walk to where they live, shop, work, play, pray and school their children. It applies the five “principles of smart growth”: land use, transportation, social equity [1226 new affordable housing units, with a Main Street of shops and offices], economic development and environmental protection. It focuses on the “form” of the buildings, rather than the “use” of the buildings. When the focus is on form, then the community no longer objects when residential becomes commercial or office. See the new urbanist village of Kentlands in MD to understand the difference between “use based” zoning and “form based” zoning.  

I am employed by New Castle County, DE as District 2 County Councilman. I practice land use law with the national law firm of Fox Rothschild.

I write legislation & teach smart growth and new urbanism, land use, transportation and affordable housing law to elected officials, community groups and developers across the country. I teach elected officials, community groups and developers to “play well together”. I represent the National Association of Counties as Land Use Chairman and Smart Growth Chairman. See www.naco.org. I was reappointed by 8 past NACo Presidents to these two national leadership positions, serving consecutively from 2000-2008.

I have attached my Level of Service Monitoring and Mitigation Compact, being successfully implemented by Astra Zeneca.  Because of my innovative law, AZ was able to bring 7000 new highly paid employees to New Castle County without causing additional traffic congestion to the Concord Pike Corridor. AZ’s employees are able to work 4 days per week in the summer and finish by 3 PM on Thursday so that they can beat the traffic to Rehoboth, Bethany and Lewes on the way to their beach homes. AZ also has found that they can more effectively compete with their competition in attracting top talent to work for AZ. The ordinance uses ride sharing, telecommuting, staggered work hours and shortened work weeks to shift employees out of their single occupancy vehicles during peak rush hour.

I have attached my Hometown Overlay Ordinance which was instrumental in redeveloping Claymont [which is blessed with existing infrastructure and walkable access to a SEPTA R-2 train station and bus service] into a walkable village rather than being just a desolate section of Route 13 used to drive through quickly to get to some other place. Visit www.claymontrenaissanceorg for info about Claymont Renaissance Village, the new urban village in unincorporated New Castle County a 10 minute walk from the SEPTA R-2 train station. Phase 2 will be much larger: a new village which incorporates and envelopes both the train station and the almost mile of Delaware River frontage to build a billion dollar mixed use walkable transit oriented village with access to both the river boat hydrofoil commuting line. The Phase 1 [Renaissance Village, now under construction] and Phase 2, are both along Interstate 95, 20 minutes drive from Philadelphia Airport and 30 minute drive from center City Philadelphia. An additional contact for this story would be Dave Gula of WILMAPCO (302) 737-6205 and Brett Saddler, Executive Director, Claymont Renaissance Development Corporation (302) 798-1364.

I co-chair the New Castle County Economic Development Subcommittee. In this capacity, I am working with the NACo award winning Chesapeake Science & Security Corridor [CSSC], where New Castle County and other counties are collaborating together to foster an extension of the MARC Commuter Line from Perryville to Elkton, MD and then to Newark, DE to connect with an extension of the Philadelphia based SEPTA Commuter Line from Wilmington/Newark, DE. Chesapeake Science & Security Corridor (CSSC), home to Aberdeen Proving Ground, includes Harford, Baltimore and Cecil Counties and Baltimore City, Maryland, as well as strategic partners Chester, York and Lancaster Counties in Pennsylvania, New Castle County, Delaware, two metropolitan planning councils (Baltimore and Wilmington), the Greater Baltimore Committee and the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore. CSSC brings together eight jurisdictions in three states to ensure a successful BRAC implementation and high quality of life for those who live and work in our growing defense community. An additional contact for this story would be Karl Kalbacher, New Castle County Department of Economic Development (302) 893-9980.

Please visit www.bobweiner.com to understand my alternative proposal [in lieu of a new regional shopping center] for Route 202 in New Castle County, DE. I refer you to the Essays section of my website for additional information about the integration of land use and transportation strategies. Other websites: www.ccobh.org.

Best wishes. Bob Weiner

Honorable Robert S. Weiner Esq.
Chairman, National Association of Counties Sustainability Leadership Team 2002-2008
Chairman, National Association of County Land Use & Growth Management Subcommittee 2000-2008
NACo Representative & Board Chairman, Institute for Building Technology & Safety
County Councilman, New Castle County Council, DE
City/County Building, 800 N. French St,
Wilmington, DE 19801
302-477-9876 home office 302-547-9876 mobile
www.bobweiner.com www.nccde.org www.ibts.org www.naco.org

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