One chapter in Stoltz Real Estate Partners’ Greenville odyssey moved forward Tuesday night, while another became more snarled than ever.

New Castle County Council unanimously approved Stoltz’s Greenville Center project that once included plans for a 180-foot tower.

In a 2010 compromise brokered by then County Executive Chris Coons, the plan for the 12-story residential tower in the space of the existing Wells Fargo building was scrapped. Instead, that structure will be replaced with a two-story building for commercial and office space. There also will be a new, 4,000-square-foot building at the corner of Buck Road and Kennett Pike.

No one was in the crowd to oppose the plan last night. Stoltz can now proceed with construction.

“This is an anti-climactic, but welcome, end to this part of the story,” Councilman Bob Weiner said.

The same can not be said of Barley Mill Plaza, the other part of the 2010 compromise. Stoltz first wanted to build a 2.8-million-square-foot mixed-use project at the former DuPont office complex, but reduced it to 1.6 million square feet.

The Save Our County citizens group sued the county to reverse the council’s 2011 rezoning of part of the site to allow for commercial development on the site. The group won in Chancery Court and the vote was overturned.

Stoltz appealed that decision to the Delaware Supreme Court earlier this month.

 

Council opted to not join Stoltz in the appeal. While Glasscock overturned the rezoning vote because one council member didn’t get the traffic data he asked for, the judge also ruled that such data isn’t required before rezoning votes, council’s attorney Robert Katzenstein said earlier this month.

County Executive Tom Gordon, who opposes Stoltz’s plan, disagrees, saying his attorneys have advised him that Glasscock’s ruling shows that the traffic data must be given to the council before they cast a rezoning vote.

The county’s executive branch and Save Our County has filed a cross-appeal in the Supreme Court case to clarify the issue.

Tuesday, the council voted 10-2 to file a cross-appeal to the executive branch’s cross-appeal.

“That’s appalling,” Gordon said. “So this council doesn’t want traffic studies for large development projects in this county, where the roads are already heavily congested. That’s not the direction I’m trying to move this government in.”