New Castle County Councilman Bob Weiner was recently interviewed about development along Concord Pike Route 202 corridor. Councilman Weiner enthusiastically provided details about the history of the development and Beaver Valley and Brandywine Hundred. (Click here to watch:  https://youtu.be/9IsiLomT5Dc)

In his interview, Bob describes how developers had obtained approvals to build houses all along the east side of the Brandywine River.  The housing lots were already staked when the battle commenced. Bob successfully organized opposition which halted the building of homes along the Brandywine River’s Creek Road. Bob utilized his expertise as a land use attorney and as CCOBH zoning chair to halt this irresponsible development.  Eventually, the land was transferred to Woodlawn Trustees; and then to the State of Delaware’s Brandywine Creek State Park and our First State National Park.  “As the current stewards, it is our duty to preserve our precious open space for the benefit of future generations” states the Councilman.

Councilman Weiner continued to protect our open space by sponsoring legislation that required that development of the 320 acres of open space of the current Alapocas State Park (formerly Blue Ball Properties) to be subject to strict traffic restrictions under a level of service statute.  Bob worked feverishly with our community and Department of Transportation leaders to develop pedestrian and bicycle friendly roadways and underpasses in the Blue Ball Barn area.  This planned pedestrian development brought about the creation of the “Can-Do Playground” and rehabilitation of the historic Blue Ball Barn.

Councilman Bob explains how a healthy sustainable community must champion both economic development and social equity. Our Councilman’s mantra is: “We want to have the option to walk and bike …and drive if we choose… to where we live, shop, work, pray, play, and educate our children.” Continuing to just build roads for cars is not sustainable.

The US Route 202 corridor stretches from New Castle, DE to Bangor, ME. The proposed Concord Pike Study area is a six mile stretch of this corridor – from the City of Wilmington line to the Delaware/Pennsylvania State Line. The study area includes the area at the southwest edge of US 202 that borders the City of Wilmington and the Brandywine Creek. This is a highly valuable and heavily commercialized stretch of roadway that mixes retail, restaurants, residential areas, office complexes, recreational and institutional uses. 

The objective of the Concord Pike Corridor Master Plan is to follow up on the results of the US 202 Market Assessment performed in 2017 by nationally acclaimed firm of ZHA. The market assessment proposed the development of a corridor master plan to recommend physical improvements and governmental policies regarding transportation and land use. The goal: to foster future redevelopment of Concord Pike Corridor with high-quality and attractive multi-modal uses with optional provisions for future mixed-use land development fostering walkability, bikeability and place-making.

The Wilmington Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO) will be responsible for administering the Master Plan development project in coordination with our County Land Use Department and our community. The Project Management Committee (PMC) will collaborate on developing a community endorsed US 202 Corridor Master Plan; with professional guidance from WILMAPCO, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), and the New Castle County Department of Land Use.

Consultants for the project were selected by our Department of Land Use for their professional experience and abilities, which includes the successful Route 9 Corridor Master Plan, as well as the high quality of their presentation.  The lead or Prime Consultant chosen is  “Design Collective” – a multi-disciplinary firm with specific expertise on high-quality, well-integrated residential & mixed-use corridor projects of similar context to Concord Pike.  You can review additional information on their web site by clicking this link:  http://www.designcollective.com/  

 

The “Sub-consultant” selected is “Toole Design Group”.  This company is among the nation’s preeminent transportation planning and engineering design firms, with a primary focus on creating multi-modal, highly walkable and bikeable projects. You can review additional information on their web site by clicking this link:  http://www.tooledesign.com/ 

 

Professional meeting and charrette facilitation services will be facilitated by  Andrew Bing of Kramer Associates.

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Digital Online Demand: Direct Result of Councilman Bob Weiner’s Initiative

Digital online demand for information is a direct result of Councilman Bob Weiner's passionate fight to drag New Castle County into the 21st century. Less than a decade ago, Councilman Weiner was illegally threatened with arrest by county officials because he dared to share public documents with the public in relation to the Stoltz/Barley Mill Plaza rezoning debacle.

As a consequence, and after winning that court challenge, Councilman Bob Weiner launched a county technology committee.  Through his technology committee leadership, Councilman Weiner spearheaded the transfer of archived and current paper documents into a digital database; now available for all the public to see.  This is a victory for transparency.

View our US 202 Analysis to learn more about the many opportunities and challenges associated with this project: https://www.nccde.org/DocumentCenter/View/25495/US-Route-202-Market-Study 

For more on the Route 202 Corridor, click this link: http://www.nccde.org/1728/Route-202-Corridor

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