Plan for 513 housing units near Middletown approved
New Castle County has approved plans for another 513 housing units near Boyds Corner Road.
The plan for the Winchelsea subdivision ties into the Bayberry development and a planned shopping center north of Boyds Corner Road. It was given the green light by County Council recently.
Forecasts show southern New Castle County as the state's fastest-growing area. Developers are preparing to fill that need with nearly 10,000 approved, but unbuilt housing units in the county's two southern council districts. Those comprise 70 percent of the county's approved future housing stock – the vast majority is south of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.
Winchelsea is to be situated among the boom, with major developments like Bayberry and Whitehall going up nearby.
The plans were submitted by Middletown developer Rick Woodin of Woodin + Associates.
The 132-acre development will be off Jamison Corner Road 2,500 feet north of Boyds Corner Road. The plans call for a mix of 359 homes including single-family detached, village, twin and townhouse units. The plan also calls for 154 apartments situated in 14 three-story apartment buildings.
The primary entrance to the development will be built off Jamison Corner Road. The plans also link the development with Bayberry North which is immediately north of the development. The plans also tie into the planned Bayberry Town Center, a shopping center and sports complex planned immediately south of the development on Boyds Corner Road.
Plans were first introduced for Winchelsea in 2008.
Woodin said the long road to completion was down to the "complex set of standards and requirements" for approving subdivisions, especially plans like Winchelsea that require a rezoning. The council approved the rezoning for the plan in 2010.
Councilman Bill Bell called the plan a "success story" in that county planners incorporated the stipulations of the rezoning into the current plan as a deed restriction.
"We have had some projects that have changed owners mid-stream after being approved," Bell said. "This will hold them to those standards."
Those restrictions dictate the character of the construction mandating so-called "neo-traditional" architectural style with specific requirements for the location of parking and things like siding and roofing materials. Woodin said prices for the homes will be "in-line" with those in Bayberry.
Keith Adams, of home builder Lifestyle Homes in Middletown, is the only builder currently slated to participate. Lifestyle Homes is also responsible for the Parkside Development off Marl Pit Road in Middletown.
County Council is also set to vote on the final record plan for Boyds Corner Farms in the coming month. The project is a mixed commercial and 116-home residential tract at the southwest corner of U.S. 13 and Del. 896. Another 143-home project to the west, Baker Farms, is under state review and could go to construction in 12 to 18 months.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.