Mayor & Council

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING by teleconference by calling 929-436-2866 and entering Meeting ID number: 854 7452 7961 Passcode: 396721 or by visiting Join Zoom Meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85474527961?pwd=evLbRniSzg6FBI9EKgHQWyc8uFU81M.1 Council Meeting Council Chamber, Smyrna Town Hall 27 S. Market Street Plaza, Smyrna, Delaware June 16, 2025 – 6:45 PM Agenda 1. 6:45 PM – Public hearing to consider applications from IPA Tappahanna, LLC., for a property located at 1705 Joe Goldsborough Rd, which is currently zoned PVC – Planned Village Community a. A Preliminary Major Subdivision to subdivide an existing 57.28 acre vacant parcel into 122 parcels, (112 townhouse lots, 3 apartment parcels, 7 open space parcels), with accompanying new streets and alleys b. A Preliminary Category A Site Plan application to construct 14, (18-unit and 24- unit), multi-family apartment buildings totaling 300 multi-family apartment dwelling units on the three proposed parcels within the 122-lot subdivision c. A Conditional Use application to construct 300 apartment dwelling units in the PVC – Planned Village Community District The Public Hearing was called to order at 6:43 P.M. Jeremy Rothwell, Town Planner, went over the history. The property was annexed in 2003. The applicant had Council approval in 2008 to construct 288 apartments and 109 townhomes. The Code was updated in 2014 which prohibited the original plans. As part of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan, the Town adopted this parcel. In 2023 a plan concept was brought to Council. In 2024 the parcel was rezoned to Planned Village Community District. The applicants provided a plan of 324 apartments and 110 townhomes. There was discussion and revisions and in April and May of 2025 the preliminary plan review was looked over again by the Planning Commission during their meetings; which now had 300 apartments and 112 townhomes. There was further discussion and conditions for approval. Jeremy discussed some of those conditional uses and also let Council know that more information is in his report that they have. John Tracy, from Young, Conway, Stargate, and Taylor, was present on behalf of the applicant. He summarized several points that Jeremy spoke on and talked about the plan that was on display for Council. He said that a lot of the recommendations and issues were addressed or will be revised to meet the code. They are extending paved interconnections within their project, but outside of that would have to be other involved parties; DelDOT, the Town, etc. He continued by saying that he and Dev Sitaram from Atwell are there to answer Council questions. Jeremy suggested opening this up to the public. Mayor Gott said it will after Council has had their questions answered. Mayor Gott asked about the mulch trail and who would be maintaining it. John Tracy said that a maintenance corporation or an HOA. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur asked about the length of the project. John Tracy said he imagines it would take a few years, but he deferred to Dev Sitaram with Atwell Engineering. Dev introduced himself and said that once they receive the approval for the preliminary plan, they’ll start on the construction drawings; which is a 9-12 month process. Jeremy spoke up and said that there is a 3-part process: concept, preliminary, and final. This went to Council for concept in 2023, to the Planning Commission for final [in April and May 2025], and then Council will vote to approve with the Planning Commission, table, or deny. After that the applicant has to get State agency approvals and meet all the conditions. Mayor Gott asked if the fire department has approved this with the emergency access. Jeremy said they’ll speak later. Dev Sitaram spoke up again stating that 9-12 months will be the approval process and then another year for construction; so there won’t be an occupancy until at least 2027. Councilman Drew asked if this is a private property or a public property because of the walking trail. John Tracy [maybe speaking] said that these are private properties, operated by whomever will own them; as the applicant is subdividing the apartments and townhomes, the townhomes which can be sold to individuals. So the apartments could be 1 to 3 entities, while the townhomes will be 112 entities. The streets will be dedicated to the Town and the common areas will be the HOA. Councilman Olson asked if this will be the only time this will be considered by Council? Jeremy said that this came before Council in 2023 at the concept stage and then to the Planning Commission. Then has come back to the Planning Commission in April and May [2025] and is now before Council for preliminary; so yes, this is the second and final time for Council. Mayor Gott said that there were a lot of questions asked last time and they’ve been address and she appreciates it. John Tracy said it was a collaborative effort and a there was a lot of discussion, a lot of working with the Town and various agencies, and he appreciates that his client is getting some words in terms of working too. Mayor Gott opened this to the public. John Tracy suggested he answer all questions later on. Vicky Blair asked for clarification about the walking trails and if it’s just for the community living there or if it’s open to the public. She asked about the Town owning the roads and that the HOA is handling all other common areas. She also asked if there will be businesses. She asked if the electric will be a Town issue. Dave Mask asked about Joe Goldsborough Rd and who will be the responsible party for that? Brooks Keen, Captain with Citizens Hose, thanked the Town, developers, and the Planning Commission for everything. They have reviewed the proposed subdivision several times throughout the past several years. He discussed the current road conditions that that Joe Goldsborough Rd is only a two lane road and there’s only one entrance/exit into the proposed development. He spoke on the congestion of school traffic to and from the middle and high schools. He talked about the church adjacent to the property, which has a school, that while closed, could be open at any time. There is a proposed forestry lane but it still doesn’t provide a second means of egress. There’s no access for additional engines or local traffic. They urge the developer to work with adjacent land on DuPont Pkwy to make a second egress/exit. Mayor Gott asked if the fire trucks can get into the parking lots. Brooks Keen said yes. The issue is the forestry lane, which is no longer approved by the NPA, and is only 20 foot wide.  Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur asked about the flow of traffic on Joe Goldsborough Dr and that’s Citizens Hose’s concern. Mayor Gott followed up to ask if a traffic study has been done. Jeremy reminded them that the applicant is answering questions during new business. Karen Sweeny said that about 10 years ago, DelDOT put a four foot culvert under Joe Goldsborough Rd so it could drain the water from Rt 13. She wanted to know what’s going to happen with all the extra rain water? Jason McNatt, Assistant Town Manager, said that would fall on DelDOT. Jeremy confirmed and said that they have to review any improvements. Mayor Gott asked if DelDOT will come back and meet with the Board or with Council for the final. Jeremy said no, that’s done separately. The Town can ask questions but the Town doesn’t have an input in the process of the traffic study. Mayor Gott asked Jason if this is similar to developments on Brenford Rd. Jason said that DelDOT did the traffic studies, the approvals, and the denials. Councilman Johnson asked if Joe Goldsborough Rd will become a Town owned road. Jeremy said no. Councilman Johnson asked if it’ll be like Carter’s Rd. Jeremy said yes, it’ll be a DelDOT maintained roadway. He went on to say that the individual streets will be constructed to the Town’s specs as approved in the construction plan. They’ll be built and then come back for approval and dedication and then those streets and utilities will be the Town’s. Mayor Gott asked if Town staff is still in favor of this. Jeremy said yes, with the 11 conditions outlined in his staff report. Karen Sweeny spoke again about DelDOT putting in the culvert, a berm, and a swale [spellings?]. She thought that those have recently been destroyed, [by either the Town or the developer]. She thought those were codified and easements went through. Jeremy said he’ll let the developer answer that later. Mayor Gott closed the Public Hearing at 7:16 PM 2. 7:00 PM – Call to order Meeting was called to order at 7:17 PM 3. Pledge of Allegiance 4. Roll Call All members of Council were present: Mayor Gott, Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur, and Councilmen Drew, Johnson, Miles, Olson, and Pope. 5. Additions/deletions to the published agenda Council Secretary, Councilman Pope, asked for any additions or deletions. There were none. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to accept the agenda as published. Councilman Drew seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. 6. Consent agenda a. Council meeting minutes of 6/02/2025 b. Executive Session minutes of 6/02/2025 Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to approved the consent agenda. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. 7. Non-agenda items a. Mayor and Council Members Mayor Gott talked about the dynamic of the current council and she’s speechless because they have consistently showed up for events when they can. She thanked staff for Smyrna at Night. The Duck Creek Regional Library opened on Monday, [June 9]. On June 15 there was the unveiling of the mural at the American Legion. She ended that huge strides have been happening in the last six weeks, and it’s been amazing. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur piggy backed off what Mayor Gott said. She said that Mayor Gott is a phenomenal leader. She thanked staff and appreciated the orientation that Torrie provided where Council got to meet all the managerial and administrative staff. She spoke about Smyrna at Night. She talked about being honored as a beacon in society. She mentioned that Juneteenth will be on Thursday, 11a – 4p. Councilman Pope thanked staff for their hard work at Smyrna at Night and every day. He wished everyone a happy July 4th. Councilman Johnson said that everything has already been said and had nothing more to add. Councilman Olson said that he had nothing to discuss. Councilman Drew reiterated everything that Mayor Gott and Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur spoke on. He talked about his time at Smyrna at Night. Councilman Miles talked about the importance of Council presence at events and that it’s been really good. Mayor Gott wanted to talk about the 4th of July Committee and how they put out flags each year. She went over their processes and mentioned that if anyone was interested in participating to reach out to the committee members. She talked about how educational the Council orientation event was and how they were given a clearer understanding of managerial and administrative staff duties. She delved more into staff and police officers’ hard work at Smyrna at Night. b. Police Chief Cpt. Donner spoke about the FBI LEEDA Five Star Chiefs Institute and that they have completed it and graduated at the end of last week. They had 36 students representing 18 States. This was a  beta test, and they’ve offered a lot of feedback for future classes when the program launches internationally. Next week, the class will finish up and he’ll graduate from the institute completely. Applicant testing for police will be on Saturday and he’s hopeful to have a ton of candidates to sift through. He spoke briefly on Smyrna at Night and that there was only one issue and it was a medical assist. Last week he sent some staff down to the quarterly Statewide Asset Forfeiture Fund, where they can request funds for certain equipment and things. There was $822,000 worth of requests in a pot of $78,000. Smyrna Police requested a little over $11,000 for surveillance equipment and he felt that it wouldn’t get approved. However, Smyrna PD was unanimously approved for the money. He expressed his gratitude for those who sit on that committee as it will be a much needed upgrade. c. Town Manager Torrie James said that Smyrna at Night was all staff run, and they made it happen. He mentioned Alyssa, Jason, Jake, and Captain Donner and the phenomenal jobs they do. He moved on to the Financial statements and what was provided by the auditor. The good thing about the audit report is that they’ve not been any different than previous ones; internal issues need to be fixed. Mayor Gott spoke about protests happening in Delaware and wanted to commend Cpt Donner and Torrie because they were already prepared when she asked them about it. 8. Old business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: 9. New business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Selecting Captain Donner as interim Police Chief Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to select Brian Donner as interim Police Chief. Councilman Drew seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. b. Applications from IPA Tappahanna LLC., for a property located at 1705 Joe Goldsborough Rd; zoned PVC – Planned Village Community Jeremy said that the developer will answer the questions raised earlier and he’ll follow up with a few things. John Tracy responded to the questions. • The private open space in a community is technically open space for the community, but he doesn’t think the community will be policing their areas. • The walking path along the sidewalks, he presumes, would be Town owned as part of the streets, and would be open to the public. • The walked trails that intersect with the alleys and roadways would be private open space, but he doubts they’ll be policed by the community. • Maintenance responsibilities would be with the community. • The streets would be turned over to the Town and therefore maintained by the Town. • The open space would be maintained by the HOA or a similar organization. • There’s no commercial use proposed within this project; all residential. • Electric would be provided by the Town. • Joe Goldsborough Rd will remain a State road. DelDOT will talk with them about road improvements and dictating what will be needed for the project. • The damaged drainage pipe will be handled by DelDOT, as it is theirs. • There is no impact to Rt 13. • He discussed the fire access and the issues brought up. • There was an interconnection on a property owned by KRM, but they declined to provide any access through their property. Councilman Pope asked if there are any plans for electrical charging stations. John said no, but it would be easy to incorporate that in a garage if someone wants that. Councilman Miles mentioned that he didn’t have the letter from the Fire Company. Mayor Gott and Vice Mayor Upshur both spoke about Amanda getting a copy for each of them from Brooks Keen. Jeremy went over the processes he spoke about during the Public Hearing, what would be expected in the coming months, and the 11 conditions for approval. He said that this is an important project. Councilman Pope asked if they were working on a second access point as noted by Brooks Keen on behalf of Citizens Hose. Jeremy said that he cannot guarantee it. He cannot force private property owners to develop their property. He talked about KRM’s property adjacent to this one, on Rt 13, and how they have denied the request to make their property a second access point. They have inquired with another property owner, and they seem interested, but that’s all they can do. Barrett as they go through the approval process, they need to break this into three different motions. • Preliminary Major Subdivision – votes only needed, no discussion required. • Category A Site Plan – votes only needed, no discussion required. • Conditional Use – they need to state their reasons. i. A Preliminary Major Subdivision to subdivide an existing 57.28 acre vacant parcel into 122 parcels, (112 townhouse lots, 3 apartment parcels, 7 open space parcels), with accompanying new streets and alleys Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur made a motion to approve. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor except Councilman Olson, who voted no. The motion passed 6-1. ii. A Preliminary Category A Site Plan application to construct 14, (18-unit and 24-unit), multi-family apartment buildings totaling 300 multi-family apartment dwelling units on the three proposed parcels within the 122- lot subdivision  Councilman Drew motioned to approve. Councilman Johnson seconded. All were in favor except Councilman Olson, who voted not. The motion passed 6-1. iii. A Conditional Use application to construct 300 apartment dwelling units in the PVC – Planned Village Community District Councilman Johnson motioned to approved. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur seconded the motion. Councilman Miles – in favor based on staff recommendation. Councilman Drew – in favor based on this being a good fit. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur – in favor because the use of this property will not negatively impact the neighboring properties and this will fit with the community. Councilman Olson – opposed to scale back expenses to the Town and to scale back taxes. Councilman Johnson – in favor, similar to what Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur said. Councilman Pope – in favor because of staff recommendations. Mayor Gott – in favor because it is in accordance with the comprehensive plan, it comes at the recommendation of staff, and they’ve seen the improvements to the plan in the last three years. Motion passed 6-1. 10. Presentation and public comments (3 minutes) Biff Newman – congratulated Captain Donner for his new interim position. He spoke as Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission and about the project that was just discussed. He thanked them for their attention to it. He also said that they would like a follow up on the second entrance, specifically through to Rt 13. There are utilities that have not been annexed yet and he thinks it’ll be good for the Town to get those annexed. He mentioned that traffic studies are done by DelDOT, but Joe Goldsborough Rd is not ready to handle what’s going to be coming. If they have influence, use it. Shannon Wheeler – talked about Lincoln St and what she was told by Sgt. Leighty. Private residents are now allowed to block off the street in front of their home for anyone they choose to park there, and they are awarded protection from the police for that. She asked if the residents on Lincoln could also get that protection. Cpt. Donner said that this is not correct. He will look into this and follow up with her. She followed up with another question regarding the sidewalks and them not being updated for 50 years. There are dips and yellow paint in front of properties that no longer have homes. There was some discussion about not being able to get additional parking and such. Shannon tried to explain differently. Barrett Edwards tried to explain differently. There are curb cuts where there are no longer houses and her question is whether or not residents can park at the curb cuts. She said that was correct; there’s 4-5 of the dips. Torrie said that it is something that they’ll have to look into because DE law prevents anyone from  parking in front of any easement or driveway. Shannon was just curious because the owners of the properties with no houses allow some people to park in front of the curb and stop others from doing the same. She said that their street has come a long way so she’s doing what she can. Cpt Donner said that was Torrie mentioned is true and he wasn’t sure how to answer her. Torrie will have someone follow up with her. Irene Strozeski – thanked Council for bringing a new atmosphere. Thanked staff for Smyrna at Night. She talked about Jeremy’s thorough presentation and said that Council needs to be careful that they don’t dig themselves into a situation. She has a concern with the 1,000 extra people, which will make this 13,000 people, and there’s going to be a lot going on with the streets. She’s concerned about DelDOT. It’s a big decision and she wouldn’t have been able to voted on the topic if she was a Council member. Dave Mast – questioned about the construction on Joe Goldsborough Rd, the traffic study, lights, etc. and if he, as a taxpayer, will have to pay for that or the developer. Jeremy told him the developer is responsible for that. Dave continued and talked about the audit. He is glad the Town had one done. He then told Torrie that he’s a great firefighter, great policeman, and hopes he’ll be a great Town Manager, because the Town needs one. He talked about the audits and asked if those could be sped up. He talked about the ARPA funds. The auditors gave specific recommendations, but the Town only provided a small response. He would like to see a more detailed response. This was his first time attending a meeting and was impressed. Torrie spoke up about the ARPA funding. It was documented. There have been 3 Town Managers and 4 Finance Directors since the funding was provided. When the auditors asked for the documentation, the new Director didn’t know where to look. But if you look back at previous audits, they all say the same thing. The biggest issue is no internal controls and he’s working on policies and procedures for that. He is happy to sit down with anyone and talk about things. Dave asked why is there so much turnover? The last Town Manager only lasted a year and a half. The Finance Director left. Why? Mayor Gott said that she doesn’t have an answer. Barrett spoke up and advised on the three minutes allotment. 11. Executive Session to discuss the potential acquisition of real property. 29 Del. C. Sec. 10004(b)(2) There was overlapping conversations from the audience and Council. Two Council members motioned to go into Executive Session; sounded like Councilman Drew and Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur. Two Council members seconded the motion; sounded like Councilman Johnson and Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur. All were in favor. Motion passed. Executive Session began at 8:29 PM. 12. Possible action on matters discussed in Executive Session regarding the potential acquisition of real property Councilman Johnson motioned to come out of Executive Session. Councilman Olson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. Executive Session ended at 9:41 PM.  13. Adjournment Councilman Johnson motioned to adjourn. There was a lot of noise and the seconded motion could not be heard clearly, but it sounded like Councilman Pope. All were in favor. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 9:41 PM. Posted 6/9/2025 at 4:30 PM (#1) NOTE: This agenda, as listed, may not be considered in sequence. This agenda is subject to change to include additional items, including Executive Sessions, and/or deletion of items, including Executive Sessions that arise at time of meeting.