Bond Bill Updates | 6.21.25
Saturday, February 15th
We emailed DNREC Secretary Patterson, Rep. Griffith, and Sen Sturgeon to ask that they push to remove Section 80 from this year’s Bond Bill, which will be finalized by June 30, 2025. Section 80 exempts parcels in the Auburn Valley Master Plan from New Castle County land use regulations. As we wrote about Section 80 on February 15, “We believe it is long past its expiration date and is not serving Yorklyn or New Castle County well… at all.”
Tuesday, March 11th
We followed up on our February 15th request.
Thursday, April 10th
On April 10th, several Yorklyn community members spoke to former DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara, who was responsible for DNREC in 2011 at the time of the Auburn Valley Master Plan’s publication.
O’Mara, unaware of how far this plan had strayed from his original vision of preserving open space and conserving historically important buildings, expressed his regret for not putting any safeguards in place to ensure that the loopholes created by the AVMP would not be abused.
Tuesday, April 29th
DNREC held an open town hall at CCArts about the Auburn Valley Master Plan. The new DNREC Secretary Greg Patterson, appointed by Governor Meyer, voiced his commitment to re-engaging with our community.
Thursday, May 22nd
A group of Yorklyn community members went to Dover to meet with Representative Krista Griffith, Senator Laura Sturgeon, DNREC Secretary Greg Patterson, Bond Bill Committee member Mike Smith, and other legislators. Our goal at this time was to ask for support in the removal or modification of Section 80 of this year’s annual Bond Bill, found here.
During our meeting, Secretary Patterson expressed that it would make sense for DNREC to shift AVMP land use decisions back to New Castle County. But he said that doing so by July 1 of this year (2025) would be premature. He also expressed concern regarding how the removal of this ‘epilogue language’ would impact the contracts already existing between DNREC and developers.
We proposed, as a compromise, the following:
Effective July 1, 2025, no new parcels, other than those with P zoning, may be added to the Master Plan;
No redevelopment agreement requests, including those which are pending, may be approved;
No construction may proceed on parcels with signed redevelopment agreements until adequate traffic and water studies have been completed for the Master Plan as a whole.
DNREC will transfer the Auburn Valley Project back to New Castle County by July 1, 2026. The Auburn Valley State Park and ongoing environmental monitoring and remediation in the area will remain under DNREC purview.
Tuesday, May 27th
DNREC informed us that they denied the Chatham Bay proposal for the 6-story luxury condo building. They cited these reasons: “the proposal not being mixed use as shown in the Auburn Valley Master Plan; remediation done on the site not envisioning first-floor residential use; the height of the proposed building exceeding Auburn Valley architectural guidelines and not matching the massing of nearby structures; no plan for adaptive reuse of existing buildings; and anticipated significant road improvements due to traffic from that number of residential units.”
Thursday, June 5th
We emailed Rep. Griffith and Sen. Sturgeon to follow up on our May 22nd meeting. We asked them to help us ensure that the Bond Bill language would be amended to better protect our community. They did not reply. We emailed again on June 11th, June 16th, and emailed and called them on June 18th. On June 18th, their aides said that they would not be able to meet with us.
Monday, June 16th
Members of the Yorklyn community attended a zoom meeting with Secretary Patterson, as well as Matt Ritter (Director of Parks & Recreation), and Brooks Cahall (Section Administrator of Planning Preservation & Development).
In this meeting, we expressed concern over the lack of formalization for the commitments Secretary Patterson has made to our community regarding: not adding additional parcels to the Auburn Valley Master Plan; requiring adaptive reuse of existing structures in the Auburn Valley Master Plan; the nature of the Cockeysville Formation, which is directly beneath Yorklyn Road, and its designation as a Water Resource Protection Area (WRPA). Secretary Patterson admitted that he was not aware of the WRPA. Community members are concerned about the repercussions that will follow if development is allowed to continue without adhering to the County’s UDC guidelines surrounding the Cockeysville formation.
Thursday, June 19th
On June 19th, we received a response from Secretary Patterson regarding his amendment to the ‘epilogue language’ seen in the annual Bond Bill:
Epilogue text:
Auburn Valley Project. The implementation of the transportation, stormwater management, demolition, remediation, redevelopment and parks and recreation element of the Auburn Valley Master Plan shall not be subject to the zoning, subdivision, land use or building code ordinances or regulations of New Castle County. The Auburn Valley Master Plan shall be limited to: any parcels owned by the State of Delaware as part of Auburn Valley State Park; and the following privately owned parcels as identified in the New Castle County property records if there is an approved redevelopment agreement with DNREC: 08-004.00-267; 08-004.00-273; 08-004.00-274; 08-004.00-275; 08-001.00-025; 08-001.00-027; 08-001.00-023; 08-004.00-272; 08-004.00-270; 08-004.00-309 through 08-004.00-351; 08-004.00-291 through 08-004.00-307; 08-008.10-068 through 08-008.10-136; and 08-001.00-026. DNREC shall develop a transition plan and timeline for land use decisions of Auburn Valley Master Plan properties to return to New Castle County, and deliver a report to the members of the Joint Committee on Capital Improvement by April 1, 2026.
Friday, June 20th
On June 20th, we responded to DNREC’s proposed amendment — thanking them for their ongoing commitment to unraveling the mess that has been made of the AVMP, and with additional stipulations that we would like to see go into this upcoming Bond Bill. You can read the key points from our response below:
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it is imperative that you and the legislature address the community’s concerns regarding (1) formalizing DNREC's commitment to mirroring the UDC and to upholding the AVMP standards/restrictions and (2) protecting the water resource protection area. Taking these concerns seriously would mean addressing them in the epilogue language.
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Specifically, as safeguards, we urge you to address the following in your proposed epilogue language:
Your statement that DNREC is committed to mirroring New Castle County's UDC.
Your commitment to including public input when evaluating redevelopment proposals via an open public session.
Your commitment to the 2011 AVMP, which you expressed in your Chatham Bay decision but which needs to be codified. Specifically: development in the AVMP must comply with the 2011 AVMP site restrictions, architectural guidelines, and standards regarding adaptive reuse, mixed use, and flood plains.
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"The implementation of the transportation, stormwater management, demolition, remediation, redevelopment and parks and recreation element of the Auburn Valley Master Plan shall not be subject to the zoning, subdivision, land use or building code ordinances or regulations of New Castle County, with the exception of local water resource protection regulations required by Delaware State Code Title 7, Chapter 60, Subchapter VI.” [To be followed by your specification of parcels.]
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Finally, in the spirit of securing and building on the progress we've made this year, we also suggest adding to the epilogue language a commitment to engaging New Castle County in future AVMP decisions. For instance: "The future of the AVMP, including any proposed redevelopment agreements, will be evaluated in cooperation with New Castle County."