New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Filed in Delaware by on December 12, 2012

Yea! More development! I told you Tom Gordon had no interest in stemming the tide of overdevelopment.

Council has also amended and deleted a declaration of restrictions on property at the Christiana Mall to allow for more development, and job creation.

Councilman Joe Reda says a declaration from more than 30 years ago needed to be removed to allow for development of a new 110,000 square foot building for shopping at the Christiana Mall property.

“It’s gonna create a lot of jobs, construction jobs, plus permanent and part-time jobs and it’s also a big asset to our area,” he says.

Yes, exactly what that congested area needs. More!

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  1. puck says:

    I’m not opposed to allowing the mall to expand, but we need to make sure we get givebacks. Delaware is a state of pronounced income inequality where half the schoolchildren are in poverty, so it is unseemly to be building more high-end retailers for the upper middle class without requiring those who profit to give back something. Work training programs, tax surcharges, whatever. Just something to mitigate the exploitation.

  2. JConnor says:

    Blind hate rides again. This looks like a perfectly good move which was made by “Councilman Joe Reda” Not a word in the coverage about the County Executive. Hate is such a debilitating condition:).

  3. Another Mike says:

    I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to Christiana Mall in the last 10 years. Just hate the place. This would be another reason to avoid it.

  4. Delaware Dem says:

    Are you saying that Gordon is going to veto this move, JConnor? I will take this post back if he does. But he will not, and you know that.

  5. JConnor says:

    So by NOT nullifying the will of the Council on a matter not driven by him he is deserving of scorn. That is idiotic on its face. Haters gonna hate.

  6. Delaware Dem says:

    Yes, just as Obama would be scorned if he did not veto the repeal of Obamacare or Social Security or Medicare. If the Executive, which Gordon is, disagrees with an act passed by the Legislature, which is what the Council is, then he can veto it. If he does not veto it, and instead signs it, then he approves it.

    It is idiotic for you to attempt to claim otherwise. You are nothing but a Gordon lover.

  7. JConnor says:

    You are nothing but a hater. your lead blamed Tom in advance for something supported by the majority of Council which had clearly been on the table prior to the election. The body of your “story” makes no case whatsoever on the merits of the Council’s action. You just condemn it without regard for its content.. I have no idea of the County Executives position on the issue and you don’t care to know, I think idiot fits nicely

  8. JConnor says:

    So as a contributor you can make obscene comments….. great standards you all have…

  9. Delaware Dem says:

    Your whole attack in your comments in this thread is that I am a Gordon hater. You directly said in your comments that you do not actually care what Gordon’s stance is on the issue, you just want to attack me as a Gordon hater for daring to criticize Dear Leader. If that is not deserving of an obsecene comment directed at you, I don’t know what does.

    Now go away and admire your other corrupt politician of choice, Karen Weldin Stewart.

  10. JConnor says:

    Twist words. You attacked without information not the reverse. you condemned in advance of the facts. I confessed that I did not yet know the implications of the Council action and rightly suggested you did not care. What you did was pure hate. If you are going to pillory somebody take the time to have a case to do so, idiot.

  11. Linda says:

    I agree your lead is not very fair and their is enough blame to go around without all of this name calling. Wasn’t this put on the table November 7th under the prior administration?

    Public Hearing Agenda – Planning Board
    Meeting Date:Wednesday, November 07, 2012
    Applications
    20120501T – To Revise Article 31 (“Procedures and Administration”) of Chapter 40 of the New Castle County Code (also known as the “Unified Development Code – UDC”) regarding County Council record plan review. Ord. 12 087 is a text amendment to clarify the procedures relevant to Council approval of major plans. Council sponsors: Mr. Tackett, Mr. Reda. Status/Map
    20120695D – Located along the northern edge of the Christiana Mall Property abutting I-95 and including a portion of TPN 09-024.00-024
    To amend a declaration of restrictions dated March 8, 1977 by New Castle Associates and established when this portion of the Christiana Mall property was rezoned from R-2 to C-3 by Ord. 76-288 in March 1977. The existing restrictions limit free-standing office and commercial buildings unrelated to the Mall in this area. The proposed amendment by Christiana Mall LLC will delete and terminate the 1977 declaration in its entirety. CR (Commercial Regional) zoning district. CD 1 Status/Map

  12. Jason330 says:

    Tom Gordon must find it nice to have an online security guard that dives right in to ad hominem attacks whenever his name is mentioned on a blog. I wonder what something like that costs?

  13. Scritchy says:

    Christiana Mall is the epitome of failed planning in this country, never mind the state. Further expansion is akin to another round of defib on a soon to be white elephant. Tantamount is the addition of NCC coded bike parking and attempts at pedestrianization, when in reality, anyone who attempts to walk or bike to this place should probably be put on suicide watch.

    The people get what the voted for. And they voted for a grossly ignorant, lazy, uninspired leadership with a penchant for tee vee, cheeseburgers, big box, and drive-thru America.

  14. j marie says:

    This has been planned for a while. Christiana Mall purchased a parcel of property from Cavaliers CC to have space for the additional parking that is required. Bleh.

    I’m still on the fence about Gordon. But the mall planning has nothing to do with him. He did promise to help stop the expansion of the Walmart on Centerville Road- so that is his litmus test as far as I am concerned.

  15. jason330 says:

    …anyone who attempts to walk or bike to this place should probably be put on suicide watch.

    That’s so true with so much of our built environment. Even downtown Middletown, for example. It should be nice – but so much preference is given to cars that you feel like you are walking down the shoulder of a highway when you walk down main street.

  16. kavips says:

    Sincerely appreciate Linda’s addition. I too found it odd that the article specifically AVOIDED mentioning what the deed restrictions were, and diverted attention over to Rada’s space filler statement of “more shopping in Delaware.”

    Since this is an obvious dodge, I’m wondering why? Why a) were the original deed restrictions deemed “a good thing” back in 1977, and why b) are we now, trying to “sneak” them through the crack between two County Executive administrations? (see dates)…

    There could be nothing there. But, the actions of all involved, sure point in the opposite direction….

    Does Linda have more detail? For example, will the residents of Cavalier be negatively impacted? Does this negatively impact the golf course? Who is the developer who has those rights? Why was he denied those rights in 1977? Are there historical or environmental reasons as to why a reclassification should not be made….

    I’m surprise they called attention to it in such a public way, by trying to be sneaky and keep it hidden….

    I would support Conner this one time because it really is too early to paint this on Gorden; he probably doesn’t have a grasp on all the details yet. If fact, this has more allignment to a Clark maneuver than a Gorden one. I would expect the new executive to step in and slow down the process to determine exactly what are the true factors pushing it….

  17. JConnor says:

    Thank you Linda Kavips and J Marie for injecting facts into the discourse. My only point was that what was posted was pure attack without factual basis or support.. A debate on the merits is something that the original author is incapable of, adult conversation.

  18. puck says:

    When are they going to build multi-level parking?

  19. pandora says:

    I hate the Christiana Mall and refuse to go there. It’s a complete mess and dangerous, to boot. There isn’t a thing you can get there that you can’t get somewhere else or online.

    I even gave up Costco – which I loved – due to the nightmare that is Christiana mall. Talk about trashing up an area.

  20. Linda says:

    @jmarie – seems like a lot of things were fast tracked thinking that Gordon would take office January 1st. Anyway, this is my concern:

    Eighteen months after the NCCo Planning Board Public Hearing the Stopyra Tract rezoning proposal for “Newark Town Center” has been approved by the Dept. of Land Use for submission to NCCo Council. Dates of meetings are still uncertain but could all be in January 2013 .
    There will be two stages:
    1. Land Use Committee: A committee of the whole of Council meeting on Tuesdays at 3 p.m. Presentations and discussions occur but no vote is taken.
    2. County Council: Meetings Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Presentations and discussions again but this is the BIG VOTE!

  21. Scritchy says:

    “It’s gonna create a lot of jobs, construction jobs, plus permanent and part-time jobs and it’s also a big asset to our area,”

    No it does not. The contstruction jobs are short lived, and there is no net increase in demand simply because a store was added. Every creditable study ever performed shows, at best, a reshuffling of jobs (when Main Streets actually existed and functioned, there was actually a net loss of jobs).

    Stopyra is BAD. If ground breaks on this one, we really truly are doomed.

  22. John Manifold says:

    It appears as if it will be functionally impossible to have a discussion of County government over the next four years without interruptions from cult trolls.

  23. ‘Cult Trolls’, eh? Was gonna name my band ‘Explosive Diarrhea’, but I’m now leaning toward ‘Cult Trolls’. More commercial.

  24. Black Cobain says:

    Call me a developer’s dream, but I actually like Christiana Mall. If you haven’t been there in “years” you should check it out. Sure the traffic gets crazy, but as those of you who come from places that have large malls can attest, it happens. Yet, it looks like DE is doing a decent job of rectifying the problem with the I95/Rt 1 project.

    Nevertheless, for a person who has a family and a rather demanding job, I kinda like the idea of doing all my Christmas shopping in one place and rolling over to Costco to buy bulk items for overnight Christmas guests. I understand that it may not be your bag. You’re entitled to your opinion, but thousands of people disagree with you daily…. many from as far as New Jersey and Maryland. I could see if the mall was in the middle of a residential area or a school zone, but its not. The anti-development tone on this site gets more and more conservative as the years progress.

    Happy Holidays… Hopefully I see you at that huge Barnes and Noble where I will be purchasing gifts for the whole family.

  25. Dana Garrett says:

    If you are going to expand shopping, where better than in a place where a large shopping already exists? It seems that way you avoid all of the nimby issues when placed in areas not particularly given to shopping.

  26. JConnor says:

    Correct, which is why this thread was originally started merely as a vehicle to spew venom. There are multiple solid reasons to max out that space, not the least of which are the transportation improvements that will be complete soon. Though this thread was started for wrong reasons the discussion of the actual issue has been informative.

  27. Geezer says:

    JC, correct me if I’m wrong (the memory ain’t what it used to be), but 1977 goes back to the days of Acierno suing NCCo every time it tried to block one of his development plans, doesn’t it? One of the prime reasons Gordon developed the UDC in the first place was that every time council tried to vote against a proposed project, the developers (especially Acierno) would sue. The original UDC did away with a lot of that by making it impossible to vote down a project that met all the Land Use Dept.’s regulations.

    Nobody will ever call me a Gordon fan, but this one hardly seems like something he has much control over.

  28. JConnor says:

    Actually Geez I am hardly a land use expert in NCC most of my Land use hard knowlege is in Sussex. I did not even know Tom except casually until I came back to New Castle County after my issues. What I can say is that the Land use hawks in my industry felt that the UDC was totally negative to development and were not supportive of Tom. I was however, familiar with Mr. Acierno’s litigiousness as he and I shared use of an attorney. Having said that I believe you are correct in your conclusion.