We, the undersigned, strongly oppose the development that is planned for Stoney Batter Road in Pike Creek (Project #20260523). We call on the County's Land Use Department to deny the exploratory plan.

The proposal would clear a wooded 5-acre property just north of Limestone Road, across Weatherhill Farms and North Pointe Park, to make way for 40,000 square feet of offices and retail space, along with a large parking lot and other paved surfaces.

We are losing too much open space in New Castle County.

Again and again, we watch open space disappear and are told to accept another building, another parking lot, and another patch of pavement. The county reviews each project individually, but the people who live here experience the cumulative effect: fewer trees, less wildlife habitat, more runoff, more traffic, and less of the landscape that made our communities places where people wanted to live in the first place.

We understand this proposal is still early in the County's review process. But we are speaking up now because we are so often told that it is too late to make a difference.

To that end, we appreciate that the Land Use Department invites public input at this early stage of the planning process. Your website states: "Citizens are encouraged to provide input on proposed plans and may contact the Department of Land Use between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays at (302) 395-5400 or by email [landuse@newcastlede.gov] to request further information or to review plans under review." This is the input we are providing now: we oppose this project and urge you to stop it.

This property deserves especially careful scrutiny. The developer's plan acknowledges that part of the site is within a Surface Water Resource Protection Area for erosion-prone slopes, adjacent to a creek that feeds into Mill Creek. Replacing woods with buildings and impervious surfaces in an area connected to our local waterways raises real concerns about stormwater, erosion, flooding, and water quality.

Once these woods are gone, they are gone.

Pike Creek has already lost enough green space. We can’t afford to lose more. There are already empty and underutilized office and retail spaces in this area and all around the county. The County must direct development to those areas instead of on our shrinking green spaces.