The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

With 124,000 vehicles per day driving past, the I-95 Service Plaza and Welcome Center provide the primary window to Delaware for 2.4 million visitors who stop there each year as they pass through the State. The current Service Plaza is 44 years old and in dire need of repair and upgrading. The tiny Welcome Center is off to the side, small, outdated, and completely inadequate for the 21st Century. The current Service Plaza and Welcome Center belie the vibrancy of, and opportunity in, our State

That is about to change. When, in May 2006, J. Harry Feldman, former Executive Director of the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau (GWCVB) approached Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Toll Operations Administrator P.J. Wilkins about upgrading the Welcome Center staffed by GWCVB employees and volunteers, the inquiry led DelDOT to review its 1990s reorganization which had left the Service Center without direct oversight. About the same time, the current operator, HMS Host, dissatisfied with the status of the facility, submitted a proposal for upgrading the site and extending its lease.

After being given oversight of the Service Plaza, P.J. met with a working group which included J. Harry and representatives from DelDOT, DEDO, the Governor’s Tourism Advisory Board, and other tourism partners, to develop requirements for a new facility. With a mission “to create a facility that meets or exceeds the needs of the traveling publicby providing essential travel services that lead to increased safety on our roadway, while showcasing all that our great state has to offer and maintaining a watchful eye on the revenues that are pledged to our bonds,” the focus shifted from merely a service plaza with a welcome center to a Delaware Welcome Center which would “sell Delaware.”

The cost increased, as well. After DelDOT’s extensive RFQ and RFP process, only HMS Host was willing to take on the $40 million cost of the expanded 47,500 square foot facility with the requirement of investing another $20 million over the life of the lease to keep the facility current. The lease is long–35-years–because HMS Host will pay for everything– demolition, site preparation, building, and maintenance of both the building and site. The RFP required that the building be large, bright, with natural light, and be “uniquely Delaware.”

Plans for the new site are impressive. The new Delaware Welcome Center will be a LEED building that soars with an entrance atrium complete with trees and walls of light-infusing glass. At the entrance there will be a convenience store on the West side and a retail space for Delaware products on the East side. The Welcome Center will grow to 500 square feet, with plasma screens for scenes from Delaware and walls lined with tourism information. While proposed vendors include chains known to travelers, such as Famous Famiglia pizza, Baja Fresh Mexican food, Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Cinnabon & Carvel, and Starbucks, the contract calls for reservation of space for Delaware restaurants and vendors if any are interested in the 24/7/365 fast-service environment of a Service Plaza. In addition to the inside parcels, there will be kiosks, both inside and out.

Changes to the site are impressive, as well. There will be one gas station at the Northern end of the site and anti-idling parking facilities for 50 trucks at the Southern end. The anti-idling site will provide overnight heat, air-conditioning, internet, and phone service so trucks will not pollute via their constant idling. There are angled parking spaces for tour busses on the East and West sides of the Delaware Welcome Center, with covered entrances for passengers. The truck, bus, and car parking will be separated, with the Northbound and Southbound car parking lots, in turn, separated by a tree-lined pedestrian walkway that allows visitors to walk the length of the lot into the Delaware Welcome Center without dodging vehicles.

At a February 5th unveiling of the Delaware Welcome Center site plan and building design, there was consensus, among the business and tourism representatives present, that the building, designed by Hans Erdenberger of Cubellis, was impressive, but not expressive of Delaware. The modern, soaring building could be located in any state. In response, HMS Host Vice President, Business Development, Michael Jones noted that there are currently fewer than five service center buildings of this size in North America and HMS Host would not replicate this building anywhere else, so that it would remain unique to Delaware. In addition, Delaware’s Mitchell Associates has been contracted to participate in the design of interior space and signage. Current plans call for Delaware scenes to ring the interior of the building and Delaware banners to hang inside and out.

While contract negotiations are ongoing, the timetable calls for closing the current Service Center in September 2008, 15 months of demolition and construction, and the grand re-opening of the new Delaware Welcome Center in early 2010.

WORKFORCE HOUSING ORDINANCE TO COUNCIL

New Castle County Councilperson Penrose Hollins’ original Affordable Housing Ordinance has morphed into the Workforce Housing Ordinance. Substitute No. 1 to Ordinance 07-150 is currently scheduled for New Castle County Council Land Use Committee discussion on February 19th and Council consideration on February 26th.

With a median income of $71,600 in New Castle County in 2007, this ordinance is meant to provide incentives so that developers will build houses for low income (50-80% of median) and moderate income (80-120% of median) households. Those households, with incomes between $35,800 and $85,920, could afford homes prices between $111,000 and $268,000, whereas most new homes currently are priced over $400,000 (median sales price for existing homes in 2007 was $224,000).

Substitute 1 for Ordinance 07-150 provides incentives–such as increased density, floor area ratio, and height limits; reduced open space, landscaping, lot and building standards; elimination of minimum site area; credit of acreage for community facilities–for developments which provide 20% or more low-income or moderate-income housing.

The greatest limitation in the Ordinance is the requirement that workforce units remain “affordable” for 15 years and rental units for 25 years. Current standards are 10 and 15. This constraint, plus the complicated and cumbersome process for units remaining “affordable” may preclude most developers from participating. Another impediment is the limitation of incentives in NC zoning districts, which flies in the face of the 2007 Comprehensive Development Plan Update goal of infill and diversity of housing.