The Brandywine Country Club project could be getting a do-over.
Capano family interests purchased the property off Concord Pike in Brandywine Hundred with the intent of constructing a multi-use project with upwards of 600 apartments.
New Castle County planners determined that the Exploratory Plan was “unacceptable” earlier this month.
Their recommendation will be part of an upcoming public hearing on the project. The Planning Board could still approve the plan or send the plan back for revisions.
Objections included visual qualities an overabundance of apartments, sidewalk access to a nearby shopping center, parking that falls below county requirements, and the need for “traffic calming” on Shipley Road among other things.
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The development community has not commented on the Brandywine project or other controversial developments, but frequently points to the difficulties of dealing with the county’s Unified Development Code.
The code, according to critics, while paying homage to town center and newer types of development, lacks incentives for innovation and stretches even routine projects into a two-year or longer timeframe.
The added costs result in developers doing the minimum to meet requirements, critics claim. In other cases, when all is said and done, the approved plan resembles the original plan.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Capano.
The family has become more active in the development arena as management moves into the third generation. Holdings include apartments, home-building, office buildings and shopping centers.
The Brandywine project was quickly met with opposition from neighbors who prefer the open space of a golf course. Also cited were traffic concerns.
Objections and even legal battles have erupted over earlier proposed golf course developments at the former Hercules Country Club in the Little Falls area, Three Little Bakers in Pike Creek and Cavaliers Country Club near Christiana Mall.
Concerns are also being raised by neighbors following formal sales listing of the DuPont Country Club.
