The Kent County Regional Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial of a conditional use to locate a school in Dover Air Force Base’s crash zone at its July 10 business meeting, citing safety issues for the school’s students, parents and staff.

    Dover Montessori Country Day Academy, formerly located in the Dover Air Park off Route 113, planned to temporarily move its school to Calvary Church of the Nazarene on North Little Creek Road, east of Dover, while a new school is built in Magnolia.
 
   The church is located in the Accident Potential Zone, an area where a plane could go down because of its proximity to the base’s runways. Educational facilities are not permitted in this zone.
 
   County planning staff recommended denial of the plan and Commissioner Paul Davis said he agreed with that recommendation.
  
  “We cannot afford to take a chance on people getting injured because we allow high density in this particular area of the county,” Davis said. “The school itself I support. I commend the applicant for having that type of school and helping young people. It’s just the wrong place for this school to be. It’s a dangerous situation and the potential could be very great.”
  
  Commissioner Bill Jester, a volunteer firefighter, agreed with Davis.
 
   “Being a part of the first responders, it is quite clear that Dover Air Force Base has directed that this is a critical area and there is no way that I can vote for something like this,” Jester said. “I commend this kind of school. I think it’s much needed. It’s just in the wrong location.”
 
   The application now will go before Levy Court.

Commission says ‘no’ to
Smyrna-area development
 
   For a moment, plans for Garrison Lake Green II, a 72-lot subdivision on Brenford Road, just north of Hickory Ridge Road, south of Smyrna, received a 4-3 vote of approval from the commission.
 
   However, Commissioner Ken Edwards was the first to cast a vote against the preliminary plan.
  
  “I think this is another example of, if you talk to some old timers in Dover and Kent County, they’d say, ‘You’re going to put a development there? What were you thinking?’” Edwards said.
 
   The proposed development lies adjacent to railroad tracks as well as wetlands.
 
   Commissioner Denise Kaercher, who always votes third in the roll call, asked to hold her vote until the end.
 
   “The easiest thing for me to look at and why I am upset is the colored map … that gives the blue area of wetlands,” Kaercher said. 
 
   Commission Chairman Bill Holmes also voted against the plan.
 
   After hearing other commissioners’ dissenting votes, Commissioner Paul Davis, who originally voted in favor of the plans, called for a revote and another motion denying the plans, which passed by a vote of 5-2.
 
   “I have a real problem with health, safety and public welfare after listening to the other commissioners,” Davis said. “Being that close to the railroad track is a potential problem.”
 
   Commissioner Bill Jester also changed his vote, citing the development’s single entrance and exit as a reason to deny the plan.
 
   While Commissioner Gene Thornton said she was “intrigued” by Jester’s reason, she voted against denial.
  
  “I’m not concerned about the railroad track being there because our nation was founded on towns that were right next to railroad tracks …,” Thornton said. “And the wetlands I believe the applicant has done as much or more than most to mitigate being so close to the wetlands.”

Email Maureen Raitz at maureen.raitz@doverpost.com