By Ashley Elizabeth Miller
Contributing Writer

On a Thursday night, six days before Christmas, more than 100 Yorklyn residents packed inside the auditorium at the Center for Creative Arts for what turned out to be a contentious public meeting held by Chatham Bay Construction, a Greenville-based real estate company, about its plans to develop the former National Vulcanized Fibre Co. site on Yorklyn Road.

As attendees settled into their seats, for those able to snag one, Patrick Duffy, one of two Chatham officials moderating the event, said he planned to give a 30-minute debrief on their proposal to build a 151-unit housing complex, with multiple floors, on nearly eight acres of land at the NVF site. Then he’d open the floor up to questions from the audience.

But his plan was almost immediately thwarted by attendees who said they did not want “to be lectured by another developer.” Most people had already seen the physical slides outlining the project, displayed around the room. These included image renderings of their vision—which some attendees found gaudy and unrealistic.

“They looked like something from Carmel in the Monterey Peninsula of California,” said Yorklyn resident Jacalyn Beam.

Over the course of the two-hour meeting, the crowd pummeled Duffy with concerns and pointed questions about the proposed development at the former NVF site, which is currently owned by developer Bud Thomas of Brandywine Realty Management.

“He kind of walked into a rat’s nest,” said Jim Jordan, executive director and CEO of the Brandywine Red Clay Creek Alliance.

The Chatham housing project is the latest in a series of luxury developments underway in Yorklyn under the Auburn Valley Master Plan. Led by Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the $25 million plan seeks to promote economic growth in Yorklyn and clean up the former NVF site. All projects are exempt from county oversight due to a clause in a 2010 bond bill—renewed annually—that gives DNREC authority to manage and regulate their construction. This enables developers to bypass the typically lengthy process associated with county oversight, explained Dee Durham, a member of the New Castle County Council.

Residents, however, say they have been left out of discussions between developers and DNREC.

“I understand that people are very upset with how certain things have gone down, and I sympathize,” Duffy said.

Back in 2021, Ben Steele, 32, moved into a home down the road from the NVF site. DNREC held a meeting that year to discuss project options for the area, which Steele attended. He joined a mailing list to receive updates but never heard another word.

“We were expecting more meetings and things. But there was nothing,” Steele said. “Radio silence.”

Besides transparency, another worry Steele shares with his community is how traffic patterns will change. Living on a curvy section of Yorklyn Road, Steele is concerned that an influx of cars will make it even more difficult to pull out of his driveway. He tried installing mirrors to deal with the blind spot, but they were stolen.

That’s not all. Trips to the Hockessin Wawa will take a lot longer, lamented another local who did not want to be identified.

Erik Kramer, the Chatham Group’s traffic engineer, attempted to ease the community’s concerns. Citing a study he performed in late spring last year, he said the influx would not be as dramatic as some people feared. He anticipates “approximately 70 new trips during the A.M. peak hour, 85 new trips during the weekday P.M. hour and 62 new trips during the Saturday midday peak hour.”

All these changes to their community have left some longtime locals longing for the past. Bill Best, 63, recalls a time when there were no concerns about developers swooping into Yorklyn. He said the Marshall family, which founded the NVF plant in the late 1800s, protected his small hometown from outside influence. The family owned so much land that it was never available for purchase. But things changed when NVF filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and Marshall died in 2019, donating his land to the state of Delaware.

Best remembers how, as a 12-year-old, he used to take his dog for walks in Centerville Meadows.

“I used to pray on those walks that nothing ever changed,” he said.

But 50 years later, things are changing—fast. Residents feel their community has been eaten up by developers, with aid from a state department that’s supposed to protect the environment, said Suzanne Moran, a longtime Yorklyn resident.

She says most concerns boil down to a deep distrust in DNREC. Brooks Cahall, the only DNREC representative at the meeting, was asked to arrange a follow-up meeting between DNREC and the community. But he could not make any promises.

Toward the end of the night, Duffy reminded the crowd why Chatham held the event: “We wanted to get the temperature from the community.”

It was clear, however, that the temperature was far from warm. Tension peaked when Nancy Elliot, who has lived in Yorklyn for 52 years, called for a vote among the crowd: “How many people are against this? What’s the temperature in this room?”

Within seconds of Elliot’s enthusiastic ask, almost the entire audience swiftly raised their hands.