This letter to the editor was sent by a resident of Captain’s Way regarding the article published last week on proposed boundary adjustments between Milford and Cape Henlopen. This is a letter to the editor as part of our Express Your Opinion section. The views and opinions expressed in this letter are solely that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Milford Times, its staff or its advertisers. Letters to the editor are published to encourage community discussion and do not constitute an endorsement of the opinions or claims expressed.
I saw the article posted on your website on October 20th. Unfortunately, the board members quoted in both articles, Sarah Hale and Travis Moorman, seem to have their facts very incorrect. I submitted a similar reply in the comment section of the website, but I also wanted to try a more direct method of contacting you.
In terms of facts:
- There are not only 38 properties completed in Captain’s Way. More than half of the properties have been completed, so over 100 at the very least. You only have to drive through the neighborhood to be able to see that.
- All the homes currently constructed are not in the Milford portion of the neighborhood. The Cape Henlopen portion was started first and nearly all, if not all, of the houses in the Cape Henlopen portion have been completed. It’s the Milford portion that’s still underway.
- The homes have not been there since 2023. The neighborhood has been around since 2020. I know because my mother-in-law first moved into the neighborhood in August of 2020.
Just about everything Dr. Sarah Hale said was wrong. I don’t know where her information was coming from. I think K. Hovnanian might have submitted the petition on behalf of the neighborhood and they’re our most recent builder (the builders for the first phases were Capstone and Ryan Homes), so it’s possible that the information they gave was only from their own building records? I don’t know, but I’m trying to come up with some reason for why the information the board apparently had access to was so wrong.
As a resident of Captain’s Way, it’s very disheartening to see the issue misrepresented and to see only one side’s opinions being discussed, especially now that multiple news outlets are only posting the erroneous things the board members had to say. It’s upsetting in general that the Board seems to have considered the issue with such incorrect information as their basis for decision-making.
- Hovnanian homes is a developer in Captain’s Way, but they’re not the only developer. They’re actually the third developer following the completion of the homes Capstone and Ryan Homes built. The first homes were built by Capstone starting in 2020 and were in the Cape Henlopen portion of the neighborhood. Capstone and Ryan then continued to build in their portions of the neighborhood, with most of the Cape Henlopen homes being completed first. So, in contrast to what Sarah Hale said, Milford was not “there first”. Most of the currently completed homes are NOT within Milford’s boundary.
The push to change the districting in the neighborhood came not from the developer, but from the residents themselves. It was brought up as a concern from residents on the Milford side of the boundary, who believed the whole neighborhood was within the Cape Henlopen district when they purchased their lots. They were upset that their children would not be going to the same school as their friends in the neighborhood. They brought this to our HOA representative, who then talked to Bryan Shupe. Bryan Shupe made a stop at Captain’s Way for a meeting to hear the residents’ concerns and then things went from there. If K. Hovnanian was involved in putting the issue to the board, it was on behalf of the residents, not for any marketing ploy.
Thank you,
Charli Erickson
Resident of Captain’s Way
