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Buyout of residents near Port of Wilmington delayed by coronavirus

The buyout of residents on a street near the Port of Wilmington has stalled.

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) was authorized to buy out the owners of ten houses on Pyles Lane south of Wilmington last year. They’d long complained of truck traffic associated with the Port damaging their quality of life. 

The buyout is voluntary, and DelDOT says residents will not be forced to sell. 

The state agency has finished appraising the homes through a contractor— but the next step, making offers to the residents, has been put on hold because of the coronavirus. 

DelDOT spokesperson C.R. McLeod says the delay is due to the fact that offers will be made with in-person meetings. “At this time the department does not plan to issue letters or any contractual language until these meetings can be held,” he said in an email. 

Edwina Richards lives in the house she grew up in on Pyles Lane. She understands the need for the delay, but says being in “limbo” like this is “extremely stressful.”

“I would like to start packing stuff—knick-knacks and things that I could be doing,” she said. “I have boxes to do it, but what’s the sense of packing? I don’t know where I’m going, or if I’m going, or when I’m going. It’s really hard.”

Richards says she knows every government official would wish away the virus if they could.

“But there’s the unknown,” she said. “How long is it going to take? Is it going to take ‘til Memorial Day? Or is it going to take ‘til Labor Day? The longer we wait and sit here, the more depressed it gets for those of us who want to get moved. ”

State Sen. Darius Brown, who represents the residents and sits on the Bond Bill Committee, says there has been no indication that the state’s projected $749 million revenue shortfall due to the coronavirus will impact the buyout. 

“This time last year, we would’ve thought that it would have been resolved by now,” said Brown. “However, there have been so many things that have occurred outside of our control since then.”

“We still want to move forward so that residents aren’t in this place of uncertainty and also so that we can ensure safety for them on Pyles Lane and ultimately improve their quality of life,” he added. 

McLeod of DelDOT reiterated the department was directed by language in the bond bill signed last July to pursue the buyout. “We will continue to move forward unless we are instructed differently from the legislature,” he said.

 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
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