MILFORD, Del. - State Rep. Bryan Shupe is calling on the City of Milford to require infrastructure repairs in the Hearthstone community before approving any further development by the project’s developer.
In a letter dated May 15, Shupe urged the city manager and members of the Milford City Council to make road improvements in Hearthstone a condition for approving any future phases of the neighborhood’s construction. Residents in the development have dealt with "unacceptable road conditions for several years," Shupe said.
State Rep. Bryan Shupe is calling on the City of Milford to require infrastructure repairs in the Hearthstone community before approving any further development by the project’s developer.
“These conditions persist due to the developer’s continued refusal to take the necessary steps to rehabilitate infrastructure within the existing phases of the development,” Shupe wrote.
Shupe acknowledged that the current city administration is not responsible for the original development agreements but said "The legal agreements—or the lack thereof—must be honored, and private developers cannot be compelled to perform tasks that were not stipulated in their original contracts."
The issue comes on the heels of a new law passed by the Delaware General Assembly earlier this year that aims to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future. The bill, which gained bipartisan support, allows municipalities to require developers to complete road construction in earlier phases of a project before being granted approval for new phases.
Supporters of the legislation say it closes a critical loophole that allowed developers to walk away from unfinished infrastructure, leaving local governments, and taxpayers, to deal with the consequences.
Shupe said the new law did not apply retroactively to developments like Hearthstone, but it does reinforce the importance of early planning and accountability.
“I respectfully urge the City to hold the developers of Hearthstone accountable as they plan to move forward with the next phase of construction,” Shupe wrote. “It is both prudent and necessary, as a matter of consumer protection and community standards.”
He also recommended that city officials begin discussions with the developer before any formal approval process begins, allowing both parties to collaborate on a plan that ensures safe and adequate infrastructure.
"In areas where the developers are acting in bad faith, we've got to push them. We've got to force them to do better," Shupe said to CoastTV.
In June 2024, Amendment 1 to House Bill 297 was introduced by Shupe and passed by the house. Shupe stated that he wrote the bill after a discussion with homeowners in his district who lived in communities where the roads were unfinished. Shupe learned that the bond posted so developers could not abandon projects was low and that they had an incentive to discard the projects.
79-year-old Pat Mafull, who lives in the Hearthstone community, says she shouldn't have to deal with this.
"You have to swerve to get away from the bumps," said Mafull. "If there's a car coming in the opposite direction, I have to stop and make sure that the car has passed before I can go around those holes or have problems in the road."