The Town of Whitehall is to be the first new Delaware town in over 100 years. Whitehall is the vision of a unique partnership between The Welfare Foundation, a nonprofit organization promoting the social welfare of Delaware’s residents, EDIS Company and Eastern States Group. It consists of 7 villages and hamlets located on Lorewood Grove Road, just south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and is intended to be a walkable town with homes and businesses of all types and sizes. Mapleton Village is the mixed-use inaugural section of the town to be constructed, which includes approximately 140 single family homes, 140 townhomes, 220 apartments, and 81,000 sf. of office/commercial space, while also dedicating significant area for civic space.
The design and permitting of this revolutionary return to small town America presented many challenges. Over the years, state, county and department of transportation regulations have evolved to accommodate the traditional suburban subdivision with a single density of homes, a single entrance/exit, driveway parking, and narrow sidewalks. While some areas of Mapleton Village fit the typical suburb definition, portions of the subdivision more closely resemble tree lined city streets with street parking and wide sidewalks lined with open storefronts, and everything in between. V&L helped in the Master Planning of the town and was the first to design this type of mixed use village in Delaware using the county’s newly adopted “SmartCode” inspired regulations incorporating numerous “Transects” of various usage and density.