Though the entire project is expected to take three to five years to complete, Hopkins Preserve in Lewes will likely be open to the public in a year or so, according to Sussex County Land Trust officials.
“We’re really pleased by the community’s excitement,” said Executive Director Mark Chura.
The recently announced Hopkins Preserve Master Plan, developed by Vernacular Landscape Architecture, will “celebrate some of the best of Sussex County’s natural features, protect critical open space, work toward ecological preservation and create a valued public recreational amenity.”
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The property, of about 50-acre and located directly adjacent to the Lewes-Georgetown Trail on Sweetbriar Road, will feature an 11-acre forest, meadows, a pond, wetlands, trails, a gathering space, a parking lot and restrooms when completed, according to the plan.
Hopkins Preserve is one of four “open space” parcels, totaling about 150 acres, purchased by Sussex County this year using real estate transfer tax dollars. The county saw a major budget surplus this year due largely to those fees.
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The population of Delaware’s southernmost county is growing faster than any other, increasing 40% since 2000, according to the Hopkins Preserve Master Plan. The housing developments going up have both made plain the need to preserve open space and given the county the funds to do so.
Fourth-generation farmer Walt Hopkins sold the Hopkins Preserve property to the county at half-price, under the condition it would become a public recreational space and a trailhead.
“Now it’s time for you, the public, to enjoy what I have enjoyed for 75 years,” Hopkins said. “Not only you but your children and your children’s children.”
Nonprofit Sussex County Land Trust holds a conservation easement for property and will manage the preserve.
The first phase of construction will include site grading, utility infrastructure and the addition of a crushed granite pedestrian trail. Work expected to begin in late spring 2023, according to Sussex County Land Trust Executive Director Mark Chura.
