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22 <br />STEEP SLOPES <br />Steep slopes represent topographic constraints to development and are generally defined as areas <br />with slopes equal to or greater than 15 percent. Stated another way, such slopes include those <br />areas where the land falls a vertical distance of 15 feet in a horizontal distance of 100 feet. <br />The threshold of 15 percent is the standard generally used by the Planning Department. <br />However, Randall Arendt, in Defining Open Space Developments in Sussex County, Delaware, <br />defines steep slopes so as to include land which is "unbuildable" due to slopes of 25 percent or <br />greater. <br />Within the project boundaries, there are 56.2 acres of land which meet the Arendt standard, <br />while another 78.7 acres has slopes between 15 and 25 percent. Most of this land is located <br />north of the Southern Railroad and south of I -85. <br />