Sussex board delays vote on Truitt project

For the second straight meeting, the Sussex County Board of Adjustment has tabled a vote on an application for an assisted living facility in Rehoboth Beach.

At its Feb. 6 meeting, board member Brent Workman said he was not ready to vote. Since there were only three of five members in attendance, the board's only option was to delay the vote. The application is expected to be placed on the Monday, Feb. 20 agenda.

And for the second time, area residents in opposition to the application were on hand holding up protest signs during the meeting in the county administration building in Georgetown.

During the meeting, no mention was made of a letter from those residents asking the board to reopen the public record allowing time for more residents to comment. Board attorney Jamie Sharp said the board has the authority to take a vote on reopening the record. “It is rare that a record is reopened after it has been closed,” he said.

The board is considering a special-use exception filed by James Truitt Farm LLC to construct a three-story, 88-unit assisted living facility as Phase 2 of an ongoing aging-in-place community project along Shuttle Road in Rehoboth Beach. The public record was closed following the board's Dec. 19 hearing on the application but no vote was taken.

On Nov. 17, 2015, Sussex County Council approved a conditional-use application for 90 single-family condominiums on the 23-acre, medium-density zoned parcel, the former site of a par-3 golf course and driving range. Site work is underway on Phase 1 of the project.