Jeff Stone's excellent letter in the April 13 edition recommends a reset for the 2018 Sussex County Comprehensive Plan, based on an evaluation of what has and hasn't worked from the 2008 plan, and getting a grasp on the causes of current issues we face.
I suggest that currently available tourism data be brought to bear on these issues as well.
Here's why:
Accurate projection of population growth in Sussex County has become one of the big challenges for the 2018 Sussex plan. This week, we learned that the P&Z commissioners have acknowledged that part-time residents in seasonal homes, which make up 30 percent of all housing units in the county, need to be counted as a critical element of the plan.
As a result, population estimates for Sussex County have recently been updated, using U.S. Census data of 2.5 persons per household for seasonal second homes. But that data doesn't tell the whole story in an area where tourism is a major part of the economy.
Data released a few months ago by the state tourism office for 2015 confirms the nearly 38,000 seasonal second homes in Sussex County. The report goes further to indicate that many are used as rentals (for total revenue of $1.05 billion or 34 percent of total state tourism revenue!)
Occupancy of rental houses typically exceeds the Census average number of occupants by a large multiple. For example, a three-bedroom house may be owned by a couple but advertised to sleep eight (oftentimes not counting children under 6), and would likely be occupied at close to that level in order to spread the cost of renting a house vs. staying in a hotel.
In the process of "living like a local," these visitors rely on county services, just as a full-time resident would. Yet, unlike the local resident, most pay nothing for those services (only the municipalities charge a lodging tax in rental homes). The tourism data shows a significant number of these rentals are in the county, which should come as no surprise, given the increased popularity of short-term vacation rentals over traditional hotels.
Affordable housing is another big challenge for the county, and information presented at a recent League of Women Voters forum on that topic was bleak, showing that a large part of the workforce can't afford to live here.
Numerous studies have shown that short-term rentals lead to rent increases and reduce the housing supply. Every time a house or condo is converted into a short-term rental, a prospective long-term occupant (tenant) is displaced, a scenario that is now being seen in many cities across the country. It takes as little as 10 percent of short-term rentals to change the economics of the housing market in a given area, and in Sussex, that number is 30 percent. The effect is likely even greater when you consider that rentals are disproportionately in the eastern part of the county.
How can we use the tourism data to bet≠ter understand growth and its impact on infrastructure? What is its effect on other elements of Sussex County's 2018 Comprehensive Plan, such as affordable housing? Could revenue from a rental tax be put toward the additional cost burdens and also provide for affordable housing?
Those preparing Sussex County's 2018 Comprehensive Plan should use all applicable data to fix what is not working and to get a true picture of our future needs.
Susan Gay
Rehoboth Beach
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