Sussex gets to work on job creation

As Sussex County officials proceed with plans to hire a new economic development director, there appears to be a new fervor to create a more favorable job climate using the 2018 comprehensive plan as a springboard.

At a March 22 plan workshop, discussion on the economic development chapter occupied most of the agenda.

There is strong support for the creation of a new zoning district to promote agriculture, the county's No. 1 industry, generating more than $3.5 billion a year and providing more than 10,000 jobs. The district was proposed in the 2008 plan, but no action was taken.

During a discussion about an agricultural-industrial overlay zone, commissioners agreed it should be a zoning district and not an overlay.

The district would be a more specialized area to encourage large-scale agricultural-related businesses. It would be rural areas with large tracts of land, with large setbacks, access to roads with no residential development permitted.

While details of the district are still a work in progress, there is strong support from county council, said County Administrator Todd Lawson. “It's one of the top five things they want to see in the plan as a protection for this industry in Sussex County. We have to do it,” Lawson said.

Commissioner Marty Ross said the district should provide for value-added businesses that complement agriculture in the area. He said losing a value-added business such as Vlasic Foods in Millsboro hurts the agriculture industry. In addition, plans for a proposed Allen Harim Foods poultry plant at the same site were withdrawn by the company.

The commission agreed the district should allow for other commercial uses relating to agriculture through a conditional-use process.

Wheatley: Shorten the supply chain

Speaking during the public comment period, Joe Conaway, former county administrator, said the rate at which people aged 18-25 leave the county is among the highest in the country. “Our young people do not stay here,” he said. “They go where they can make more money.”

He said the county should duplicate what it recently did when it purchased 74 acres of land to add to its industrial park near Georgetown. “We don't have shovel-ready land or any industrial-zoned land ready for development,” he said.

He said the county should focus on attracting companies that employ 100 to 200 people.

“Economic development should be a theme woven throughout the plan, and be the backbone of the plan,” he said.

Commission Chairman Bob Wheatley said part of the county's economic development strategy should be to reach out to companies that sell products in Sussex County. He said most of the irrigation equipment sold in the county is made in Nebraska. “Why don't they build a plant here?” he asked. “How many others are there? We need to shorten that supply chain.”

Wheatley said visits need to be made to companies. “We can beat Nebraska,” he said. “We don't need to hire outside consultants. We just need to get some plane tickets.”

He said the county is being overlooked when it comes to manufacturing jobs. “This is an area where government can do good things,” he said.

Wheatley said the county is better suited to developing rural industrial parks to attract manufacturers. “The county can use its resources to benefit everyone, and can do it more efficiently as a public project. You won't see private developers do it,” he said.

Assistant county attorney Vince Robertson said county officials can rezone property, but it's not been done since the 1970s when Route 1 was rezoned commercial.

“We could think about it as a strategy, but we have to protect property owners' rights as well. It's complicated,” he said.

“We can open the door and see where it leads,” Ross said.

Wheatley said it could make sense in areas where key infrastructure exists. He said businesses are looking for affordable electricity costs and high-speed internet as well as water and sewer. “Perhaps we need a strategy to work with towns and the state to create these areas,” he said.

Review height limits

Christian Hudson, president of Hudson Management in Lewes, said the commercial zone along Route 1 should be expanded north from Nassau to Broadkill. “We need a lot more commercial options away from Lewes and Rehoboth,” he said.

He said developers are the ones taking the risks – commercial land in the area is $1 million an acre – and doing almost all of the road improvements. He used his family's own Villages of Five Points project as an example. “Private developers spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars for road improvements. It didn't come from the state,” he said.

In addition, he said, the county should look at increasing height limits in some areas from 42 feet to five stories or 65 feet.

In a theme that has been echoed by several speakers, Hudson said a more streamlined process is needed to get required permits and approvals to do projects.

Commissioner Kim Hoey Stevenson said developers need someone at the county level to guide them through the permitting process at the state level.

“It's the goal of this administration and county council to streamline the process and have a one-stop shop. That will be the goal of the next economic development director,” Lawson said.

County looks at expansion of fiber optic

Lawson said looking at ways to expand high-speed internet as a public-private project is also on the drawing board. “This is a game-changer for economic development,” he said.

The county will conduct a pilot fiber-optic project at its new paramedic station on Plantation Road and at sewer infrastructure sites in the Lewes area.

The county is working to expand its main airport runway another 500 feet to 6,000 feet to meet the needs of Aloft AeroArchitects, the county's largest employer at the 700-acre industrial/airpark. About 1,000 people are employed at the park.

Commissioner Keller Hopkins said a major void in the county is training for trade skills. “Those are the high-paying jobs,” he said.

Wheatley said the county can't directly train people for jobs, but it can play a role through its economic development office by matching people to jobs companies are seeking. “It's been done before through the airframe mechanics program and through the poultry industry,” he said.

The commission will focus on the future land-use chapter of the plan at its next workshop at 9 a.m., Wednesday, March 29, in the county administration building, 2 The Circle, Georgetown.