The following letter was sent to the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission with a copy provided to the Cape Gazette for publication.
There is an old Appalachian saying, “I’ll see you soon, if the Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise.” The creeks and bays do rise with ebb and flow of rain and storms; however, with buffers not adequate or missing, water overwhelms communities and housing developments. The rate of rapid growth in Sussex County is erasing buffers or downsizing them to the degree that we will be seeing more and more flooding.
Planning & zoning should consider Title 9, Subsection 6814 (b) in exercising the powers conferred by this chapter: the commission is empowered to act in conjunction and cooperation with representatives, agencies or officers of the United States government, this state, any other state, or county, city or town within or without this state.
Quality of life is threatened by current approval practices ignoring State Investment Level 4 (agricultural and natural) area status, removal of buffer vegetation that leaves inadequate protection from flooding, and disregarding recommendations made by the Office of State Planning Coordination for applications for new developments.
Workers are complaining of lack of affordable housing within the high-density, high-dollar housing communities. For communities to be complete, workers need to live in these areas so they can serve the school, healthcare, emergency services, retail and restaurant industries in the resort areas. For quality of life in Sussex, consideration for all types of housing needs to be considered. When greed and high profits are the goals and applications are approved, developers disrupt quality of life in communities.
The Grayrock Preserve application is an example of placing a development in a Level 4 area where the Office of State Planning Coordination is warning and stating that this area is not good for development for many reasons, citing infrastructure costs, and destruction of natural and agricultural land, along with major road improvements. It is also surrounded by Redden Forest, where wildlife habitat could be disrupted. If the county approves development in Level 4, they must explain the reasons in writing.
I appreciate your serving on this important P&Z commission and hope you will consider new criteria and recommendations from other agencies and consider all issues that affect any developments to be approved.
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