Sussex should enact transfer of development rights

A recent League of Women Voters' forum drew comments on two related topics: traffic and affordable housing.

The high cost of housing in eastern Sussex sends many people westward to find homes, increasing daily traffic on east-west routes.

One developer suggested requiring 15 percent to 20 percent of units in future developments be affordable and that Sussex County Council upzone some parcels near developed areas to high-density – possibly as high as 12 units per acre, or six times the number of units allowed on most undeveloped land in Sussex. Policies promoting affordable housing in eastern Sussex would allow people to live closer to their jobs, slowing increasing pressure on roads.

But let's not forget that at two units per acre, most land in Sussex already has the least-restrictive zoning on all of Delmarva – certainly one reason the county's population has more than doubled in the past 40 years.

Any plan to increase density should be tied to an idea proposed in the 2008 comprehensive plan but never acted upon: transfer of development rights.

That would require developers who seek an increase in density to acquire the development rights to another parcel, which would then remain undeveloped.

This policy allows more units, including affordable units, near existing towns, while the total number of allowable units across Sussex remains stable.

Developers suggest public opinion plays a role as to where affordable housing is built, implying everyone wants it, as long as it's not next door. This is sometimes true, but what many people who live here want is safe roads and clean waterways – and both are increasingly at risk. Of course residents don't want council to allow developers to build even more units than already allowed.

Council should listen to these comments and commit to a plan that promotes higher densities in already developed areas – but only when coupled with preserving undeveloped land elsewhere.

Increased density is not a right. Going forward, council should enact the transfer of development rights so it can demand that future increases in density are purchased, not gifted.