The first, Elements of Land Use, attracted a standing-room-only crowd at Beebe Medical Center’s Medical Arts Building off Route 24.

Moderator LeeAnn Walling, who helped write Livable Delaware legislation during Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s administration, said she was speaking against her better judgment, but she has strong opinions on land-use issues, particularly as they apply in Sussex County.

Walling, now chief of planning for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), said, “Many here want to pull up the drawbridge behind them. The powerful property-rights lobby is prevailing in Sussex County. I think there needs to be more of a balance.”

Backlog slows system

Vince Robertson, assistant Sussex County attorney who represents the planning and zoning commission, explained the county application and review process.

He said one of the major issues is the 14- to 16-month waiting list to get on an agenda once an application is filed. He said the backlog dates back to the rush of major subdivision applications between 2004 and 2006 when a total of 237 applications were filed, with 100 filed in 2005 alone.

In contrast, fewer than a dozen applications have been filed so far this year.

Robertson said planning and zoning commissioners have added a third meeting each month to help with the backlog.

Heidi Balliet, an attorney who specializes in real estate with the firm Tunnell and Raysor, said the word “developers” is not always a dirty one.

“This is a by-right state where you can develop your land if you meet requirements under the code,” she said.

Balliet said the backlog of applications in the county system causes problems for developers and builders. “In 2007, when an application was filed things were in a different mind-set than in 2009,” she said. “The nature of the county has changed, and it’s hard to modify plans. The application should be heard in time to match the mind-set of the community.”

She said the county’s planning and zoning commission is one of the best in a long time. “They are very technical and are asking the right questions,” she said.

But, she said, hearings before the county council are a completely different mind-set. “They are more public based. There is even a different aura in the room,” she said.

She said there is more emphasis to explain the “why” of the application during county council public hearings.

She said developers are beginning to question the validity of the double-tiered hearing system. “Some developers wonder why not just planning or zoning or just county council?” she asked.

She said the No. 1 concern of developers she polled was the inconsistency of enforcement of the county and state land-use maps, particularly as they pertain to levels in the state strategies for spending polices.

She said Level 4 areas, which are considered nongrowth areas by state planners, are where local developers are planning projects.

Resident says system is broken

Bill Moyer, former DNREC section manager of the Wetlands and Subaqueous Lands Section, who now has his own environmental consulting business, said he would be the lightning rod of the panel. “I want to talk about where we have not come in land-use planning in Sussex County,” he said. “Land-use planning in Delaware is broken.”

Moyer, who was born in Lewes and lives in Laurel, provided those in attendance with a detailed list of nearly a dozen examples of how the public has been excluded from the process. He used the recent planning and zoning application and hearing process for the commercial rezoning near Lewes for the proposed Village Centre shopping and office complex as an example. Moyer said it’s hard to understand how the state’s lead planner could issue a letter of no objection to the rezoning and Village Centre project. “The process raised so many red flags,” he said.

In addition, he said, state planners didn’t review the same plan that was submitted to county officials. The plan that was reviewed during the Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS) process was modified before it was submitted to planning and zoning.

Moyer said the current process allows for developers to submit application data within 10 days of the hearing date, as well as submit data for the record the night of the hearing.

He said 10 days is not enough time for the public to adequately study the information. He said the applicant’s attorney submitted 36 pages of data during the Village Centre hearing on Sept. 10. “How can the public have time to comment on that?” he asked.

In addition, Moyer said, site-plan reviews, which are the first time the public gets to see the actual plans for a site after a rezoning has been approved, are not public hearing meetings.

“There should at least be a place where they are available for public comment,” he said.

Connie Holland, state planning coordinator since 2001, explained what the Office of State Planning Coordination does. Besides site-plan and subdivision reviews, the office also works with 57 municipalities and all three counties to write their comprehensive plans.

Holland said the office would like to review the county’s ordinances before they are voted on. The office also provides a circuit rider planner to provide technical assistance to counties and towns. Holland said the county’s comprehensive plan is the foundation of land use. “Comprehensive plans are law,” she said. “It seems no one cares about them until it affects them.”

She said the county’s updated plan took more than two years to write and get approved. “It was not rubber-stamped,” she said.

Holland said the state planning process is open to change. She knows the public would like to participate in the PLUS process. Under current law, the public may attend state review of site plans and subdivisions, but cannot comment or ask questions. She said Livable Delaware is undergoing an overhaul under Gov. Jack Markell’s administration. She said there would be more emphasis on sustainable jobs, greener issues and better planning.