Even during pandemic, Sussex officials move forward
Even during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sussex County's annual fiscal year 2020-21 report to the Governors Advisory Council on Planning is filled with new initiatives, numerous land-use applications, and millions of dollars in wastewater expansion projects and open-space preservation.
The county is required to provide a yearly update on its 2018 comprehensive plan to state officials.
Among the initiatives highlighted during the June 29 Sussex County Council meeting by Planning and Zoning Director Jamie Whitehouse were approvals of the Henlopen Transportation Improvement District and the Funding Accelerating Safety in Transportation program, a new memorandum of understanding with DelDOT regarding land-use applications and an update of the cluster subdivision ordinance.
DelDOT initiatives
The Henlopen TID is a 24-square-mile area south of Route 9 and west of Route 1 where state transportation officials have planned $284 million in road improvements.
In the district, fees attached to new residential and commercial construction will be collected from developers by the county through the permitting process and released to Delaware Department of Transportation officials as road projects are needed. Twenty-four percent of the cost of projects will be covered by developers. DelDOT will provide the remaining 76 percent of funds for projects through its six-year capital transportation program.
In most cases, developers will not be required to conduct timely and costly traffic-impact studies because DelDOT officials will have the necessary data.
Proposed growth in the district includes almost 13,000 new housing units and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space by 2045.
Under the FAST program, county council will have the option to jump-start road projects that are planned but not imminent. The county will provide up to $5 million to fund projects and be reimbursed by DelDOT when they are completed.
County council's first approved project is the Hudson Road-Cave Neck Road-Sweetbriar Road intersection near Milton, for which engineering is underway.
County officials also signed an updated memorandum of understanding with DelDOT officials in relation to the receipt and processing of land-use applications, and the level of information required to be included in an application.
County officials also amended the cluster subdivision ordinance requiring all cluster subdivisions – in the coastal area and all other county AR-1 district areas – to follow superior-design standards set by the county.
Millions on sewer projects
Projects currently under construction for central sewer include Herring Creek, Chapel Branch, Mulberry Knoll and Wolfe Runne. Other projects in the design phase include Joy Beach, Mallard Creek, Long Neck communities and Lochwood. The county has completed sewer infrastructure for the Robinsonville Road public-private initiative for several planned projects in the area.
A major achievement was the completion of the new Western Sussex Sewer District with a transmission line from Greenwood and Bridgeville to Seaford's wastewater treatment facility. Facilities in the two small communities are now out of service.
The county has started construction of the long-awaited Greater Ellendale Water District project.
Major upgrades to the county's wastewater treatment plants, including the Inland Bays facility and Rehoboth Beach plant, continue.
Funds for preservation
Under the county cluster subdivision ordinance, lot sizes and widths are reduced in subdivisions that provide a minimum of 30 percent open space. During the past fiscal year, nine developments set aside 362 acres of open space.
The county entered into a partnership with the City of Lewes and Lewes Board of Public Works to purchase the 37.5-acre Jones Farm property at the intersection of Kings Highway and Clay Road, Lewes, with the county and BPW contributing $2 million and the city adding in $1.5 million. The county also purchased an environmentally sensitive, 17.5-acre tract near Angola for $970,000.
The county's current budget includes $4.4 million to preserve open space and farmland, an increase of $2.7 million from the previous year.
County rental program's first project
The first large-scale housing project approved under the Sussex County Rental Program was completed. Coastal Tide, off Plantation Road near Lewes, has placed 26 of its 168 apartments in the program for tenants earning less than 80 percent of the area median annual income for the county, which is $75,100.
County housing staff assisted 270 owner-occupied households with more than $2 million in rehabilitations, emergency repairs, and water and sewer hookups for low- and moderate-income residents.
Applications are increasing
From July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, the county received 55 conditional-use and 21 rezoning applications, both increases from the previous fiscal year. Thirty-four applications for subdivisions totaling 1,817 lots were filed, compared to 24 with 942 lots the year before.
