Farmer: Reducing rural housing density could hurt agriculture
A final list of proposals to limit housing development, and protect open space and farmland could cause serious harm to the agriculture industry in Sussex County, a farmer on the working group preparing the plan said Aug. 21.
“Some farmers that have been in business for generations and generations are strapped to the point where when this happens, they will be foreclosed on,” said Jay Baxter, who represents the Farm Bureau on the Sussex County Land-Use Reform Working Group. “That is a fact.”
Baxter sent an email to his fellow members outlining his concerns Aug. 20, and elaborated at a meeting the next day.
The working group has been drafting proposals to Sussex County Council to discourage housing development in rural areas and encourage it in yet-to-be-determined growth areas, where there is already development and infrastructure to support it.
One of the working group’s directives from county council is preserving farmland and natural resources in the county.
To help accomplish that goal, one of 19 wide-ranging recommendations to be considered by the work group Thursday, Sept. 11, is to change the long-standing AR-1, agricultural-residential, zoning district. Current rules allow up to two houses per acre in vast areas without county approval.
Baxter contends the suggestion to reduce AR-1 to one house per acre would devalue agricultural land, jeopardizing the financial security of farmers.
“Many farm families have been passing this land on for generations; some families rely on this land as their retirement,” he wrote in the email. “Imagine if you removed half of the value of everyone’s pension, 401K or retirement account in a recommendation to council! There would be a lawsuit filed before the ink was dry.”
Baxter has been the lone representative of the farming community on the working group, lobbying for their interests. He said nearly all roads need to be widened to ease the increasing conflicts between large farm equipment and other vehicles sharing roadways. He backed rules to encourage development of affordable homes in rural areas for farm workers. He wants to make it easier for agricultural support businesses to open in rural areas.
Caitlin Del Collo, chief strategy advisor for the Delaware State Housing Authority, said at the Aug. 21 meeting that she was alarmed by Baxter’s concerns about reducing density in AR-1 districts.
“I’m very sensitive to this unintended consequence of devaluing ag land,” Del Collo said.
While Baxter said reducing the number of homes allowed per acre by right to one would have a widespread effect on farmers across the county, Jon Horner, who represents the Home Builders Association of Delaware, said the effect could be more limited.
Farmland appraisals are based on sales of nearby farms, Horner said. Farmland in areas that are desirable for development has doubled in value in the past five years, while farmland elsewhere has remained fairly steady, he said. Baxter disagreed with his assessment.
“We probably don’t have time to figure this one out,” said Christophe Tulou, executive director of the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, of the effect on farmers.
“There needs to be a separate process – maybe with a group similar to this – to wrestle with the farm equity issues, the farmland value issue, but also this issue of development in places where we shouldn’t have it,” Tulou added. “We all are agreed on that. It’s just a question of figuring out how we can take care of that finance issue.”
During the public comment period near the end of the meeting, R.C. Willin, a fifth-generation farmer in Seaford, said he met the previous week with Farm Credit, a nationwide lender to farmers.
He said currently owned land and other investments will not be affected if the county changes its rules, but future loan requests would be based on lower appraisals that take into account the reduced zoning density.
“Anything that’s done to reduce the equity on our land, the opportunity to utilize that equity, and ultimately perhaps even to finance retirement, is jeopardized by your decisions here if they are not carefully considered,” Willin said.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
