Sussex County government, led by Sussex County Council, has failed to appropriately regulate property development in Sussex County. This is resulting in population growth with no plan to stay within the limits of available natural and municipal resources. This is destroying the very characteristics of the area that attract both tourists and new residents.
By its inaction, county government is requiring the residents of Sussex County to pay for development success, in the form of decreased quality of life and future tax burdens to rectify the damage done:
1. Sussex County has offered to pay Rehoboth Beach $20 million to push treated county sewage out of Rehoboth's ocean outflow. More people produce more sewage. It’s got to go somewhere
2. Stormwater retention ponds are an incomplete solution to managing runoff from developments; they’re causing silting of creeks that feed the Inland Bays, and areas near new developments are flooding that previously did not
3. About 43,000 acres of forest, about 7% of Sussex land area, were lost between 1998 and 2021. Forestland absorbs runoff. When it’s gone, that ecosystem service is lost, and neighboring properties pay the cost
4. Congestion and accident rates on Sussex roads are rising with population. Gridlock – intersections not clearing in time for cross traffic to proceed – can be observed year-round. The 2018 county comprehensive plan states that there is limited opportunity to widen Sussex roads
5. Local emergency responder agencies indicate they’re already overburdened and they’ll be unable to support further population growth without government assistance for paid professional services. Medical providers are similarly overburdened. Designated emergency evacuation routes are clogged daily
6. Local school districts are experiencing exponential growth in new students and struggle to fund new classroom space.
The current county council evidently has no plan to control development to keep it from exhausting these resources. Some people call booming property development progress and claim it’s inevitable. But if it’s defiling the environment and ruining our quality of life, then we’re all left paying the costs of that success. They’re too high.
It’s time for this to change. No one is talking about a building moratorium; that would just be a Band-Aid. County government has sole authority to regulate development in Delaware, and it needs to do that appropriately, based on the realities of available resources.
Jane Gruenebaum is running for Sussex County Council District 3, and will deliver that balance:
1. Pace growth to make it sustainable given available resources
2. Protect the environment
3. Ensure that emergency responders, schools, traffic systems and other municipal resources have the tools and personnel needed
4. Create concrete plans and regulations, and then implement and enforce them to produce these results.
Sussex can thrive without destroying itself. Jane will help deliver the change to make that happen. Vote for her for Sussex County Council District 3 Tuesday, Nov. 5.