The following letter was sent to Sussex County Council with a copy provided to the Cape Gazette for publication.
Ordinance review and finalization are difficult jobs, understandably.
Sussex County Council has a crucial task that impacts all residents of our county. Trying to achieve something makes us confront what is right and wrong. Multiple grassroots citizens groups have sprouted as a result of our county’s sloppy demise of crucial environmental sustainability and infrastructure.
When development is moving faster than every other county entity, the lopsided pressure overpowers all citizens’ health, safety and welfare. Facts, figures and educational presentations have been demonstrated at planning & zoning commission and county council public hearings for many years, and often not considered because of grainy ordinance descriptions.
It was a big step to have a forum of the county decision makers showing an intent of updating ordinances. This, finally, is a sign of progress.
Each and every ordinance must have a succinct description where there is no room for manipulation.
A county legal team, rather than one lawyer, should be considered. Responsible guardrails formed in this rewrite fall on council representees’ responsibility. Just a handful of people are making ordinance decisions that subsequently affect thousands of citizens. As it is good to structure this overwhelming obligation with planning and finalization dates, take the considerable time to achieve the very highest accomplishment of all of us. Extend the early completion deadline of Dec. 31. It simply is not enough time. To do it right, it will take investigative reviews, debating, scripting and proper editing. Because haste makes waste, and we citizens are currently experiencing the dreadful waste that rapid approvals using hasty methods caused. Sussex council, take the necessary time to make achievable, coherent and impactful changes for all of Sussex County.
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