I attended the Sussex County Council meeting Oct. 21, along with friends and neighbors. We were there to oppose the Atlantic Fields shopping center.
It will, undoubtedly, add to the congestion of these already crowded roads. I don’t need to rely on old data or a modeled projection of the traffic, because I drive and bike these roads.
Even without summer traffic, there are backups due to the number of cars already on these roads.
I found the comments and questions from council members interesting, but Councilman Matt Lloyd’s dialogue stood out in particular. It was apparent he’s in favor of rezoning for the Atlantic Fields monstrosity. He even commented, if not here, then where? That has nothing to do with the vote on a zoning change. That comment, along with his other statements, was made prior to hearing the three hours of testimony on why the zoning change should not happen. I found that unprofessional.
This is the same Matt Lloyd who ran for office on the platform of slower, controlled growth.
He stated after being elected, he believes council should establish guidelines that encourage growth in areas where it already exists and is supported by infrastructure. Lloyd said the county needs to determine community needs and set guidelines to encourage developers to work toward those goals. The private sector will respond by building workforce housing, Lloyd predicted. The Delaware Department of Transportation will also upgrade infrastructure to support well-planned growth, he said.
Fast forward 10 months, and he seems to be in favor of a project that would likely harm small, locally owned retail businesses, does not have the necessary infrastructure, with no talk of workforce housing being constructed by the developer, and one of the most crucial road improvement projects to ease congestion is decades away.
What changed?
Oh, it’s not in his District 1 backyard, so that must make it OK.
I have to question, if I cannot vote for a District 1 council member, why is a District 1 council member allowed to vote on what takes place in District 3?
My opinion is, Sussex County should do away with districts so our council members will hopefully represent all constituents equally.
The last thing we need here or anywhere in the country is another politician who thinks they only represent a portion of the population.
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