Milton Town Council is seeking answers from officials at the Office of State Planning Coordination on why it wants the town to remove three parcels from its future land-use map.

The map serves as a guide for Milton and how the town could theoretically be expanded via annexation. It extends the potential future borders of Milton as far north as Reynolds Pond Road, as far south as Neptune Road and east up to Beaverdam Creek. The town is required, as part of its comprehensive development plan, which is reviewed and ratified by the state, to submit a future land-use or expansion map. 

Milton submitted its map as part of the 2023 update to its comprehensive plan. However, state agencies voiced concerns about eight parcels that officials wanted to see removed from the map. That number was later reduced to three after discussions with town officials. The three properties state planners want removed are: Four Winds Farm, a development that has begun construction but could still be annexed into Milton; Triple C Farms off Harbeson Road; and the property next to Triple C Farms. 

The objections mainly came from Delaware Department of Transportation regarding the town’s transportation improvement district. Projects within a TID get priority for state funding, and DelDOT and Milton officials have worked on the TID for years. The argument from DelDOT is that if all the parcels are included on the future land-use map, it would mean the TID would have to be reconfigured to include all of them.

At Milton Planning and Zoning Commission’s March 18 meeting, Project Coordinator Tom Quass said the owners of the properties under consideration have all asked to be included in the future land-use map. At that same meeting, the commission decided no changes should be made, reasoning that the town’s future land-use decisions are the town’s business. 

However, at their May 5 meeting, council members wanted to hear from state planning officials as to why the three parcels should be excluded, and they voted unanimously to table further decisions on the future land-use map until then.