The Milton Planning and Zoning Commission discussed community and economic development and sustainability July 24, as part of its ongoing, monthly series of meetings on chapters of the town’s comprehensive development plan.

The commission has begun its 10-year update of the plan, which will need state approval by 2028. The strategy is to take chapters of the plan and discuss them individually before commissioners break off into groups and start writing the update, which will happen early next year. 

For the commission, the main change regarding this section is to have some sort of advocacy for the town. 

"There’s nobody out there rah-rahing Milton as a significant town in Delaware,” said Chair Richard Trask.

What that would be is still to be determined. Milton has a chamber of commerce and a Main Street, but commission members said those organizations aren’t really going out and seeking to bring new people to town as much as they are coordinating events. There had been a sustainability committee, but that committee was allowed to sunset, and an economic development committee was eventually folded into Main Street. Trask added the town does not really have a dedicated social media feed.

“I think there’s a void there,” he said.

Commissioner Don Mazzeo said the town needed to find a way to incentivize businesses to come to Milton, whether that’s through tax relief or some other way.

“There is no incentive for anyone to come to this town. ‘Come here, you can pay town taxes for us!’ Why would they do that when I can just go down the road and get the same services? The fire department covers 100 square miles. The police department is the closest to respond,” he said. 

The commission agreed that growing the town’s tax base requires going out and luring people in, and not having to rely on property taxes as the town’s main source of revenue. Trask said in conversations with Mayor John Collier, one of the biggest stumbling blocks is a lack of workforce housing. The commission discussed the idea of trying to lure a hotel to Milton as a way the town could increase economic development while expanding revenue. However, to make that happen, the commission agreed there is a need for someone to be out there advocating on the town’s behalf. 

Among other changes to the existing plan in this section, the commission agreed to take out sections relating to age-friendly communities and to switch out a section on Delaware Bay Shore Byways with the more recent Coastal Corridors study. The commission wants to clear up sections with vague language, but they agreed there are good ideas in the existing plan worth keeping. 

The commission’s next meeting on the comprehensive plan is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 14.