Senior facilities now require Sussex P&Z, council scrutiny
The Sussex County Board of Adjustment will no longer rule on senior facilities such as assisted living, independent living and nursing homes.
Under a new ordinance passed April 16 by Sussex County Council, the facilities in most cases must file conditional-use applications, which require public hearings before the planning and zoning commission and county council.
In AR-1, MR, GR, UR and UB zoning districts, applicants would be required to file a conditional-use application. Previously, applicants filed a special-use exception with one hearing before the board of adjustment.
In addition, the ordinance aligns with the county's new commercial zoning districts where the facilities are permitted uses. The ordinance also includes the facilities as permitted uses in B-1, C-1 and CR-1 zones, which are closed commercial zoning districts in the county. Although developers can no longer apply for those three districts, there are parcels throughout the county with those zoning classifications.
Assistant county attorney Vince Robertson said the previous ordinance lacked clear definitions. The ordinance now reads “nursing and similar care facilities such as assisted-living, graduate-care, extended-care, independent-living, intermediate-care, nursing and similar care facilities.”
Robertson said the facilities are land-use decisions and should be under the purview of planning and zoning and county council, not the board of adjustment.
