Sussex County holds first off-site public hearing at Delaware Tech

History was made Jan. 21 when the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing outside a county facility for the first time in anyone’s memory.

Because of COVID-19 state-of-emergency social distancing requirements, county officials decided to move some of their meetings with public hearings to the Carter Partnership Center on the Delaware Technical Community College campus in Georgetown to accommodate larger crowds and still follow the guidelines. Council chambers in the county administration building can accommodate a limited attendance of 30 people.

While more room is being made available to applicants and those wanting to testify in person, comments can still be called in via telephone, and meetings are still livestreamed from the college setting.

Over the next six months, the commission and Sussex County Council plan to meet at the college at least once a month in an effort to act on a backlog of applications. County staff is working with college staff to maintain the technology necessary to run the meetings.