Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission is set to consider the first four proposed ordinances to redirect and limit housing development Wednesday, April 15, a day after Sussex County Council is expected to discuss a possible fifth rule.

P&Z held public hearings April 1 on draft ordinances involving the Sussex County Rental Program; open space requirements; preliminary plat requirements, interconnectivity and superior design; and subdivisions in rural areas and growth areas.

Votes by P&Z to make recommendations to county council are scheduled for April 15. The council will have its own public hearings before considering granting final approvals.

Assistant County Attorney Vince Robertson is set to discuss a proposed ordinance for forest preservation at the Tuesday, April 14 council meeting, but the agenda did not say a draft ordinance would be introduced then.

Introduction of forest preservation rules was delayed while the county consulted with the state forester.

The four ordinances being considered by P&Z are the first to advance based on recommendations finalized in September by the county Land Use Reform Working Group.

The panel was formed in response to increasing concerns about the effects of housing developments expanding into rural farmland and forests, where county and state planning did not anticipate growth.

That expansion has burdened roads, schools, emergency services, healthcare providers and the environment. It also led to sweeping political change that carried three candidates calling for limits on development into seats on the five-member County Council in 2024.

A proposal for a moratorium on consideration of plans for large housing developments in rural areas offered by one of the new members, Matt Lloyd, initially failed to receive support from other council members.

The council then formed the 10-member working group, which included representatives of interests such as farmers, environmentalists, builders and affordable housing advocates.

The group offered 20 recommendations after a seven-month process. The more complicated suggestions will be considered during creation of the next 10-year county comprehensive plan, expected to be completed by the end of 2028.

The council decided to move up the start of work on the comprehensive plan to early this year because of the extensive changes that are expected to be considered. 

A consultant to help draft the plan should be hired within a month, and the process will be started soon after, Robertson said during the April 1 P&Z Commission hearings on the draft ordinances now under review.

Other business on the agenda for the April 15 P&Z meeting includes a vote on the Rivers Edge cluster subdivision of 187 single-family houses on 125 acres on the northeast side of Cave Neck Road, seven-tenths of a mile east of Round Pole Bridge Road near Milton; and a public hearing on Stockley Acres, an 83-lot cluster subdivision of single-family houses on 41.7 acres on the south side of Stockley Road, four-tenths of a mile west of Beaver Dam Road near Milton.