Sussex getting close to comp plan completion

Although Sussex County's 2018 comprehensive land-use plan has not officially been approved by the governor's office, Sussex County Council is taking steps to prioritize some of the more than 300 action items included in the plan.

At council's Feb. 26 meeting, County Administrator Todd Lawson said council has reached consensus on five priorities: Delaware Department of Transportation issues; economic development; open space; agriculture; and telecommunications, including expansion of broadband.

Included within the priorities are 19 possible action items council can choose to address now or in the future.

Among the action items:

Transportation: Possible formation of a transportation committee; consideration of a dedicated county fund for transportation projects; and consideration for ways to increase capacity and reduce development encroachment with increased setbacks, easements and interconnectivity.

Economic development: Explore establishment of county economic development grids and zones to promote economic development; a review of code and the development process to determine if there are prohibitive costs to industrial park developers; and identification of areas with adequate infrastructure to be rezoned light industrial.

Agriculture: Possible promotion and expansion of land use, zoning and conservation policies and possible incentives to keep agriculture economically viable; explore incentives for landowners – such as property tax exemption – to encourage long-term forest management.

Open space: Consider an ordinance to protect established, mature trees during construction of new developments; consider county financing for open-space preservation and management to leverage state and federal funding; and consider strengthening regulations to ensure open space dedicated by developers contains contiguous areas.

Telecommunications: Consider revision of code to streamline the approval and construction of telecommunications infrastructure, including cell towers; and encourage power and communications utilities be placed underground.

Lawson: Come back with more info

Lawson said DelDOT and transportation issues are clearly at the top of council's list of priorities. He said council could stick to that single priority or choose top action items from other priorities to address. He suggested council select 10 of the 19 proposed action items and rank those.

Councilman I.G. Burton of Lewes said council should address as many action items as possible within a timely manner. “We all want to be working off the same script. We want your feedback to see what you would like us to begin working on,” Lawson said.

Lawson said some action items would require new ordinances and others could require interaction with state legislators and change in state code. Some could be addressed more quickly than others. Lawson said staff would look closer at the action items and provide more information to council, including possible time frames. “You may need more answers before ranking. We need to determine how hard some of these might be,” he said.

Rich Borrasso, representing Sussex Alliance for Responsible Growth, said a recent survey of nearly 400 county residents unveiled the following priorities: future land use; conservation; recreation and open space; and mobility, or transportation.

Council has already taken steps to address two issues in the plan by forming a working group to review existing wetlands and buffers regulations and hiring a consultant to assess the county's affordable housing issues.

Lawson said he expects final adoption of the plan soon.