Sussex plans to seek state funds to facilitate affordable housing
Sussex County Council plans to apply through a new state program for funds to draft a local law to facilitate affordable housing projects, and county officials found almost any of the options would support their plans.
Nearly all were among the 20 recommendations submitted early this month by the Sussex County Land-Use Reform Working Group, which spent six months formulating proposals to improve county housing development rules.
The goal is to focus growth near areas where it is occurring, create affordable housing and other kinds of needed housing, and protect the environment and farmland.
County council reviewed the working group's suggestions at a Sept. 14 meeting as it began to consider how to enact changes.
“I think this works very well with what we heard last week,” said Brandy Nauman, director of the Sussex County Community Development and Housing Department, at the Oct. 21 council meeting.
“The land-use reform working group report included 20 recommendations," Nauman added. “A lot of those obviously pertained to land use and affordable housing. So I think this will allow us to begin pretty quickly on some of those policies and ordinances that we discussed.”
If the county receives funding through the state program, it would choose one option among a list of those available to encourage creation of affordable housing. Those include:
- Allow missing middle housing types as a permitted use in residential zones
- Create pre-reviewed design plans for missing middle housing types
- Increase buildable density for housing by reducing minimum lot sizes and bulk standards
- Increase building heights for multifamily housing and/or mixed-use developments
- Establish an inclusionary zoning program to address affordable and workforce housing needs
- Allow higher-density, mixed-use with residential in commercial zones or employment centers
- Reduce parking requirements in areas zoned for residential and mixed-use to promote walkable communities and provide more affordable development opportunities.
“It does allow participating jurisdictions to select from a menu of reforms that they want to pursue,” Nauman said. “There are about eight, and I think we would want to pursue most of them or at least consider most of them.”
“We'll be setting the parameters,” Councilman Steve McCarron said.
The deadline for applying for the state funding is next month, and a decision is expected to be announced by the state early next year, Nauman said.
An outside consultant would be hired with the funds to assist the county with the process, she said. The county would not be obligated to adopt any changes.
A county affordable housing program enacted in recent years has drawn little response, prompting discussions about making changes, even before the working group was created.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
