What is a four-letter word that means enough? Moratorium.
Yes, it can be a four-letter word in some land-use circles. But look at it not as a red light but a yellow light meaning caution, slow down, danger ahead.
Not since 1889 has there been such a frenetic rush to grab every inch of land someplace as there is in Sussex County now. The number of new communities being built by Schell, Ryan and NV homes (listed on their websites) totals 40 that are currently in progress. This leaves out dozens of other builders, developers and independent contractors. The new subdivisions have become bigger than in the old days too. There are more old ones continuing to annex more land. Independence in Long Neck appears now to be working on phase 13.
There are several smart, caring, energetic community organizations that have formed with an eye on working with public officials, citizens, politicians, environmentalists and businesses to create a plan for responsible growth. In a short time, they've accomplished a series of steps forward – doing surveys, sending emails and holding workshops. In their efforts, they've uncovered areas where county officials have basically ignored state plans for land-use growth (level 4) and discovered projects where county planning & zoning people were unaware of changes that had been made to projects drasically in violation of the original proposals.
But in the light of the flawed draft Master Planned Zone ordinance, and other actions promised but not acted upon, it’s apparent these efforts are not slowing down the rate and amount of development in Sussex County.
So let's not call it a moratorium; call it a pause, or a staged or stepped work schedule by adding, say, a six-month interlude between different steps along the land-use way. This would allow for more citizen input, to provide more scientific data, to balance the plans in the face of daily climate changes and estimates. Begin to stage the projects only after DelDOT has aligned the proposals with its comprehensive plan. After all, DelDOT needs to decide how to get four lanes of evacuation traffic over a series of two-lane bridges.
Simply stated, if the process is slowed down, there's a chance that every partner in land use could actually benefit, including ospreys and beachfronts and legacy forests and watersheds.
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