As it looks to develop policy around affordable housing, a Milton ad hoc committee has begun its work by listening to officials from the state and Sussex County on programs to increase the amount of affordable/workforce housing.

As part of its data gathering, the affordable/workforce housing ad hoc committee hosted Sussex County Planning & Zoning Director Jamie Whitehouse and Sussex County Community Development and Housing Director Brandy Nauman April 11. 

In October 2022, the county updated its rental ordinance to allow developers to build apartment buildings with affordable units by right with density up to 12 units per acre without a public hearing that is usually required for multifamily housing. Rent is based on 80% of area median income and will be, on average, less than half the market rate rent. 

Nauman said the ordinance is intended to provide an administrative review process for developers to use in order to build affordable housing units. She said under the program, 25% of units must be set aside for affordable housing. One of the first developments to use the program is Coastal Tide, off Plantation Road near Lewes, which has set aside 26 units for affordable housing and plans to build six more units for a total of 32, Nauman said.

Whitehouse said at this point, the county has a near 18-month waiting list worth of applications for major development projects. He said the backlog serves as a bit of a carrot for the county to dangle in front of developers to provide affordable housing units within their projects, as they can have their application process sped up if they include such units.  

“To us, this is one of the most important documents in our whole plan,” Whitehouse said.

He said another aspect of the ordinance is that to take part in the rental program, a development has to be part of the county’s future growth area, which he said is intended to keep developers from building in remote areas and to put developments near amenities such as public transit. In addition, 50% of the development must be open space.

Nauman added, “These criteria can be difficult to meet, but that's also kind of what we wanted. This is a pretty significant give – 12 units to the acre – so we wanted to make sure we have really strong criteria in place to get a good project.”

In a prior meeting, the committee received a presentation from Delaware State Housing Authority on best practices for increasing affordable housing. Representatives from the housing authority plan to provide the committee with Milton-specific data regarding the percentage of homes for sale affordable to buyers making less than 20% of area median income and the percentage of Hispanics in town and their median household income.

The subject of affordable housing in Milton is part of the town’s comprehensive development plan, and the committee, chaired by planning and zoning Commissioner Lynn Ekelund, was formed to develop an equitable and sustainable method to implement affordable housing without negative impacts. The results would be included in a report that would be reviewed by town council, which would then decide a path forward on implementation.

The committee’s work started just as the town got its first test case involving affordable housing units in the Cypress Grove development at Route 16 and Country Road. 

In that case, the Milton Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional-use permit to increase its number of units from 240 to 246, and then designating 36 units as affordable housing. That plan was approved unanimously.