Sussex administrator talks land-use trends at chamber luncheon

Last year, when Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson provided a late-fall update on land-use issues to Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber members, he talked about the reassessment, election results and building-related trends.

A year later, Lawson returned to the chamber for another update, and this time he talked about the land-use reform working group recommendations and more trends.

Land use can be a lighting-rod issue, said Lawson, describing the working group as a collection of individuals with diverse backgrounds that offered a wide range of opinions. 

The group submitted 20 recommendations that will guide a lot of the work over the next year, said Lawson during a general membership luncheon Nov. 19 at the Virden Center in Lewes. Council is eager to begin updating code, but it’s going to take quite a bit of time and energy, he said.

Predicting a lot of workshops in the future, Lawson said the county is going to begin tackling the recommendations in the next couple of months. It’s going to involve elected officials rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on addressing the issues, he said.

Lawson presented a number of informational slides showing that there’s been a bit of a chilling in construction-related numbers across the county: building permits have seen zero growth; there’s been a 30% decline in dwelling permits and residential permits; realty transfer tax revenue has dipped from $54.6 million to $37 million; and there was an overall decrease in building-related revenues, from roughly $15 million to approximately $12 million.

It’s hard to imagine in the eastern part of the county, because the day-to-day experience involves a lot of construction, said Lawson. It’s not alarming, but it’s being watched, he said.

One building-related trend on the rise is the number of site-plan reviews, which has seen an increase from 362 to 467 over the last year. Lawson attributed that increase to developers working years in advance of actual construction taking place.

During the question-and-answer portion, Lawson was asked his opinion of Atlantic Fields, a proposed 695,000-square-foot commercial center off Route 24 that includes a number of large commercial tenants. He said he didn’t expect county council members to take up the issue until after the new year, and the county has found itself in an interesting point of history.

The fact that site selectors for these large corporations are seriously thinking about Sussex County is an indication the county has grown to another level, said Lawson. It’s a delicate balance, because there are a lot of parameters the county has to consider, especially public safety, the environment and overall living conditions, but if those developments aren’t approved, it could be bad for future site selection processes, he said.

The meeting was the last general membership meeting of the year, which also meant it was the last for chamber President Carol Everhart, who is retiring after 36 years at the end of the year.

Replacing Everhart is Kate VanVorst, the chamber’s event coordinator and membership representative. She takes over as president Jan. 1.

VanVorst has been working at the chamber for most of the last 15 years. She interned in 2009 before becoming the event coordinator, a position she held for seven years. VanVorst left for a few years in the late 2010s, but returned in August 2021 to fulfill her current role.