County preps for comp plan update

By Sam Harvey
Staff Reporter

Think of them as Big Plans That Cover Everything. Via the state’s “Quality of Life Act of 1988,” comprehensive plans (comp plans) guide local land use and coordinate infrastructure development. They cover everything from economics to environment.

They carry the force of law – and the state demands that they be kept current. Delaware requires an update every five years, and Sussex County’s current comp plan was approved in 2003.

The state will want to review that update by October 2007, so there’s still plenty of time. But a document as important as the comp plan takes time – time to field public input, time to look at how the area’s changed since the last update. County officials got the ball rolling on April 12, at a meeting in Georgetown with Office of State Planning Coordination (OSPC) Director Constance Holland.

All five Sussex County Council members, and all five county Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission members, as well as County Administrator Bob Stickels, legal counsel and staff attended.

Holland led the discussion, and for the most part, county planners, through silence, implied consent. However, Council Member Vance Phillips did raise objection – strong objection – to Holland’s support for House Bill (HB) 280.

HB 280, “relating to wastewater management and sprawl prevention,” restricts development in the state’s rural areas. It allows no “on-site community wastewater” to accommodate housing developments out in the proverbial boondocks (as defined by Strategies for State Policies and Spending, also known as the State Strategies map) and, for subdivisions of more than five residential units, 4-acre zoning if a developer wants to install individual on-site septic.

Holland emphasized the importance of viewing HB 280 as part of a package deal. The anti-sprawl measure was just one element of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s Livable Delaware legislative agenda, she noted. Enabling legislation for Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs made for an essential complement.

In brief, the state is recommending local governments use TDRs in conjunction with Community Development Districts. Developers or a local TDR Bank could pay rural landowners for their development rights, in exchange for extra density in growth zones, (with the agreement that they would follow an Infrastructure Master Plan).

Holland offered several win-win examples of rural landowners who were able to “have their cake and eat it, too,” by combining 4-acre-zoning development with TDRs and other preservation programs.

However, “You’re painting a picture that’s maybe not accurate,” Phillips countered. “In the grand scheme of things, this administration is out of touch (in supporting HB 280), when the Secretary of Agriculture (Michael Scuse) is being asked to resign over his support for HB 280, by the Sussex Farm Bureau.”

“You’re not listening to the people,” Phillips stated. “And I take exception to you coming down here and, basically, telling us that you know how to run Sussex County better than we do.”

Council Member George Cole questioned Phillips’ reference to the Sussex Farm Bureau’s opposition. Cole said he suspected at least some members of the Sussex Farm Bureau were less interested in farming, and more interested in selling their land for development.

But P&Z Chair Robert Wheatley agreed with Phillips. “Everyone likes what you have to say, and we’re all encouraged by it,” he told Holland. “But by any stretch of the imagination, (HB 280) is a re-pricing of real estate,” Wheatley pointed out. “My concern is attention is going to be drawn away from that fact by the positive things your office is doing, but at the end of the day, that’s what it’s going to be.”

Holland, however, suggested Sussex County’s Agricultural-Residential (AR-1) zoning district had some major problems.

First, farmers and suburbanites don’t always get along so well. “You can’t have houses and chicken houses right next to one another,” Holland emphasized. “You’re sending a very mixed message that you can do both.”

Second, it is nearly impossible for the state to keep up with roads and services, when Sussex permits community wastewater for subdivisions out in the rural county, or even two residential units per acre (with individual onsite septic), she said.

“If you let people build big subdivisions out there in the hinterlands, we’re going to have to send our paramedics out there, we’re going to have to send our police out there,” Holland said. “And if the septic fails, you’re going to be coming to the General Assembly for help taking care of someone’s problem.

“We have to have a reality check, so when landowners come in, we can give them the good, the bad and the ugly,” she said. “And transportation has to be tied to sewer. I know people feel like the state’s trying to take over, but really – we’re trying to put options out there,” Holland insisted.

HB 280, introduced in June 2005, is still sitting in House committee and has seen no action since last year. The state has assembled a draft version of enabling legislation for the TDR program, but it hasn’t been introduced yet.

The latest comp plan update, completed in 2003, is available in its entirety on the county Web site, at www.sussexcounty.net. Scroll toward the bottom of the home page and look for the Comprehensive Development Plan link.

Per state requirements, every comp plan must contain:

(1) a future land-use plan
(2) a mobility element (roads, bicycle/pedestrian systems)
(3) a water and sewer element
(4) a conservation element
(5) a recreation and open-space element
(6) a housing element
(7) an intergovernmental coordination element
(8) a recommended community design element
(9) a historical preservation element
(10) an economic development element

As Holland pointed out, a Minner-appointed Livable Delaware Advisory Committee gets first crack at the update. It’s then submitted for an OSPC review and then back to the county for revisions (if necessary) before state certification.