Correction: Sussex County Council Discusses Affordable & Workforce Housing and Creation of Land Use Development Task Force
The Sussex County Council held a joint meeting with the Planning & Zoning Commission at the Sussex County EOC Tuesday morning to discuss affordable and workforce housing and the costs of housing construction. The discussion included presentations by Caitlin Del Collo, who staffs the DSHA Affordable Housing Task Force as part of her work as DSHA’s Chief Strategy Advisor, Rachel Stucker, Executive Director of Housing Alliance Delaware and Mike Riemann, President of the Home Builders Association of Delaware.
The discussion focused around the over abundance of single family detached homes (in 2021 – 64% of homes in East Sussex and 70% in West Sussex) and a lack of housing that is affordable to the majority of Sussex County residents and that what would be affordable – just doesn’t exist. The predominance of single-family homes contributes to sprawl, limits housing opportunities for lower-income households and contributes to the rising rate of homelessness. Sussex County’s recent ordinance allowing ADUs did receive kudos from the State Housing Authority. Some recommendations included changes in zoning districts that allow small lot single family dwellings, multifamily homes and provide incentives for the development of diverse housing types.
The Council moved back to the County Administrative Building for the regular Council meeting at 1pm. County Administrator Todd Lawson led a discussion on the creation of a task force to analyze land use development in Sussex County. This task force would recommend updates to the County Code and Comprehensive Land Use Plan that result in smarter and more sustainable development practices. The Council will revisit this in two weeks.
Director of Public Safety, Robbie Murray, came before the council to renew an agreement between Delaware Tech and Sussex County EMS. The current agreement has expired, but to maintain accreditation the college is required to have agreements with all clinical partners. Sussex County EMS for many years has supported the Allied Health programs at Delaware Tech – which allows college students to ride-along with paramedics – and paramedics – at times – serving as instructors on various pre-hospital topics. The Council unanimously voted to renew the Healthcare Provider Agency Agreement with Delaware Tech.
DelDOT is looking for your recommendations on Transportation Projects that could be added to the Capital Transportation Program (CTP) for Sussex County. These are larger scale projects that could be implemented in future years. Two years ago 13 projects statewide were selected – 6 of them were in Sussex County. You can submit your CTP ideas though a form on the County website through 4pm on March 24th.
The Council reheard a conditional use application No. 2454 on behalf of H & K Group, Inc for a borrow pit in Shiloh Church Road near Laurel. The Council was hearing this application for the second time – because the original two public hearings were incorrectly listed to the wrong Delaware Hundred. As in November when the original application was heard by the Council, about a half dozen people spoke in opposition to the application. With three new members on the Council since the first public hearing, they have deferred a vote and will revisit the conditional use application at a later date.
The Sussex County Council is off next Tuesday and is expected to return to chambers on Tuesday, February 25th.