Sussex County Council Re-elects Council President & Vice President

The Sussex County Council is back in session for the new year. Their first order of business was to elect Council officers. There will be no change – Doug Hudson was re-elected as Council President and John Rieley was re-elected as Council Vice President.

At the first meeting of each year not only elects officers, but also appoints legal staff.  Council approved J. Everett Moore Jr. to re-appointment as County Attorney. Mr. Moore serves at the pleasure of the County Council as the elected body’s chief counsel. Staff from the Moore & Rutt and Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze law firms will represent the Board of Adjustment and Planning & Zoning Commission respectively as assistant county attorneys.

The Council did make a change in the Rules of Procedure, adding a new rule 10A.1.1 – and postponed a vote for a week on a second proposed change that deals with the rules that are read by the county attorney at the start of Land Use public hearings.

County Administrator Todd Lawson in the Administrator’s report told Council that property owners who believe that the assessed value of their property does not reflect the fair market value as of July 1, 2023 may file an application for appeal beginning January 12, 2026.  The application period will remain open through March 15, 2026 with hearings held, as needed, through May 31st.  Applications and filing guidelines are available on the Sussex County Government website.

In Old Business, the County Council revisited four applications for Cool Spring Crossing – which included an ordinance to amend the future land use map, a change of zone and two conditional use applications. However there was no vote as this was only to announce the closure of the record for each application. The Council also revisited the Mulberry Knoll Associates Change of Zone for the same reason – to announce the closure of the record for this as well. However CZ No. 2037 on behalf of Mulberry Knoll Associates, LLC, will be on next week’s agenda under Old Business – with a possible vote from the Council.

The County Council approved the following reappointments to the Airport Advisory 2026 Committee –  

Airport manager Bob Bryant brought a couple of motions before the Council regarding the Runway 4-22 Extension Project. Bryant was looking for approval by the Council for the “Authority to Sign” a FAA Airport Improvement Program Grant Application and “Authority to Sign” a FAA Airport Improvement Project Grant Offer/Agreement for work associated with FAA required Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design for the proposed Runway 4-22 Extension project. The grant, for $1-million is being funded with Congressionally-Directed Spending funds, thanks to US Senator Tom Carper. There is a local share match that Sussex County will be responsible for of $52,631.58. The Council approved both motions.

There was an public hearing during the afternoon session on an ordinance to amend the future land use map of the comprehensive plan. This was Ordinance No. 20-07 for Reed Farms. A change of zone application No. 1923 was introduced to the County Council in July of 2020 to rezone the property west of Milton from AR-1 to HI-1 – for heavy industrial use. The property in question was in a low density area where heavy industrial is not permitted and Ordinance 20-07 was introduced, which would change the property’s designation on the land use map from a Low Density Area to a Developing Area. In February 2021, the Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of both CZ 1923 and Ordinance 20-07, but the County Council eventually denied both applications. The applicant appealed in Chancery Court and this past July the Court ordered that Ordinance 20-07 be resubmitted to the County Council for a new public hearing and new vote. 

That public hearing was held Tuesday afternoon – however the Council is only considering Ordinance 20-07. However because the Heavy Industrial zoning was an option in 2020, many area residents attended the public hearing to again contest the zoning change. This hearing is only on changing the designation on the the land use map from a Low Density area to a Developing Area – and has nothing to do with any actual zoning change. County Attorney J. Everett Moore told those in the chamber that the current zoning on the property is AR-1 and even after a vote on Ordinance 20-07 – the property will remain AR-1 unless the applicant files a change of zone application at a later date – which would bring another public hearing and vote. After this week’s public hearing the County Council unanimously deferred and will revisit Ordinance 20-07 at a later date.

Sussex County Council will meet next Tuesday – beginning at 1pm – in the County Administration Building on The Circle in Georgetown.

CLICK HERE FOR THE COUNCIL AGENDA