Sussex County Council to Hold Workshop Thursday and Defer Action on Osprey Point Change of Zone Application
The Sussex County Council will hold a workshop with the County Planning & Zoning Commission on Thursday to continue the discussion on the Development Design Initiative. This relates to open space, buffers, forest preservation, inter-connectivity and more. The workshop will be streamed on the County’s website at https://sussexcountyde.gov/council-chamber-broadcast . The meeting will begin at 12:30pm at the Sussex County EOC at the Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown. This meeting will be open to the public, but no public comment will be allowed.
The Council heard from Finance Director Gina Jennings and Community Development and Housing Director, Brandy Nauman with an update on the reallocating of ARPA funds for low-income housing rehabilitation. Jennings told the Council that after allocating the ARPA funding – there was $537,610 left over that had not been used. Her recommendation was to use that funding for the Housing Rehabilitation Program. Nauman says that there is rehabilitation funding – including from Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) & County Council – and the “beauty of the ARPA funding was that there were no geographic restrictions in terms of how we were using it. So it was truly a random, at need use of funding.” Funds were used for roof repairs, handicap ramps, heating and AC needs, weatherization and other home rehabilitation needs across the county.
Jay Shine, EMS Manager of Operations, told the Council that the County EMS are looking for approval of a vendor agreement with Beebe Healthcare. This agreement formalizes the relationship between EMS and Beebe to be able to replace expired medications and order new – including controlled substances through the Beebe Healthcare pharmacy. The Council approved the agreement with a unanimous vote.
The afternoon session saw a packed house for the land use applications before the Sussex County Council. The Council first dealt with an Ordinance No 23-11 and Conditional Use No 2350. While the Ordinance has been approved by the Sussex County P&Z, the CU, which was deferred until the ordinance was approved, has not been reheard by the County Planning Commission. After hearing the information from P&Z Director Jamie Whitehouse and having no one comment during the public hearing, the County Council voted to defer until a recommendation is made on the Conditional Use application by the P&Z Commission.
The final agenda item, a Change of Zone application No. 1973 on behalf of Osprey Point Preserve, LLC, brought nearly three hours of testimony. The applicant’s attorney described the application for nearly an hour – to amend the original change of zone No 1759 to include a marina and restaurant amenity area. While there were a handful of people who supported the application, most in the chamber were not in support. They cited the closeness to neighboring properties, increased traffic, noise, trash and safety. Old Landing Road has multiple residential developments and many felt a commercial entity was out of character for the area. Others cited possible damage to Arnell Creek and the wildlife that lives in the area. The County Planning Commission recommended a partial denial of the application to allow commercial uses within the residential planned community – but also recommended partial approval on the request for the marina. The Sussex County Council has deferred a vote on the application so they can review all the testimony that was delivered Tuesday afternoon.
The Sussex County Council will meet next for the Workshop with the Planning & Zoning Commission on Thursday at 12:30 at the Sussex County EOC at the Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown. The Council will hold its next regular meeting next Tuesday at the County Administration Building in Georgetown.
