Sussex County Council Holds Marathon Next-to-Last Meeting of the Year
UPDATED – 12/10/24 – The Sussex County Council held a marathon session Tuesday beginning an hour early at 9am to hold public interviews for candidates for the Board of Assessment Review. Eight people are needed for the Board. The Council will revisit the appointments during the next Council meeting.
The Council Chamber saw a nearly full house by the time the public interviews were over and regular Council business began. During the morning session the Council held 5 public hearings. Two were to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds for two projects – the Briarwood Estates Project and the Winding Creek Village Water District Project. Both were approved. An ordinance to amend the County Code to include the imposition of a lodging tax of 3% of the rent for short-term rentals in unincorporated areas of Sussex County saw a handful of people asking the Council to vote against the tax. Just one resident asked for the tax to be approved. The Council voted 3 to 2 to deny the motion to approve the ordinance amendment.
Two other ordinance amendments were approved after lengthy testimony from county residents. Ordinance 24-05 on Subdivision Design Criteria saw several amendments outlined by Assistant County Attorney Vince Robertson and won unanimous approval from the Council. Ordinance 24-06 on Open Space was also approved with a 5 to 0 vote.
When the afternoon session began around 1:30 – a new group of people filled the Council chambers. There were four Conditional Use applications for public hearing. CU No. 2457 on behalf of JBM Petroleum Service, LLC was approved by the Council unanimously. As was CU No. 2490 on behalf of Mason Hayes.
The final two Conditional Use public hearings were lengthy. Testimony for CU No. 2545 on behalf of J.G Townsend, Jr. & Co. went on for 90 minutes and as there has been no recommendation from the Planning & Zoning Commission on this application – the Council had no option but to defer their vote. The public had a lot to say about Conditional Use No. 2543 on behalf of Toney Floyd & Charletta Speaks-Floyd. Residents of several neighboring developments told the Council they wanted peace and quiet and not the commercial hauling, goods and materials delivery services and driveway installation business that’s through the buffer trees from their homes near Oak Orchard. Over 2-hours later, the Council opted to defer their vote to give the testimony better study – but will vote on the application next week.
The Council finally closed the meeting just before 6:30pm. The Sussex County Council is scheduled to meet next week – the final meeting of the year.Â
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ORIGINAL STORY – 12/09/24 – The Sussex County Council will meet at 9am Tuesday morning to hold public interviews for candidates for the Board of Assessment Review. This board will hear appeals for the property tax assessments that County residents have been receiving since November. There are 8 appointments to fill.
There are public hearings at 10:15 for three ordinance amendments – two for the issuance of general obligation bonds for the Briarwood Estates Project and Winding Creek Village Water District Project. The third is to amend the County Code to include the imposition of a 3% lodging tax for short term rentals in unincorporated areas of Sussex County.
There will be two public hearings at 10:30 to amend the ordinance on subdivision design criteria and the ordinance on open space.
There are 4 Conditional Use application public hearings in the afternoon session beginning at 1:30pm.
The Council meets at the County Administration Building on The Circle in Georgetown.Â
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