The Sussex County Council and the Planning & Zoning Commission met on September 21st at the County Emergency Center in Georgetown to discuss development issues and potential County Code changes. The workshop covered issues of great importance to future development and the need to preserve woodlands and open spaces.

Although the public was invited to attend, the meeting was not a public hearing, and the public was not invited to participate in the discussion. However, the LWVSCDE Observer Corps attended the meeting and report the following key takeaways:

• The County needs to improve perimeter buffer rules, develop a single standard for perimeter rules, and develop standards for violations (including withholding of building permits).
• There is a need to complete forest assessments, create planting plans, and develop percentage goals for forest preservation.
• Open spaces must be better defined in the County Code, better definitions are needed for active and passive open spaces, and the general 30% open space rule needs reconsideration.
• The County’s superior design rules (Code § 115-25) need to be updated, subdivision rules (§99-9C) need revisions, and consideration should be given to making the 17 criteria for approval mandatory.
• Consideration should be given to expanding the accessory dwelling units (ADUs) rules to include attached units.
• Review is needed of uses for single-wides in GR zones and double-wides in AR-1 zones.
• The County needs to define managed meadows and areas around ponds and storm water retention ponds.
• Study the issue of interconnectivity rules for new developments is needed. (A P&Z Commissioner commented that the County is becoming a “spiderweb of shortcuts through housing communities.”)

A full set of materials developed for the workshop and followup, including a slide presentation and a list of possible action items for each topic discussed, can be found the Sussex County site at this link: County Council/Planning and Zoning Joint Workshop]