The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

There is an increasing pattern, in both New Castle County Council and the General Assembly, of legislators introducing legislation to stop a particular development after it has been lawfully proposed. In addition, Representative Cathcart still has alive his bill (HB 384) from last year that would amend the Delaware Code to allow New Castle County to change its Code in the middle of the approval process to stop a plan which the County or the community didn't like.

The most recent example of trying to legislate away development rights in New Castle County is Rich Abbott's Ordinance 00-023, which was introduced to downzone a property (taking away existing development rights) after the owners submitted a plan for a lawful addition to the site. (See attached testimony of The Committee of 100.) Last year, Councilperson Abbott introduced an ordinance to reduce the square footage allowable under a minor plan. That ordinance would have defeated the purpose of the minor plan and met with substantial opposition. This year's ordinance has received a negative recommendation from both the Department of Land Use and the Planning Board and now goes to County Council for its vote.

Karen Venezky's Ordinance 99-146 would also take away development rights. This ordinance, even in its Substitute 1 form, would make minor plans which would produce more than 50 peak hour trips, subject to the same traffic analysis, traffic impact studies, and Level of Service limits (which can stop development altogether) as rezonings and major land development plans. The 50-trip threshold is so low that most minor plans would be caught. This new impediment to minor plans would add so much expense, time, and uncertainty to the process that most small businesses would be blocked from expansion in New Castle County and larger businesses would have to look much more carefully at their cost/benefit analysis. Such a limitation on minor plans flies in the face of the New Castle County Comprehensive Plan which has a goal of encouraging infill to utilize existing infrastructure and slow sprawl.

In the General Assembly there was, of course, the flood of anti-development bills introduced after the Americana Bayside proposal for a planned community on 865 acres in Sussex County near Senator Sharp's vacation home. In the first barrage of reactionary bills, Senator Sharp introduced four and Senator Bunting two; the two together introduced seven, with Representative Shirley Price joining them in six. While aimed at a particular project in Sussex, the bills have the potential for impacting the entire State. New bills just kept coming until Sussex County officials took exception to the notion that they could not responsibly determine land use. Interestingly, at the public hearing, half the speakers favored the planned development.

There are still other bills floating out there besides Cathcart's that could impact economic development in New Castle County. Representative Oberle and Senator Winslow are sponsoring HB 533 to eliminate term limits for members of the Planning Board. HB 537, with 45 co-sponsors, would require that the counties notify all property owners within 500 feet of a parcel proposed for rezoning. This, of course, comes after New Castle County has proactivelly rezoned every parcel in the County as part of the Unified Development Code. HB 468, introduced by Wayne Smith, would allow New Castle County to appeal Board of Adjustment decisions granting area variances to County Council. Smith's newly-introduced HB 566 apparently corrects the bill to provide the applicant, as well as the County, the same appeal.

Economic Development In The Department Of Land Use

No it's not an oxymoron. Or, it's not intended to be. Shawn Tucker has announced the hiring of two Assistant Land Use Administrators for Economic Development, Lloyd Sanders and Antonette Dushel-Maring. In addition, Shawn is inviting input from the business community on the economic development plan for the County and the role of the two Economic Development Administrators. Representatives of The Committee of 100 met with Shawn, Lloyd, and Antonette to discuss the County's plan and the new Administrators' role and have arranged a meeting between the three and Committee of 100 members in the banking and real estate fields.

New Certificate Of Occupancy Requirements

The New Castle County Department of Land Use has established a new Certificate of Occupancy policy for the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy for Commercial Properties. The written request for inspection, together with copies of the surety agreement, approved record plan, approved landscaping plan, and stormwater management as-built must be accompanied by a certification by the developer that the development and landscape plan are complete and in compliance with the Code and certification by a landscape architect that the required landscaping has been installed in accordance with the approved Landscape Plan. "Record Plan Inspections will be conducted within three working days of receipt of all required materials." Likewise a second. "Should the second or subsequent inspections fail, then there are no guarantees on the time it will take to schedule further inspections. Those subsequent inspections will be conducted when convenient to the Planning Division staff."

New Land Development Improvement Agreements

The New Castle County Department of Land Use has also issued a new policy regarding cost estimates for the UDC-required Land Development Improvement Agreements (LDIA). Recognizing that the LDIA process has been a delay point in the approval process, Shawn Tucker, Manager of the Land Use Department, says that the new policy should "streamline" the process to speed up the LDIA portion of the approval process. Applicants can choose between two methods for calculating the bonding requirements for the Land Development Improvement Agreements: the Cost Estimate method or the Formula method. According to the Department of Land Use, the new Formula method and the items subject to surety were developed through a joint effort between consulting engineers and the Department. This appears to be a work in progress, as applicants have already run into problems, e.g., overlapping bonding requirements. The Department invites comments and suggestions for improvements.

The Board of Directors of The Committee of 100 has elected new officers for two-year terms. Richard G. Hatfield, Chairman, Colonial Parking, Inc. was elected President; Richard A. Stratford, Vice President, Tevebaugh Associates, Vice President; T. Sean Costello, Senior Vice President, PNC Bank, Dian C. Taylor, President, Artesian Water Company, and Thomas E. Meyer, Director, Transportation Engineering, Tetra Tech, Inc., Second Vice Presidents; and Julianne E. Hammond, Special Counsel, Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley, LLP, Secretary. Larry D. Gehrke, Partner, Bellevue Holding Company, completed a two-year term as President and will continue to serve as a member of the Board as the immediate Past President.