The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

County Council approved the FY 2004 Capital Budget with next year's portion of the funding for the Southern New Castle County (SNCC) Sewer System intact. However, before taking the vote, Council announced that it will discuss and decide the fate of the SNCC Sewer System at its next regularly-scheduled meeting on June 10th. (See attached letter to members of Council.)

Council members are now considering several options. First, Council could confirm its 1999 decision to build a sewer system sufficient to handle eventual full development of the UDC-designated growth area South of the canal. Prior budgets have included nearly $50 million for the project and the County has already spent approximately $17 million buying the necessary land and preparing plans. Council could move ahead with the full plan or build the system in pods as needed. Second, Council could approve a scaled-back version. While the exit polling at the May 12th Public Meeting in Middletown showed approximately 60% of attendees supporting the SNCC Sewer System, some of those wanted a scaled-down version. Most want to provide sewer service, at the very least, for the Appoquinimink School District, the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District high school, and for limited employment. An undetermined, but vocal, number of residents, however, want to ensure that there is no sewer for residential development. Third, New Castle County could contract with Middletown to provide sewer service from Middletown's excess capacity. Middletown needs income for its new water farm, so this would seem logical. The County could agree to purchase sewer service until both Middletown grew to need its own sewer capacity and the County grew to the point it could support its own new system. However, the relationship between Middletown and the County has not been positive, and the County might view this agreement as putting the County at the mercy of Middletown. Fourth, Council could allow the private sector to provide sewer in Southern New Castle County. According to Chief Administrative Officer Sherry Freebery's statement at the April 29th Workshop, this would require amending the State Code.

The future of the best in planning and the best in environmental practices are at stake in Council's decisions. Best practices (such a cluster/open-space development, which provides more flexibility in housing and preserves more open space), will not be possible if Council reverses its 1999 decision to provide sewer in Southern New Castle County.

Clean Hands II Revised

The New Castle County Department of Land Use has produced a revision to Ordinance 03-024 which addresses some of the concerns of the business community with the original ordinance (see April 2003 FYI). Substitute 1 to Ordinance No. 03-024 removes the eight categories beyond “applicant, property owner, and equitable owner” which will be denied any land use application if not “in good standing with New Castle County.” However, that list is replaced with “any individual with a controlling interest in the property” and then provides a definition that is so sweeping that it, again, makes the ordinance problematic. In addition, the Substitute continues to extend “not in good standing” to any violation of the entire New Castle County Code, rather than the original UDC.

An Ordinance That's Good News!

New Castle Councilperson Patty Powell has introduced Ordinance 03-046 that would correct a problem that can prevent approved plans from being developed. Currently, if an approved plan has a restriction that requires a specific transportation improvement to be completed before development can proceed and DelDOT corrects the transportation problem that precipitated the restriction, but not by completing the specific improvement stipulated in the plan, the development cannot proceed. Charles Baker, General Manager, NCC Department of Land Use, recognized this problem and produced this ordinance to provide relief. The ordinance would amend the UDC so that when DelDOT certifies that “each note on the plan has been satisfied,” that certification “shall include documentation that DelDOT has reviewed all of its originally required recommendations for mitigation which were subsequently recorded as notes on the record plan, and agrees with the applicant that all conditions relating to DelDOT's requirements have been satisfied either by the applicant, or DelDOT, or some alternative method.”

Without Sewer, the Conservation Design Ordinance Takes Land

New Castle County Councilperson Karen Venezky introduced her Conservation Design Ordinance on May 13th. During the long discussions of the drafts of this ordinance, it was understood to work in concert with provision of sewer in Southern New Castle County. It is only with provision of sewer that such creative planning as the cluster/open space design option can be utilized. Both the cluster/open space design option and the Conservation Design Ordinance require fifty percent open space so can work together to provide creative and environmentally-sensitive design. If the Conservation Design Ordinance is adopted without provision of sewer and only large-lot development is allowed, then property owners will lose 50% of their development capacity because the Conservation Design Ordinance continues to require 50% open space even though each large lot has its own open space.

Draft Venezky Ordinance Affecting Minor Plans

When the study of New Castle County Councilperson Karen Venezky's Ordinance 99-146 (TIS for Minors) was presented to the NCC Small Business Commission (see April 2003 FYI), the Commission accepted the fact that Ord 99-146 would not solve the problem it was intended to address and would cause economic harm to the County, especially small businesses. However, the Commission requested that a narrower ordinance be drafted to address safety concerns associated with high-traffic minor plans. Karen has now distributed to the Commission, for its comment, a draft “Access and Operational Analysis for Minors” ordinance prepared by the Department of Land Use. While the intent of this ordinance is a good one, the draft, as written, has a very low threshold for triggering such an access and operational analysis. In addition, the definition and parameters of such an analysis need to be clarified. Beverley Baxter serves on the NCC Small Business Commission and she and members of the Land Use Committee will continue to provide input into this evolving draft ordinance.

SB 53 Would Repeal the Expansion of County Council

Delaware Senator Karen Peterson has introduced Senate Bill 53, which would repeal the General Assembly's 1996 decision to expand new Castle County Council from seven to thirteen members. If this, or a similar bill, is not approved by the General Assembly by June 30, 2003, the six councilmanic districts will be divided in half and there will be six additional councilpersons elected in the 2004 election. Several civic activists who have become known for their opposition to economic development are positioning themselves for that election.