The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

As announced at the September Dinner Meeting, The Committee of 100 website at www.committeeof100.com was launched September 17th. Visitors to the site will find information about The Committee of 100 and a current listing of the Board of Directors in About Us, as well as a photo gallery with pictures from dinner meetings and the dinner auction. The Committees section includes a description of the work of each committee with a list of all committee members. Both the FYI Archives and Meeting Notes sections include three years of information from FYIs and Meeting Notices, including speaker photos, and the Scholarship section shows all scholarship winners and provides a download of the Scholarship Application. Finally, the Link section provides a direct link to key government sites as well as to the websites of private-sector organizations which focus on economic development. The Committee of 100 email addresses are now linked to the website and the Contact Us section provides email links to both Executive Director Beverley Baxter (bbaxter@committeeof100.com and Secretary Venee Purnell (venee@committeeof100.com).

Conservation Design Ordinance

In late August, the Gordon Administration unveiled a draft Conservation Design Ordinance, later dubbed, "New Castle County's Environment First: A Land Use Strategy for the New Century." While pre-release verbal reports of this proposal focused on providing conservation design options for the management of stormwater in the County's land-use approval process, the written draft, dated August 27, 2002, turned out to be quite a different document. As presented in the 8/27 draft, most provisions become requirements rather than options. Among other things, the Ordinance requires that 50% of all land be dedicated open space; 50% of all lots back up to open space; 95% of the open space be Natural Resource Area in subdivisions of 50 acres or more; 80% of the Natural Resource Area be contiguous; the Natural Resource Area, along with an endowment, be given to a County-approved conservation organization; the Natural Resource Area be, wherever possible, connected to adjoining pubic or private open spaces; and, a Natural Resource Area Plan, including the parameters of long-term maintenance, be approved prior to recordation.

One of the greatest stumbling blocks in this draft Ordinance is the requirement that the Natural Resource Area be given to a conservation organization. Duck Unlimited appears to be the only organization expressing interest in assuming ownership. To date, all other conservation or environmental organizations approached by the County, e.g., the Delaware Natural Society and Brandywine Conservancy, don't have the expertise to manage the sites and remain wary of the attendant responsibilities and liabilities.

Another controversial provision which stunned business and civic leaders alike, was the requirement that, "The residents of the subject subdivision and/or the general pubic shall not be entitled to access and utilize natural resource area open space unless the applicable conservation organization authorizes such access."

Even though the draft Conservation Design Ordinance was not available until the end of August, the Administration announced an aggressive schedule for approval that included introduction at the September 10th County Council meeting, testimony at the October 1st Planning Board hearing, recommendations at the October 15th Planning Board meeting, and vote by County Council in November. Because of that accelerated pace, even before we had access to the complete draft document, representatives from The Committee of 100 Land Use and Environment Committees met with New Castle County Land Use Department General Manager Charles Baker and Assistant General Manager (and prime author of the draft Ordinance) George Haggerty on August 29th with a list of concerns. The first issue, of course, was the speed with which this proposal was being propelled. Charles Baker committed to a thorough discussion of the issues with all interested groups and announced a delay of one month.

Led by the Chairperson of The Committee of 100's UDC Subcommittee, Kim Brosseit, Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley, members of the Land Use and Environment Committees reviewed the 70-page Ordinance, and sought input. Kim and Juli Hammond, Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley, gathered comments from other attorneys; Joe Charma, Landmark Engineering, and Stephan Lehm, Vandemark & Lynch, collected comments from other engineers; and Rex Gibson, Eastern States, and Barbara Meredith, Metroform Building Associates, from other builders and developers. The result was a 14-page memorandum to George Haggerty and Charles Baker addressing general concerns and providing technical comments. The memorandum was also distributed to members of Council and other Delaware business and professional organizations. (For a copy, call The Committee of 100 office.) In a subsequent meeting on September 19th, Charles Baker thanked The Committee of 100 for its substantial input and indicated that the process would be delayed long enough to ensure that all issues were addressed by all interested parties. The Department has since announced a series of meetings at the Government Center on October 7th, 21st, and 28th from 3 to 5 p.m. to discuss design issues and from 5 to 7 p.m. to discuss governance issues. As with all County government meetings, these are open to anyone wishing to attend.

An accompanying problem which The Committee of 100 has addressed in a letter from Beverley Baxter to Charles Baker is the concern, expressed by members, that plans are being held hostage to this process, and a growing sense that this process is causing a defacto moratorium. New Castle County is already operating under the burden of a general perception within the business community, both inside and outside of Delaware, that New Castle County's approval process is too difficult, time-consuming, costly, and uncertain to do business in the County. Even the County Executive has expressed concern about the extent to which development is escaping the difficult environment in New Castle County in favor of Delaware municipalities (often via annexation), Kent and Sussex Counties, and the surrounding states– taking the tax base out of the County but leaving the County with the transportation problems of commuters transversing even greater distances on County roads. In her letter, Beverley requested that current projects, moving lawfully through the County's already-difficult UDC process, be allowed to proceed expeditiously through the process without the threat of, or actual, delay.

In the letter to Charles Baker, Beverley reminded him that when County Executive Tom Gordon sought support for the Unified Development Code, he said that, while the standards would be tougher, the process would be expedited and that those projects which met the tough new standards would move through the process expeditiously. While it may not be the Administration's intent, there is an increasing concern that, with the uncertainty and threats in the air surrounding the draft Conservation Design Ordinance, otherwise-compliant plans are being held hostage. That is not the positive message we want to send about New Castle County.