The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

On July 24, 2007, when New Castle County Council approved the 2007 New Castle County Comprehensive Plan Update, it also authorized the development of ordinances necessary “to effectuate the County’s economic development goals and objectives.” Karl Kalbacher, Director of Redevelopment, is circulating the first economic development ordinance, the Research and Technology Development Ordinance, for input.

This Draft Ordinance recognizes the great potential in all of the businesses and jobs which will be moving to this area because of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) process which will be relocating military and civilian jobs to Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) in Harford County, MD. The movement of companies and personnel, primarily from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, but also, from Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, and Arizona, will result in “approximately 30,000 new direct, indirect, and induced jobs by 2011, primarily in the fields of electronics engineering, computer engineering, contracting, and information technology management. (See the May 2007 FYI).

The Research and Technology Development (RTD) Ordinance notes that “the creation of laws that support the APG BRAC initiative, and existing science, research and technology institutions and businesses will ensure a diversified economy and provide high-wage employment opportunities for New Castle County residents.” To that end, the RTD Ordinance creates “bonuses and incentives for new research and technology development uses that provide high wage employment opportunities for county residents.” Those bonuses include modified parking, opacity, and open-space landscaping requirements, as well as a density bonus of up to 25%, double the maximum building height with sufficient setback, and 10% use for ancillary retail and/or service uses in OR, BP, I, and HI zoning districts. There would be an accelerated review process and rezonings could be acted upon by Council at any time, rather than waiting for the tri-annual rezoning schedule. Most significant, there would be no TIS unless required by DelDOT, DelDOT transportation impact standards would apply, and the plan would be processed as a minor if no TIS is required.

These incentives would apply to “research and technology development uses,” which is inclusive: “1. Land uses that support scientific and technology research, including theoretical and applied research in all the sciences, as well as product development and testing; 2. Engineering, legal, manufacturing, and marketing uses which support such research and technology research; 3. Laboratories, education facilities, and clinical research hospitals; or 4. Office uses, limited support uses, and retail uses accessory to the scientific research and technology development use.” Additional uses “may be considered research and technology development uses after a review and recommendation by the Department of Land Use and approval by the New Castle County Executive.”

While this is a good first step in modifying the UDC, there are problems. For example, the Ordinance requires businesses to submit a business plan, including marketing and financial information, for review by the Departments of Land Use and Finance, a non-starter.

THE TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND AFTER GENERAL ASSEMBLY ACTION

The General Assembly finally added revenue to the Transportation Trust Fund. Not enough. But some. The last major increase to the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) was in 1995. The last time the passenger vehicle registration fee was increased was in 1965. The last documentation fee increase was in 1993; the last motor fuel tax increase was in 1995; the SR 1 tolls had never been increased. Instead of raising taxes, fees or tolls, the General Assembly has, from year to year, added varying amounts of surplus cash to the TTF, each time a one-time fix to tide it over. Since 1995, the most the General Assembly would do was raise the toll on I-95 as that toll impacts mostly non-Delawareans. But the surplus cash ran out, and the need to increase revenue in the TTF could no longer be ignored.

The increases are a mixed bag. The General Assembly refused outright the Governor’s proposed 5¢ gas tax increase, the greatest revenue source. And, unlike the Governor’s proposal to increase tolls on Route 1, the General Assembly raised the I-95 tolls yet again, by $1 for all classes of vehicles, and eliminated the nighttime commercial vehicle EZ Pass discount. On Route 1, the General Assembly left Delaware commuter rates alone, raising passenger vehicles by $1 only on weekends (targeting tourists) while raising commercial vehicle tolls by $1 on weekdays and $2 on weekends at Biddles Corner and increasing only commercial rates by $.50 per axle at Boyd’s Corner and $.25 per axle at South Smyrna. In addition, the Route 1 commercial vehicle EZ Pass discount was reduced from a 50% to a 25% discount, and the 15% standard EZ Pass discount and the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) discount were eliminated.

Except for a 50% surcharge on all traffic fines beginning January 1, 2008, the remaining TTF revenue increase came from motor vehicle fee increases which took effect October 1, 2007. Registration fees increased from $20 to $40 for cars, light duty trucks, vans, commercial vehicles, recreational vehicles and trailers, and farm trucks. Commercial vehicles, recreational vehicles and trailers, and farm trucks have incremental increases for each 1,000 pounds over 5,000 pounds. Motorcycle and trailer registration went from $10 to $15, with incremental increases for trailers over 1,000 pounds.

New driver’s license fees increase from $12.50 to $25, with renewals at $15, and identification cards increased from $5 to $20. Title fees increased from $15 to $25 without liens and from $25 to $35 with liens. The document fee increased from 2.75% to 3.25% October 1, 2007 and increases to 3.75% on October 1, 2008.

All of these increased revenue sources are expected to produce an additional $572,435,680 over the six-year period of the Transportation Trust Fund–short of the need, however one calculates it. In November 2005, the Governor’s Transportation Development and Funding Options Task Force, chaired by then-Transportation Secretary Nathan Hayward, reported that the Transportation Trust Fund needed an additional $2.7 billion to maintain Delaware’s transportation infrastructure and construct necessary new projects over the next six years. Neither the Governor nor the General Assembly proposed new funding during the 2006 session, an election year. In February 2007, Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks pared the 6-year deficit down to a more-affordable $1.45 billion. The Governor presented her proposal for a systemic fix of the Transportation Trust Fund and the General Assembly produced a partial fix.

Left out of the slimmed 6-year plan is the I-95 toll booth project, which would add high-speed EZ Pass lanes and build new toll booths on the sides. The backup at the I-95 toll booths remains a major impediment to economic development in Delaware and threatens Delaware’s ability to attract some of the businesses moving high-paying high-tech jobs to the Aberdeen Proving Ground and its environs as a result of BRAC.