New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer wants County Council to change course on a mass rezoning ordinance.
Meyer is asking County Council to withdraw the Comprehensive Rezoning Ordinance, and requesting the Department of Land Use offer a new plan.
Meyer says that does not mean amending the comprehensive plan, but going forward with rezoning in a different way.
“Our strategy initially is, when that stuff came up, we would just one by one take out the parcels where that was a concern," he says. "It got to a point where it wasn’t really feasible, it didn’t make sense, so let’s go back to the drawing board.”
Meyer previously defended the ordinance while advocating only for certain “parcels of concern” to be taken out of the ordinance. He also continues to defend the comprehensive plan amendment process, which he calls "the most comprehensive and inclusive public process that the county government has ever seen."
“You don’t just back away and say ‘Okay, forget it, we’re not going to do this,’ and this was an ordinance that it does not make sense to implement the Comp Plan in this way, so we’re going back to the drawing board," Meyer says. "Land Use is going to work with County Council members to put together something that we think can move the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan forward.”
Meyer says council could still pass the ordinance, and he would consider signing it if he feels people have a chance to air their viewpoints. He adds they are still unsure if there would be any legal ramifications for failing to make the Comprehensive Plan a reality, but says residents should decide.
“If our zoning map never is 100% in conformity with the Comp Plan, I think that’s okay," Meyer says. "The community needs to decide what the appropriate zoning is for each parcel and if there is one, or two, or five, or 10, or 50, or 100 parcels that ultimately the community does not want to be rezoned consistent with the Comp Plan, then that’s what the community wants and that’s what we will get.”
He asserts, however, that the ordinance itself is legal.
“This concept that someone has created, that you can only have one parcel rezoned at a time, is not a legal construction, it’s a political construction," Meyer says.
Resident opposition group RADAR (Residents Against Delaware’s Arbitrary Rezoning) is holding a meeting at the Odessa Fire Hall on Thursday at 7 p.m. to update residents on the ordinance, but the initial reaction on the group’s Facebook page is mostly skeptical – saying the issue is the Comprehensive Plan itself.
“Sounds like [Meyer is] determined to get it done even with the Ordinance off the table,” says resident Krista Milkovics. “We must pay close attention. This isn’t over. Personally, I don’t like the comments about being uninformed and misinformation. And how members of the community are against this ‘wonderful’ comp plan vision. My paraphrase. All digs towards us.”
Meyer says he has heard mixed things from some council members about whether or not the ordinance will go forward, but the county is “determined to realize the vision of this plan.”
Meyer says the debate is ironic, as the administration has just introduced legislation with what he says are the most comprehensive limitations on warehousing, which if passed, will be “the most significant curtailing of warehouse construction, regulations in county history.”
Land Use General Manager Charuni Patibanda says the substitute to Ord 23-104, is to increase screening and buffering of large industrial structures that are adjacent to residential zones and uses.
Meyer claims, as he has previously, that the ordinance and rezoning of the parcels are not related to any ongoing or future projects related to warehouse construction, or the proposed Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub. He says he hopes that those “rumors” will cease if he asks County Council to withdraw the ordinance.
Meyer also addresses accusations about Land Use employees having “nefarious goals” with the Ordinance, calling them “inappropriate,” and says anyone with evidence can bring their concerns to the county’s ethics commission.
