Sussex County Council approved the creation of the Land Use Reform Working Group at its Tuesday meeting.
The group will study and provide recommendations to councilmembers on how to address issues related to the county’s explosive growth in the last few decades.
Sussex County has seen its population nearly double in the last 25 years, and the housing market is not keeping up with the needs of the county and many of its residents.
Sussex County Councilmembers are hosting expert presentations to discuss land use and affordable housing strategies. One told Council that a majority of the homes on the market are unaffordable to area residents.
The working group will consist of ten members representing a variety of constituencies, including Jon Horner from the Home Builders Association of Delaware and affordable housing advocate Caitlin Del Collo.
Sussex County administrator Todd Lawson said the group will produce recommendations for land use development that discourage sprawl.
“So very, very broad initiative that I think gives them some guardrails to operate within, to come back with some recommendations for council to consider.”
Sussex County Councilmembers asked that representatives with varying expertise be involved in the group.
“I think we've had really good luck in going through the list and coming up with great representation here that the council wanted to see,” Lawson said. “So that's step one, and step two is, what are they going to be working on?... A recommendation that creates incentives for residential land use development.”
The working group will have its first meeting in the next few weeks. The meetings will be accessible to the public.
The group is expected to deliver its first recommendations to the Planning & Zoning Commission and County Council later this year.
