Sussex County Council discusses potential changes to the Sussex County Rental Unit program.
The Sussex County Rental Unit program seeks to incentivize housing developers to include affordable rental units in their developments. Revisions to the program was one of the 20 recommendations finalized last year by the county’s Land Use Reform Working Group
Council Tuesday discussed an ordinance to make the first changes to the program since 2022. Assistant County Attorney Vince Robertson says some of the current language may work against the program’s goal.
“I think it was pointed out, correctly, that the amendment had a 50-foot setback [requirement]. But that doesn’t make sense if you’re next to commercial and commercial only has a five-foot set back [requirement]. Why are we penalizing this type of project, for being in a sort of commercial area. So, we’re going to fix that.” he said.
That was just one example. County Administrator Todd Lawson presented five proposed changes, including:
- an increase to current building height limits
- the removal of building length caps
- Adjusting street setback requirements to be flexible based on neighboring properties
- Reduction of building separation distance requirements
- Adjustments to rent limits
While the general consensus was positive among council members, tweaks are anticipated to create more growth opportunities, something Councilwoman Jane Gruenebaum says should come with a caveat.
“It would be beneficial, at some point, to put something in the code that says we have to ensure that any proposals for growth do not exceed the capacity of existing infrastructure.” she said.
Council already denied several developments in the past year on grounds that the existing roads couldn’t handle the increased traffic.
Lawson says the county “didn’t get a ton” of feedback on the proposed changes, and that following this week’s discussion an ordinance should be drafted for the Council for consideration at its June 9th meeting.
