Sussex County Council awards what is likely its final contract for the Delaware Coastal Airport Taxiway B project.
Sussex County approves a contract for work on the remaining half of the Delaware Coastal Airport’s Taxiway B project after securing the final grant needed for the project.
The contract was awarded to New Jersey based Richard E. Pearson Construction Company, which Airport Director Robert Bryant previously called the “most responsible decision.”
Bryant says this bid has been in the works for over 10 years.
“Back in June of 2016, the engineering department held a bid opening for this specific work. We received 5 bids; the lowest and most reasonable was again submitted by Richard E Pearson Construction Inc.” he said.
An FAA grant the County applied for earlier this year was approved. That truncates six years of work into just three, bringing the expected completion date much sooner.
Bryant says the grant also covers most of the remaining cost.
“This is a grant that will pay 95% of the total project cost- Sussex County is responsible for the remaining 5%. And, it’ll bring this project, finally, to an end. Multi-year, multi-grant. ” he said.
He adds the contract awarded to Pearson Construction is around $5.5 million dollars.
Crews will begin the deconstruction of buildings in 2027 to make way for Taxiway B. The construction on the taxiway is expected to begin in earnest in 2028.
Also approved during County Council's meeting was a solar farm proposal by RWE Clean Energy in Frankford.
Sussex Planning and Zoning previously deferred action on the proposal, and Council did the same following a public hearing in April and denied the application during their May 19th meeting.
The array is now approved by council, reversing its decision.
"This is a rather unusual circumstance" said County Attorney Everett Moore. "This is about a matter that had already come before you... that denial was appealed to Superior Court"
Moore says that a September 16th order remanded this matter back to council, but not the entire process.
"It did not go back before Planning and Zoning. It's only coming here to County Council, and it is not coming for new testimony or to open up the record." he said.
The measure passesdnearly unanimously, with Council President Doug Hudson being the sole "no" vote.
