LEWES, Del. - In a 3-2 vote, the Sussex County Council granted Tharros Village a conditional land use permit to officially re-open in the coming weeks.
The Sussex County Council met at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday to tackle their agenda and once again hear the case of Tharros Village.
Tharros Village consists of 28 tents placed on the old Troop 7 lot next to the new salt barn. Mike Agnew, Site Director for Code Purple at the Cape says portable bathrooms, dumpsters for garbage and case management will be provided to the homeless during the Code Purple off season last year. Code Purple is open from Dec. 1 to Mar. 15
Agnew previously told CoastTV he hoped to have Tharros open as soon as Code Purple close but he needed a conditional land use permit which is what the County granted Tuesday afternoon.
Volunteers were at the campground for Tharros Tuesday afternoon putting together pallets for their 28 guests to put their tents on top of so they don't have to worry about getting wet in the rain.
Pallet for Tharros Village tents in Lewes.
Frank Arena, Director of Governance for Tharros, helped to move a pallet to its designated spot.
Moving pallet for Tharros Village tents in Lewes.
"There are three words that come to mind when I think about Tharros and they are dignity, respect and hope," Arena shared.
Arena was helping set up the camp alongside Mark Sipos, Director of Infrastructure for Tharros.
"We see the need here," said Sipos.
Arena says there is an agreement and authorization from the State that allows them to work on this days long project though the County Council had not yet granted the conditional use permit they need to officially re-open Tharros.
"We have agreement that we can begin the preparations because it takes several days. We await today's ultimate decision from Sussex County," said Frank.
So, the work will continue.
"I'll be overseeing the layout of the camp construction of these wooden pallets, which are going to build the tents on and the services. Our hand-washing stations, portable bathrooms, trash. We're going to have perimeter fencing, putting in things of that nature," Sipos explained.
Arena shared the Tharros Village team hopes to be up and running by early July.