MILLSBORO, Del. - Development has long been a familiar topic in Sussex County, and county leaders are now raising concerns about a newly signed state law that changes how some planning and zoning decisions are approved.
In Tuesday's meeting, the Sussex County Council discussed the new law, signed earlier this month, which allows certain planning and zoning processes to be approved by right. In some cases, the law eliminates the need for public hearings.
During the meeting, county leaders and council members described the bill as a "Trojan horse," expressing concerns about what the changes could mean for transparency within local government.
This comes weeks after Sussex County pulled two major subdivision applications from a Planning & Zoning Commission agenda.
Primary sponsor Sen. Russ Huxtable said earlier this month, "Lawmakers at every level of government must come together to address housing insecurity, but with Senate Bill 23, we're enabling counties and municipalities to do what works best for each community."
"That's the whole point of having these meetings," Millsboro neighbor Paul Harrington says.
Harrington called the new process confusing and says public input is the best way for officials to understand residents' wants and needs.
"It just kind of seems like that's not part of our job anymore; our job is the state says we have to do this, we'll do it this way... we'll do it the best way we can with you guys in mind," Harrington says.
Supporters of the legislation, however, say it will speed up the approval process for certain residential developments, increasing the supply and diversity of housing.
The law reduces the rezoning timeline from 18 months to 12 months and allows rezonings to be approved administratively without additional public hearings.
Resident James Steiner says he supports the changes.
"Most hearings they have a lot of wasted time, a lot of wasted paperwork on things not even dealing with the person that's involved. They should just go ahead and trim it down," Steiner says.
While the new law could allow homes to be built more quickly, whether the approval process satisfies residents remains to be seen.
County council members and the county administrator shared in the meeting that housing-related applications will not move forward until a new standard is created because Sussex County is now essentially out of compliance with state code. Leaders say that process could take months.
