Why Should Delaware Care?
As Delaware’s rapid growth begins to strain land use policies and reshape communities, the state must make critical decisions to balance development with preserving the state’s green spaces. Panelists at Spotlight Delaware’s “Navigating Growth” event highlighted the need for smarter policies to support sustainable growth for both residents and developers.
While Delaware has seen dozens of new cookie-cutter neighborhoods popping up from the C&D Canal to the southern border in the last five years, there are examples of more imaginative development occurring around the state.
Such mixed-use projects are difficult and expensive to build though, according to developers, leading to a need to reform Delaware’s planning codes and incentivizing more creativity in developments.
That was the message imparted to more than 50 stakeholders who gathered at Spotlight Delaware’s “Navigating Growth” panel event Monday to discuss the state’s rapid growth and its impact on local residents.
The event, held Monday at Delaware Technical Community College in Georgetown, focused on the critical issue of land use in Delaware, and Sussex County in particular. As the fastest-growing state in the mid-Atlantic and the sixth fastest-growing state in the nation, Delaware faces increasing pressure to create a balance between new development and preservation.
During a panel titled “Advocates & Developers: Blending Voices in the Land Use Discussion,” Spotlight Delaware Editor-in-Chief Jacob Owens sat down with leading developers and rising advocates to discuss the issues of market demands, land use policies, sustainable development and the need for preservation.
Developers Brian DiSabatino, CEO of EDiS Company and co-founder of the Town of Whitehall community, and Preston Schell, co-founder of Schell Brothers and Ocean Atlantic Companies, highlighted the hardships of developing with market-driven strategies, while also trying to foster sustainability.
Schell noted that developers in Sussex County tend to focus on single-family homes for retirees to meet market demands while steering clear of complex permitting and public hearings. And with permitting policies becoming increasingly restrictive, innovation in development is likely to stall unless county codes are changed to foster creativity.
However, developers have been making efforts to be sustainable.
The Whitehall community near Middletown, which Disabatino said was built on a human-centered approach to connectivity, received much praise from fellow panelists, as the project incorporates homes, parks, schools, and local businesses into its design to connect people with education, commerce and nature.
But even DiSabatino highlighted the difficulty of trying to be profitable in the business by adhering to what the market wants while trying to be creative with the constrictive codes in place.
“We would love to be as creative as possible, but the best we can do is to respond to the codes in place,” he said.
While developers discussed the need for updated laws to allow for creativity to be more sustainable, advocates also felt that there needs to be policies that protect residential areas and green spaces.
Jill Hicks, who co-founded the Sussex Preservation Coalition about three years ago in response to inadequate land-use codes and ordinances in Sussex County, emphasized the need for county and state laws that protect the forests and wetlands, which will affect the ecosystems, climate change and the well-being of residents.
Sussex alone has lost over 40,000 acres of forest over the past 30 years, according to the Delaware Nature Society.
Longtime advocate Dale Swain, who co-founded Residents Against Delaware’s Arbitrary Rezoning (RADAR), which focuses on altering the land use processes of New Castle County, believes that building more homes only requires more services and infrastructure to be built, which will take away more greenspace.
“I think, from the public perspective, as Jill said, we’re not against housing, we’re not against development, but let’s make it smarter development,” he said.
Swain also called for zoning changes to better separate residential areas from mega warehouses, citing traffic and pollution concerns, while expressing concern about a statewide growth in warehouse developments under Governor-elect Matt Meyer, reflecting trends from Meyer’s time as New Castle County executive.
While both developers and advocates called for clearer and improved land use policies, they also highlighted the importance of connectivity and increasing density in new developments, which developers believe help with affordable housing.
“We believe the best communities around the nation are beautiful, they’re vibrant, they’re lively, they’re prosperous. [The communities] are in the 10-, 12-, 15-unit per acre category, and that’s how you solve for affordable housing,” DiSabatino said.
The developers expressed appreciation for the advocates for engaging in the process of updating local policies but also emphasized the ongoing need for clear and actionable guidance from advocates and communities to foster better communication and collaboration.
During public input, Anne Canby, a former Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary and now an advocate for smart growth, spoke on the need for developers and community members to shift their mindset on transportation away from cars and toward alternative methods, particularly public transit, as people start to think about the development of denser communities.
The overall discussion demonstrated the complexity of the issue and the need for collaborative, long-term planning between the public, developers and elected officials.
“We all need better guidelines so that through this process, they know what to expect, and the community has had some input in that as well and we would know what to expect,” Hicks said.
Miss the discussion?
If you weren’t able to attend the “Navigating Growth” panel discussion, you can watch a replay of the entire event.
