Why Should Delaware Care?
Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those minutes that are happening this week.
Here is a look at some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
- Planning hearing for Atlantic Fields (Sussex)
- Reassessment commission hearing (Statewide)
- Inspector General nominee meeting (Statewide)
- Port of Wilmington meetings (Statewide)
- DelDOT CTP public meeting (New Castle County)
A Whole Foods at the Delaware beaches?
Sussex County’s seemingly endless fight over traffic and development has a new front, just a few miles inland from Rehoboth and Lewes. There, a developer has plans to build a massive shopping center that would house a Whole Foods, Target, and Costco, among other shops.
The plans for the project called Atlantic Fields have divided neighbors.
To get the project built, the developer must convince the county to rezone the property in question. A first step in the process is to convince the county’s planning board to recommend a zoning change.
That board meets to discuss the issue this week.
📍 The planning board meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Sussex County Council chambers, located at 2 the Circle in Georgetown. For additional details, including the live stream link, click here.
Lawmakers to scrutinize the property reassessment
Also continuing this week will be Delaware’s property tax drama. On Tuesday, state lawmakers will hold a hearing to scrutinize how contracting company Tyler Technologies came up with valuations for properties across the state, among other questions.
Those property assessments sparked outrage in New Castle County in recent months because they shifted the tax burden there from business properties, such as those in downtown Wilmington, to residences.
📍 The public hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Legislative Hall in Dover. For additional details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
Inspector General names considered
Delaware’s long-debated Office of Inspector General is slowly coming to fruition.
A government selection panel will meet Wednesday to begin the process of recommending a shortlist of candidates for Gov. Matt Meyer to consider when nominating the government watchdog.
In August, Meyer signed a bill into law creating the office. At that time, the governor said in a statement that an inspector general’s general office root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government. The office should be operating by next year, he said..
During Wednesday’s meeting, the selection panel will discuss the process for choosing candidates for the job, according to the meeting agenda.
📍 The public meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Carvel State Building, located at 820 N. French St. in Wilmington. For additional details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
Will the Port of Wilmington ever expand?
Delaware’s competing Port of Wilmington oversight bodies will meet Tuesday, one after the other.
One board is created by the governor. The other by lawmakers. Both insist that their primary goal is to expand the port by building a new facility that could boost Delaware’s workforce in the industry by many thousands.
Those expansion plans have been mired in turmoil for years, which led to verbal sniping over the past year between the governor and lawmakers within his own Democratic Party. Facing those politicians are competing constituencies, with neighbors concerned about traffic and pollution on one side, and unions on the other.
During its meeting, the governor’s Diamond State Port Corporation board will discuss an update on those plans to expand, according to its agenda.
Meanwhile, the legislature’s Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force has not posted an agenda for its meeting.
📍 Each meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at Buena Vista, located at 661 S. DuPont Highway in New Castle. The meeting of the Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force will begin at 12 p.m. The meeting of the Diamond State Port Corporation board of directors will begin at 2 p.m. For additional details, including information about virtual attendance, click here and here.
How should Delaware get around?
The Delaware Department of Transportation is holding the last of three public meetings on its Capital Transportation Program this week to allow the public in New Castle County to submit ideas about how Delaware’s roads and transit should look in the future.
Last week, DelDOT held similar meetings in Kent and Sussex counties.
The state’s current plans for what it calls its Capital Transportation Program between 2027 and 2032 can be found here.
📍 The public meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday at the UD Health Sciences Complex Atrium, located at 540 S. College Ave. in Newark. For additional details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
