Why Should Delaware Care?
Friction in Georgetown between town residents and government leaders has been escalating in recent months over homelessness and a proposed cottage housing ordinance. A vote on the ordinance represented the council’s first tangible response to resident pushback, with the potential to profoundly impact the upcoming town election in May.
Following an hour and a half of impassioned public comment and another half hour of discussion among council members, the Georgetown Town Council on Monday approved a cottage housing ordinance, allowing 12 tiny homes to be built on a single acre of land.
More than 60 residents packed into the Georgetown Town Hall on Dec. 8, to witness the town council’s final vote on the zoning ordinance that has been a topic of controversy in recent months. Council members approved the ordinance 4-1.
The vote will let developers and organizations like Little Living, which has drawn scrutiny from residents over its plans to build 20 tiny homes near the Circle in Georgetown, begin going through the permitting approval process needed before starting construction.
Little Living will still need the town council to vote in favor of rezoning its properties, 501 and 503 E. Market St., from commercial to single-family residential use, in order to move forward with its project. That vote is expected to take place in early 2026, Town Manager Gene Dvornick said.
While the immediate issue on Monday was the cottage housing ordinance, the lengthy and heated meeting appeared to represent something broader for both members of the town government and residents.
During public comment on the ordinance, Angie Townsend, a former town council member and candidate for mayor, read from the oath of office that town officials take when they assume their roles.
Townsend argued the cottage housing ordinance is evidence of council members’ inability to put the public interest over their own – which she said is a violation of that oath.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Townsend said. “I think you need to listen to the people that voted for you guys.”
Each council member except Penuel Barrett, who was the lone vote against the ordinance, also read a personal statement about their reasons for supporting the proposal.
Council Member Christina Diaz-Malone gave the longest speech, talking for nearly 10 minutes about her involvement in the Georgetown community since she moved there in 2016, and the way the town needs to invest in its future generations.
“I will soon have served all three of my terms uncontested,” Diaz-Malone said. “I don’t have to be reminded of the people I serve.”
Though none of the council members explicitly mentioned potential electoral repercussions of their vote, it has been top of the mind for residents speaking out against the tiny homes.
Members of the ever-growing Facebook group Make Georgetown Great Again, many of whom were the same vocal critics of the ordinance at Monday’s meeting, have been writing online that “May is on the way,” a reference to the next town election – and that council members will pay the price at the ballot box.
Make Georgetown Great Again co-founder Tyler Scott told Spotlight Delaware last month that he plans to “dramatically change town hall” during the upcoming May election. He plans to find a challenger for every council member except Barrett, who Scott said he is pleased with.
Mayor Bill West, who will have completed his sixth term in May, said in October that he has been fielding these same criticisms from residents for six years, and if the voters decide he has not done an adequate job, it will be time for him “to be replaced.”
West did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment following the Dec. 8 council meeting.
Barrett, West and Council Member Eric Evans will be up for reelection in May, while Diaz-Malone and Council Member Tony Neal will face reelection in May 2027.
Evans told Spotlight Delaware he believes people are “just talking smack,” and he’ll decide if he wants to run for reelection based on whether other candidates throw their hats in the ring.
Other council members did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s requests for comment.
Residents weigh in
Prior to the council’s vote, 18 members of the public spoke about the ordinance, expressing many of the same points they have brought up at previous meetings.
Twelve attendees spoke in favor of the tiny homes living concept, arguing it is a viable solution to the affordable housing crisis, and a way to prevent young adults, senior citizens and veterans from being priced out of living in Georgetown.
“These communities show stability, pride and long-term success,” Georgetown resident Sunny Guyani said. “Passing this ordinance allows Georgetown to offer attainable housing for local workers and seniors.”
Some of the other speakers in favor of the ordinance, including members of Little Living’s leadership, identified themselves as living in other parts of Sussex County than Georgetown.
Little Living has said its project will include 22 tiny homes – a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, all between 450 and 800 square feet. The cottage home community will also include a covered parking lot, picnic tables and a playground for children, founder George Meringolo said.
Georgetown-based nonprofits Hearth and Shelter and Springboard Delaware have also expressed interest in building cottage homes in town.
Among the residents speaking in opposition to the ordinance, all of whom said they live in Georgetown, many repeated claims that a tiny home community would be an eyesore for visitors passing through the town, and it would bring down the property value of other houses.
Sue Barlow, another former town council member, reiterated her concern from previous meetings that the tiny homes look like “sharecropper shacks.”
Clayton Townsend, Angie Townsend’s husband, said he believes the project proponents highlighted veterans as potential tiny home residents as a “ploy” to gain more sympathy.
Comments became increasingly personal and accusatory throughout the meeting, as residents quoted comments made by one another, and Mayor West called out social media accusations that he made a “back door deal” to get money from the Little Living organizers.
“I’d sit here on my Bible and tell you right now, it did not happen,” West said. “I hate the lies that are being posted on social media.”
Town residents took the additional public comment period at the end of the meeting to decry the council’s approval of the ordinance, and the overall negative direction they described the town to be headed in.
“It seems like it’s just Bill West’s town, and we all live in it,” Georgetown resident Adam Buczkowski said.
Meringolo, the director of Little Living, said he believes the next “hurdles” for the organization’s tiny homes project – getting the necessary rezoning passed by the town council and site approval from the town engineer – will be easier than passing the cottage ordinance.