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 meetings that are happening this week.
Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
- The Delaware General Assembly will reconvene to begin the second half of the 153rd legislative session.
- Sussex County Council will consider approvals for the controversial Atlantic Fields retail development
- The state’s charter school accountability board will begin its review of the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence
- The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will answer resident questions about Mountaire’s request to increase production in Millsboro
Delaware legislature reconvenes
The Delaware General Assembly will reconvene on Tuesday afternoon, beginning the second half of the 153rd legislative session after an uncharacteristically busy off-season for lawmakers in the First State.
For the next six months, legislators will have their eyes on affordability, with state leaders saying last week at Spotlight Delaware’s second annual Legislative Summit that the issue would be a top priority.
A slew of bills have already been pre-filed ahead of Tuesday’s return, including Senate Bill 213 – which would defang that state’s hospital cost review board’s key enforcement mechanism of vetoing hospital budgets it deems excessive – and Senate Bill 215, which would ban transgender students from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Lawmakers also are likely to grapple with the ongoing ramifications from the state’s first-in-40-year property reassessment during the session, as the ability for New Castle County school districts to tax residential and commercial properties at different rates – a stop-gap measure passed by the legislature in August in response to resident outcry – is set to expire this year.
📍 Both chambers of the Delaware General Assembly will meet at 2 p.m. inside Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave. in Dover. For more information, including about virtual attendance, click here.
Costco at the coast?
Sussex County Council, after months of deliberation, will vote on Tuesday afternoon whether to grant a necessary rezoning that would allow the controversial Atlantic Fields retail development to move forward.
The big box store complex planned for Route 24 between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach has faced months of pushback from residents, marking the latest in years of tensions over what should be built and where in the booming satellite communities around the Delaware beaches.
But Atlantic Fields, which has promised to bring in a Costco, Target and Whole Foods, has also received some support.
Council members’ decision this week comes a month after they approved separate plans for another controversial development called Belle Mead, which will remake a horse farm into a housing and retail complex, near Lewes.
📍 Sussex County Council will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Sussex County Administrative Office Building, located at 2 The Circle in Georgetown. For more information, including about virtual attendance, click here.
Bryan Allen Stevenson charter school faces review
Delaware’s Charter School Accountability Committee will begin its formal review of the Georgetown-based Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence (BASSE) on Monday afternoon.
The state’s Education Secretary Cindy Marten placed BASSE under review, or investigation, last month to determine whether it had violated the terms of its charter. The review was spurred by “enrollment, financial and organizational concerns,” according to a press release from the state.
📍 The Charter School Accountability Committee will meet at 1 p.m. on Monday inside the Townsend Building, located at 401 Federal St. in Dover. For more information, including about virtual attendance, click here.
DNREC talks Mountaire production increase
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) will answer questions from residents on Wednesday night about Mountaire Farms request to increase production at its Millsboro facility.
DNREC’s Division of Air Quality will host a community information session to hear comments and answer questions about how a production increase would impact the air quality surrounding the plant.
In October, Mountaire requested to increase meat production in Millsboro from 4,200 tons per week to 5,000 tons per week.
📍 DNREC will hold its information session from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Indian River Senior Center, located at 214 Irons Ave. in Millsboro. For more information, click here.
