Why Should Delaware Care?
Division has been growing in Georgetown between government leaders and a vocal group of residents, largely focused on homelessness and affordable housing issues within the Sussex County seat. The passage of a property rezoning vote for a tiny homes development represents an inflection point in the resident-government friction.
The Georgetown Town Council approved a property rezoning request on Monday, allowing Little Living to move forward with building its controversial tiny home community after nearly six months of turmoil between residents and town leaders.
The vote likely marks the last major governmental hurdle standing between the nonprofit and its ability to break ground on the homes.
Now, Little Living founder George Meringolo said the organization will just need to get site plan approval from the town planning commission before being able to begin construction.
Because of Georgetown’s cottage housing zoning ordinance, which the town council passed in December to allow for projects like Little Living to move forward, the planning commission’s approval of the site plan is guaranteed as long as Little Living adheres to the town’s building codes.
“Basically we’re done,” Meringolo told Spotlight Delaware following the vote. “It’s just a matter of going through the normal requirements for any site plan.”
Little Living’s Georgetown project has become a flashpoint in the increasingly divided town, as residents have consistently questioned the leadership and decision-making of officials both at council meetings and online.
Meringolo plans to build 20 tiny homes, each between 450 and 800 square feet, on a roughly 1 acre property located at 501 and 503 E. Market St., about a half mile from The Circle.
The rezoning, which changed the East Market Street property from commercial to single-family residential, passed 3-1 on Monday evening, as Council Member Penuel Barrett voted no and Council Member Tony Neal was absent from the meeting.
Georgetown’s cottage housing ordinance, an earlier step in Little Living’s approval process, passed the town council on Dec. 8, 2025, with all members in favor except Barrett. That ordinance allows for 12 tiny homes to be built on a single acre of land within town limits.
Other organizations have expressed interest in building cottage houses in Georgetown, including Springboard Delaware, which runs the Pallet Village homeless shelter, and Hearth and Shelter.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, the town’s Supportive Housing Issues Committee, which council members created last September in an effort to address housing and homelessness issues, presented a recommendation in favor of cottage dwelling units, like the proposed Little Living project.
Dennis Winzenried, a member of the committee, told Spotlight Delaware the group plans to present its final recommendations to the town council in March.
A heated discourse
Consistent with the tenor of other town council meetings in recent months, a number of residents expressed their disapproval of the Little Living project, and what they view as the council going against the peoples’ will by approving it.
Sue Barlow, a former town council member who has previously referred to the proposed cottage houses as “sharecropper shacks,” said she is worried that the tiny homes will bring down the values of nearby houses.
“We deserve elected officials that will look out for our interests, the people who have worked hard all our lives in this town,” Barlow said at the meeting. “One small housing development is going to ruin a lot of our lives.”
Mayor Bill West and members of the town council defended their decision to support the project, citing the dire need for more affordable housing in town.
He also referenced the Facebook group Make Georgetown Great Again, which has ballooned to more than 4,500 members, criticizing the town’s handling of the homeless population. Members also have called for candidates to challenge West and other council members in the upcoming May election with the tagline “May is on the way.”
West said the group has done nothing productive for the town, other than “make me look famous.”
A handful of residents responded to West’s claims during the public comment portion of the meeting, blaming his leadership for the controversy in town.
West’s wife, Faye West, then got involved, defending her husband.
Faye West said the “hate” in town is coming from the “racist website” – referencing Make Georgetown Great Again – and not her husband, who she said spends every day working to care for residents.
Next steps for Little Living
With the rezoning approved, Meringolo, Little Living’s founder, said the organization’s next priorities are working with its engineer to submit the site plan to the town’s planning commission, and respond to any concerns from the planning department as quickly as possible.
The project has already received the necessary approvals from the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), the state Department of Transportation and other relevant agencies to move forward with construction, he said.
Meringolo said he expects to break ground on the East Market Street property by October or November of this year and have all 20 homes completed by spring 2027.
He added that Little Living has secured a Longwood Foundation grant and other funding from DNREC and the state’s Downtown Development District program. The nonprofit is only about $500,000 short of the $4.5 million the homes will cost to build.
West told Spotlight Delaware that he is encouraging Little Living to consider doing a phased approach to building the tiny homes, such as 10 one year and 10 the following year.
Meringolo, however, said a phased approach would be logistically complicated. He plans to build all 20 tiny homes at once.
Still, West said he and the other council members feel confident the project will be a positive addition to the town.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
