Smaller lots, more open space proposed for clusters
A Sussex County ordinance that could reach formal discussions on April 17 would allow multi-family development around the bays to exceed density requirements but also close a loophole in a previous ordinance. The ordinance, similar to one approved last April, would allow the county to sell density and use the money to preserve open space.
“This, in essence, is an impact fee that collects the new wealth that is created when density is increased and puts it into public use,” Councilman Vance Phillips (R-5th) said Tuesday. “We’re allowing higher density already.”
Both ordinances — the one approved last year and the one that is now only conceptual — are products of Phillips.
Phillips’ density trade ordinance, approved last April, allows developers to build up to 4 units per acre in the two-unit zone by utilizing the cluster ordinance, which allows smaller lot sizes and “open space” conservation, and requires developers to pay for each additional unit.
That money would be used to fund conservation efforts countywide but loopholes have rendered the plan ineffective. Developers can circumvent the process by applying for a change of zone, and conditional uses are not currently covered by density trade.
Phillips hopes to close that loophole in the forthcoming ordinance and garner support, which could be difficult without additional measures. Councilmen George Cole (R-4th) and Lynn Rogers (D-3rd) recently expressed wariness about selling density.
“We ought to be rezoning property because there’s a need or because it’s compatible, but never for money,” Cole said.
“I don’t want to be blasted for selling all of Sussex County for money,” Rogers said. “I don’t want to end up with an ordinance that allows you to buy your way out of the comprehensive plan.”
(Multi-family use is not a permitted use in AR-1 but has been allowed through conditional-use applications.)
Phillips has argued, as he did Tuesday, that county officials approve extra density anyway but he has not taken steps recently to reverse that trend.
The councilman from Laurel voted late last year to approve a change of zone from AR-1 outside Millville for The Lakelyns, a 265-unit development mixed with multi-family and single-family lots. Developers plan to build more than three units to the acre there in the county’s controversial, and perhaps ironic, Environmentally Sensitive Developing Area.
Phillips did not directly answer questions as to why developers would utilize the proposed ordinance if council already allows additional density without pay — a question posed by Cole and opponents to the density trade idea.
“There is no law that says you can’t have higher density in the ESDA,” Phillips said. “The fact is we are allowing higher density. (This ordinance is) putting out there that if you do it, you have to pay for it. It may actually discourage higher density there.”
A companion ordinance discussed at Tuesday’s County Council meeting would allow smaller lot sizes in cluster developments, to further preserve open space and buffer developments.
The current heavily-utilized cluster ordinance, which allows 7,500-square-feet lots in AR-1, requires that developers leave 30 percent of the land as “open space,” which does not yet have a specific definition in county code.
New measures could allow 4,000-square-foot lots and require 40 percent open space and stronger buffer requirements. Councilmen discussed the ordinance but decided to table it, with Dale Dukes (D-1st) saying he would like to see further definition of “open space” before moving forward with an ordinance whose practical success could depend on that definition.
Local environmentalists have lobbied for a clearer definition, and officials hope one will be implemented alongside this year’s comprehensive plan update.