McCarron brings decades of community service to county council

Editor’s note: Three candidates, calling for controls on what they see as overwhelming housing and commercial development, defeated incumbent Sussex County Council members at the polls. The newcomers say they have a mandate from the public to drastically alter the course of growth. The Cape Gazette is profiling them and their goals as they prepare for the start of their four-year terms next month.     

Ten years on the Woodbridge school board, 30 years as a Bridgeville volunteer firefighter, a stint on the Bridgeville Town Commission and running his own small business have given Steve McCarron a deep pool of knowledge about his community.

All of those groups have struggled to deal with increased pressure from booming housing and commercial development in Sussex County in recent years.

McCarron will be in a position to help steer that development in the coming years after he begins a term on Sussex County Council representing District 2 in the northwest portion of the county next month.

He is one of three newcomers elected to the five-member council who ran on a platform calling for more control of development that they say overburdens roads, utilities, schools, emergency services and the healthcare system.

“There’s a desire for change in Sussex County,” McCarron said in a recent interview.    

The 47-year-old Bridgeville resident said he does not outright oppose development, but he believes it should be controlled, and new county residents should fund services that meet their needs.

“There are certainly property rights, but the rights have to balance with the will of the public to invest in infrastructure,” McCarron said. “The infrastructure, whether it’s schools or roads, shouldn’t be borne by the current taxpayers. It should be borne by the people who are causing the need for increased infrastructure.” 

For example, more revenue is needed for emergency services, the cost of which is now paid through county and state funds, and a portion of insurance premium fees and fundraisers, he said. None of those sources offers a consistent level of aid, said McCarron, a past president of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Company.

Ongoing state-mandated reviews of funding for local fire departments in each county may be a springboard for talks about how to fund them, McCarron said. One challenge is paying wages of emergency medical services employees, who are also called on to help fill the ranks of firefighters when responding to calls, especially during the day, he said.

The county needs to do more to influence development, McCarron said.

He said he supports a stalled proposal to give the county planning & zoning commission more authority to regulate growth.

The county should amend zoning laws to allow higher-density housing development, which would lower the cost of houses, reduce sprawl and cut the cost of infrastructure, he said.

Public transportation would become more efficient with greater density, reducing the need for people to drive cars and thereby reducing traffic, McCarron said.

Zoning should encourage development near existing communities that already have water and sewer service, and roads to support it, he said.

McCarron suggested raising the current 42-foot building limit in the county, as taller buildings require less land for construction of hotels and other structures.

The county should support construction of homes in the $200,000 range – half the current average in the county – to give young people a chance to build equity and remain in the community, McCarron said. Such homes are already being built in the Milford and Seaford areas, he said.

Wages at many area jobs put the more expensive houses out of reach of many, who must move elsewhere for opportunities after the community invests in their education, McCarron said.

He suggested the county provide one-time payments to help people buy houses, which would eliminate the long-term cost of rental subsidies and put money in the pockets of homeowners, rather than landlords.

One long-range plan he said he anticipates lobbying for is a new east-west road connecting the Bridgeville area with densely developed beach communities. The idea was considered three decades ago but went nowhere, McCarron said.  

Roadblocks to economic development need to be removed, he said. Most job development springs from small businesses, so the county should help make things easier for them, McCarron said.

“With my experience in the town, the fire service and now the school board, and just looking through the prism of a small business owner and someone that’s lived here my whole life, I want to keep my kids in this area,” McCarron said. “I look forward to having my kids live near me and making sure if my kids have opportunities, other people’s kids have opportunities."