Sussex County council candidates square off on development and its costs

Development and who should pay for it was largely discussed during an Oct. 29 League of Women Voters forum with Sussex County Council incumbent Mark Schaeffer and his challenger Jane Gruenebaum.

Democrat Gruenebaum said she was part of an effort to save the forested area of Coral Lakes, and was an original organizer of Sussex Preservation Coalition.

“For me it was time to take the next step to actively try and get on county council to have a vote as well as a voice in policy issues,” she said about her reason for running. “Personally, I think we need a reset, we need some changes … Development should be led by county council, not by developers. We’ve got to flip this script.”

Schaeffer, the incumbent Republican, said he ran for council three-and-a-half years ago because he was concerned about sprawl into agricultural areas, and saw a need to support volunteer fire service and emergency responders, which are ranked top in the country.

On wastewater treatment, he said more homes are moving off septic systems and onto a centralized system, which benefits the county overall. With a new council set to be sworn in – council President Michael Vincent and Cindy Green were both defeated in primary elections – Schaeffer said he expects a new approach.

“I have fought aggressively to make changes … I believe that change will occur on a much more rapid pace,” he said.

The two disagreed on placing an impact fee on developers to help pay for infrastructure and schools.

Schaeffer said developers already pay millions of dollars in fees, primarily to the Delaware Department of Transportation. “We don’t need to tax people more,” he said.

Gruenebaum said she agrees with a voluntary school assessment, or a building surcharge.

“It’s part of commonsense development,” she said. “With it we can pay for a lot of changes, capital improvements to our schools that otherwise we taxpayers would have to pay for.”

Schaeffer said residents need to lobby the state Legislature so that the county gets the money it deserves. He said Sussex County generates over $1 billion in revenue for Delaware but only gets about 28% of that back. Money paid by developers goes to a general fund at DelDOT, he said.

“It goes into a black hole and we never see it reinvested in Sussex County,” he said. “Those practices need to stop. We need to demand that our money comes back to Sussex County.”

On development plans north of the Nassau Bridge, Gruenebaum said it’s a prescription for disaster by bringing more traffic to the area.

“Just to plan to build commercial entities, and housing alongside of it, is something that is too much for our area and diminishes the quality of life and diminishes those things we value about Sussex County,” she said.

Schaeffer said he has tried to modify the comprehensive plan for the area to protect the natural areas and estuaries, while allowing areas for professional office buildings. “We can’t recruit doctors to the area if we have nowhere to house them,” he said.

Schaeffer said he has pushed for low- and moderate-income housing for years, and the county can do a better job to create a master plan for communities that provide those housing needs.

“I think there’s a new direction, and I look forward to getting that done in a matter of months now that we have new leadership,” he said.

The fact that there’s a tent city where Troop 7 was is a disgrace, Gruenebaum said, and more work needs to be done on the county and state levels to provide affordable housing.

Gruenebaum said state, county and nonprofits should work together to improve housing, and she would work to change county code.

“I would change [ordinances], mandating that any new development has to have a certain percentage of it that is affordable housing,” she said.

Any comprehensive plan also needs to be enforceable, Gruenebaum said, so that there are penalties for violating county laws.

She said there are few consequences for builders who do not abide by ordinances.

“We can go from development to development to development that has built substandard housing … The consequences for not abiding by ordinances are insufficient to almost nonexistent. This has to change,” she said. “This is one of the changes that county council can impose if they wanted to. They have to want to … so far we haven’t seen that.”

Schaeffer said there need to be severe penalties for developers who do not follow ordinances. 

“Quite frankly, it goes on a lot and it’s unacceptable,” he said.

In several instances, he said he has lobbied for building permits to be withheld in order to make sure rules are followed.

Schaeffer said he believes the Sussex County comprehensive land-use plan is lacking, but county council has the ability to amend the plan at any time. 

“We don’t need to wait for 10 years. We need to start as soon as new leadership is put in place, and rework the comprehensive land-use plan so we stop all the sprawl in our community,” he said.

When asked if they would recuse themselves from a vote on a future land-use decision if they have received a donation from the applicant, Gruenebaum emphatically said yes.

“I have received no campaign donations from developers or anyone connected with development, and I have no conflicts,” she said. “I would recuse myself if something happened that changed it.”

Schaeffer did not commit.

“I know we’ve read a lot of nonsense in the newspaper recently about campaign contributions. I receive a lot of contributions … from doctors, lawyers, waitresses, plumbers, electricians, farmers and builders. These folks are all friends of mine, and I’m proud that they support me,” he said.