Thank you to Ron MacArthur for his excellent reporting on the Sussex County Council and P&Z. His coverage of county government consistently reveals what few residents witness in person.
The March 17 edition provided generous space to the Twin Masts development plan presented to P&Z. I was unable to attend the March 9 meeting and am grateful for Mr. MacArthur’s reporting. I must say, reading the developer’s representatives’ rendering of the plan appears to be a template used for every environment-destructing development considered “superior.”
Superior to whom, I wonder? Developers are wooing out-of-state retirees, as the attorney admitted previously. I am sure the sales pitch for a pretty house does not include limited access to healthcare, police, EMS and fire services, as well as displacing wildlife. Increased traffic on our arteries impacts everyone. How does that impact evacuation routes? DelDOT barely keeps up with our existing population. Twin Masts’ traffic-impact study shows an increase from 290 vehicles to 2,000. Is common sense not a consideration? Adding more to the Sussex population serves only developers, because ordinances and provisions allow it.
It would be beneficial to the citizens they serve if P&Z commissioners and county council representatives collectively listen, or at the very least speak to one another. Council reps appoint P&Z commissioners and – it appears – disconnect the relationship after they are assigned. Commissioners standardly review the developers’ checked boxes on their proposal requirements and take little else into account. The peninsula cannot sustain the environmental damage at the pace of approved developments. The system is broken because basic environmental science is willfully ignored.
Déjà vu all over again. Twin Masts, much like the Brentwood (aka Coral Lakes) proposal, is a devastating mistake. Government leaders: Listen to your constituents! Stop the madness, for Sussex County’s sake.