When it comes to land use, even small decisions cause ripples

Making predictions is difficult, philosopher Yogi Berra reportedly said, especially when it comes to the future.

But here’s an easy one for Sussex County in 2015: Land-use decisions will continue to dominate headlines.

It’s already happening. At the Oct. 22 candidates night, one of the big issues for District 20 was the huge shopping center planned for Route 1, across from Cave Neck Road. Independent Party candidate Donald Ayotte said that, while he was campaigning along Cave Neck Road, it was the first issue people asked about. “To the person,” he said, “they were against it.”

Rep. Steve Smyk, R-Milton-Lewes, who won the District 20 election, said that night he would like to see that parcel remain open space, but acknowledged “There is no other place to put something of that magnitude.”

The center would be larger than all the Rehoboth outlets combined, on the scale of the Dover Mall, which isn’t huge as far as regional malls go, but is pretty doggone big for coastal Delaware.

Just before the election, the plan was withdrawn. At the end of December, it was resubmitted. Happy New Year!

The plan requires a zoning change, which would have to be approved by Sussex County Council. The battle over this issue may eclipse even the legendary Love Creek Letter Writing Campaign of 2014, which helped sink a planned RV park.

(But, it should be noted, did not put an end to development for that area. The Love Creek parcel doesn’t need a zoning change for houses to be built.)

On the other end of the scale, you have seemingly tiny decisions that affect only a single neighborhood.

But that’s the problem. Even a minor land-use decision can set a precedent for other properties in other neighborhoods.

Such is the case of the veterinarian who would like to set up a home office on Old Mill Road, northwest of Lewes.

It sounds like it would be a small office, causing minimal traffic and overall impact.

But it would still be a vet’s office. It would be a business in a development that doesn’t normally allow that kind of business.

Would I want a vet’s office next door? I have to admit, I’d have reservations. When it came time to sell my property, would its value by enhanced or harmed by having a neighboring vet’s office?

I don’t see how it could be enhanced. There is some potential, however minor, for harm.

Even a small, well-managed veterinarian’s office that generated near-zero traffic would still generate concerns.

If a vet’s office is allowed in a neighborhood, a buyer would wonder, what might be next? Could the vet’s office be expanded?

Even if the answers to these questions seemed satisfactory - that there would be no other businesses allowed, the office could not expand - doubts would remain.

For most people, a house represents their largest purchase and investment. Why take a chance with such a big commitment, especially when other competitively priced houses are on the market?

Talking about the Love Creek issue, Sussex County Councilman Sam Wilson said that people have a right to do what they want with their property. Property rights, he said, are controlled in Russia and China but not in the United States.

But in the Old Mill Road case, as in many other cases, the rights of neighboring property owners also have to be considered, for the simple reason that the value of their property could be affected.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., once told me that even a brief appearance on a national news program required hours of preparation. You never know where an interview might go, he said.

I thought of that this weekend while watching Coons on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. Coons was presenting the Democratic side of the Keystone Pipeline issue.

Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota talked about the 42,000 jobs, mostly temporary, the pipeline would create. Coons countered with the number of jobs that that come with clean energy.

“There’s 50,000 people whose jobs right now in construction and manufacturing in the wind industry are hanging on whether Congress in a bipartisan way can extend the wind tax credit,” Coons said. “There’s 400,000 jobs in bio-fuels.”

While speaking about the pipeline and energy as national issues, Coons also noted Delaware’s concerns about carbon dioxide emissions

“I’m worried about the business climate, but I also have to worry about the environmental climate as well,” he said, referring to global warming and sea level rise.

Coons tried to finish his sentence about Delaware being among the low-lying coastal states, but Wallace cut him off to ask for his reaction to Vice President Joe Biden’s most recent gaffe. Or should I say, alleged gaffe.

Photos (and gifs) of Biden whispering in Coons’s daughter’s ear and giving her a kiss on the cheek went viral.

Photographers often talk about “capturing a moment.” Sometimes, though, the camera-click of a “moment” can misrepresent the event as a whole.

That’s true of Coons’s swearing-in.

Viewed in its entirety, the video shows Biden talking and joking and schmoozing with all the kids present - self-aware enough to realize that this “important” ceremony, to children, is deadly dull.

Her reaction - it crosses her face in the blink of an eye - is like that of a young girl embarrassed about being kissed in front of others by her grandfather.

Coons did his best Sunday, but the takeaway from his appearance was: “Coons: My daughter doesn’t think Joe Biden is creepy.”

There’s headline after headline like that.

The Keystone Pipeline issue? Not so much.

Sigh. Is it any wonder we have a hard time addressing substantive issues?