Sussex County Administrator Bob Stickels said he was familiar with the workshop but had no time to spare because he is in the midst of preparing the county budget. Stickels said Lawrence Lank, director of county zoning, was involved in progress meetings and also unable to attend the workshop. When first contacted about the meeting, Stickels suggested to organizers that the workshop be geared more toward municipalities than county government.

Dewey Beach Mayor Pat Wright and Rehoboth Mayor Sam Cooper were the only two active town leaders at the workshop. During introductions, Wright said she wanted to learn as much as possible from the workshop. She left an hour into the daylong event. Cooper also departed shortly after the program began.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supplied funding for the workshop, which was organized by EcoLogix Group, an environmental consulting firm. The workshop was mediated by the Maryland-based Center for Watershed Protection. “The Maryland Coastal Bays approached us [EcoLogix] to do something constructive with new development in Worcester County, which is experiencing an explosion of new growth,” said EcoLogix President George Chmael. “The EPA wanted this program presented through the Center for Inland Bays (CIB) also. Worcester County signed on, but Sussex County encouraged us to contact the Sussex County Association of Towns to see whether there was any interest.”

Chmael acknowledged that for a constructive meeting, all parties involved in planning and zoning should be involved. “It certainly appears that a majority of these regulations are county related,” he said.

Several attendee’s also expressed frustration with the lack of county representation. “I think it’s wonderful that we’re here but where is the county,” asked Mable Granke, from the Citizens Coalition.

That sentiment was echoed by Till Purnell, who lives along Herring Creek “We always hope that someone from the county will show up for these meetings, but they never do,” she said.

Watershed planner Anne Kitchell outlined the intent of the workshop. “For the past 11 years we have been looking at the science behind impervious cover,” she said. “Our job is to synthesis that science for practical application and help communities review zoning and ordinances, which may be preventing them from designing better subdivisions.”

Realtor Pat-Campbell White, who also sits on CIB’s board of directors, said building environmental friendly developments is something all parties desire. “I worked on this very issue years ago,” said Campbell. “Politics killed the issue, not science. I applaud developers who have fought for environmental friendly developments. Unfortunately, the more innovative and creative a builder is the longer the process takes. It should be the other way around.”

Several builders agreed with Campbell’s comment. “It seems that every time we go through six or seven agencies to get approval on an innovative design, we get nailed by the Fire Marshall and have to redesign,” said Steve Smith, director of community planning for Carl Freeman Properties.

Stephen Lefebvre, vice-president of Delaware’s home builders Association, said the public doesn’t understand the problems facing developers. “These guys have great tools to build environmental friendly developments,” he said. “But the cookie-cutter development is often the quickest way because of zoning.”

Rich Collins from the Positive Growth Alliance objected to a slide presentation on the effect impervious surface has on streams. “I’ve never seen anything like these negative photos in Delaware,” he said.

“Well, if you want to go on a field trip this afternoon I can show you the nastiest stream I’ve ever seen in Delaware and it’s near two stormwater basins,” Kitchell replied, noting the stream was just outside Rehoboth city limits. Collins passed on the invitation.

When a slide depicting smaller streets was shown, Collins again objected. “Our problem is the Fire Marshall won’t allow small streets,” he said.

“We drove around yesterday and observed several newer neighborhoods with smaller streets,” said Rebecca Winer, who is also with the Center for Watershed Protection.

Collins also objected to reducing parking spaces in commercial development. “I don’t want someone banging into my car,” he said. Kitchell acknowledged that the workshop is to present ideas, and not all communities will want to adopt every element. “People have started designing parking lots for the 100 year big shopping day,” she said. “Start looking at designing for everyday use and have a spillover parking area of grass.”

Sussex regulations
restrict innovation
Participants collectively completed a code and ordinance worksheet of zoning requirements in Sussex County. With the help of builders present, the group answered questions regarding county requirements on street width, cul-de-sacs, parking lots, setbacks and open space design. Sussex County zoning regulations garnered a score of 31 out of a possible 100, indicating the county’s development rules are not environmentally friendly and requiring serious reform. “This is not that unusual,” said Winer. “These ordinances were not written for that purpose,” she said. “What you can do is say, ‘Hey, Mr. Councilman. Let’s build on this because we have room for improvement.”

Other concepts presented during the workshop were relaxing front setbacks, which creates less impervious space for a driveway, constructing cul-de-sacs with plantings in the middle and home clustering to allow for a greater concentration of open space. “Some communities are going back to the old two strip concrete drive with grass in the middle,” said Winer. “Sidewalks are another area to look at. Does a community really need sidewalks on both sides?”

“I don’t like the conclusion that all impervious service is bad,” said Collins. “We have engineering that can mitigate runoff from impervious services.”

“I don’t care how much engineering you have,” said Kitchell. “You’re trading off and picking your own poison. The concept is to create better development from the beginning. More engineering means more maintenance.”

Innovation saves money
Contrary to popular belief, environmental friendly developments actually save developers money, said Kitchell, who presented data from several model communities indicating savings of 12 to 66 percent. “The lots sell quicker, there is less paving, clearing, grading and filtering. Studies show that an overwhelming majority of home buyers prefer trees on a lot, said Kitchell.

Lockwood concurred. “Only about 30 percent of the people who buy homes in our golf course developments actually play golf,” he said. “The rest just want that open space to look at.”

“Developers don’t care about doing some of these things long as they can recoup their cost,” said Smith.