Media and residents continue to note the extraordinary housing growth in Sussex County due to questionable planning practices. Let’s look at some of the development requirements established across the country at the more attractive, efficient and ecologically planned communities.
Well-planned communities have long-range comprehensive plans that look 20 to 30 years ahead in preparation for growth, and subsequently, create building and growth projections that take into account the growth and maintenance of highways, the economy, local roads, infrastructure, water accessibility, sewers, nature preserves, playgrounds, educational facilities, traffic flow, safety and environmental preservation.
Whether you are a welder, an automobile mechanic or a teacher, education is as important to a community as its utilities. When developers add significantly to the population, they need to subsidize the increased school support their development and activities require. The assertion that school voluntary taxes will increase the residents’ taxes is false.
The plans for developments should require berms and screen trees that allow the adjoining communities to retain their beauty and natural environment. Some older developments are examples of beautiful berms that preserve an adjoining area’s beauty on the development’s perimeters. The screen trees required to preserve the natural beauty have been reduced to scraggly trees sparsely planted by developers to barely accommodate requirements. The planning & zoning commission should institute strict forest preservation ordinances that allow builders to only remove trees on the imprint of a new home, not the entire area surrounding it. Trees on a residential street create a beautiful and environmentally supportive environment.
The proliferation of signs and large billboards has significantly detracted from the beauty of this region. Real estate sales signs should be restricted to one per development at the entrance. Signs that abound everywhere need to be eliminated. Designate the proper locations for signage and set a time limit on how long signs can be displayed. Sadly, the precedent that permitted large billboards to be introduced into our communities has been established. They are an eyesore. More appropriate guidelines need to be developed.
The intersections in southern Sussex sadly are the most poorly planned and convoluted designs in the region. And the region’s traffic and traffic jams have already reached extraordinary proportions, and continue to grow. Every road and highway is under repair at the same time, and is an indication of neglect and poor advance traffic planning. Intelligent community planners require developers to subsidize engineering and traffic-impact studies ahead of any development plan, from a firm chosen by the local government, not the developer.
The last two items of importance are: 1. All ordinances affecting growth and quality of life in Sussex must be updated. 2. There needs to be strict accountability and supervision on the part of the county and municipalities when it comes to reviewing new, residential and commercial development plans, to include the inspection of developments as they progress to ensure they adhere to the original development plans and ordinances. Let’s hope the new elected representatives will endorse proven practices and support the wishes of residents in keeping and promoting an acceptable quality of life in our communities.
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.
