Sussex County council leaves public record open, defers rezoning after residents warn of flooding and traffic

Hundreds of residents and multiple experts urged Sussex County Council on a rezoning application affecting the Bellemeade area, pressing officials to address flood risk, emergency access and whether the proposal complies with county zoning rules.

Pat Fowler, a homeowner in West Bay Park, said her property floods regularly and recounted a recent six‑hour closure after a fallen tree blocked Camp Arrowhead Road. "We flood on a regular basis there," Fowler said, and asked the council to consider flooding and access before approving more development. Several other nearby residents described ambulance delays and traffic conditions they said make left turns and school routes hazardous.

Terry Bartley, a resident who reviewed the county code and the applicant's site plan, told the council that mixed‑use residential in a C‑4 planned commercial district is not a permitted use under the Sussex County zoning code and cited text and table provisions that, in his view, prohibit the applicant's proposed residential components. "Mixed use residential within commercial buildings is not permitted," Bartley said, summarizing his written code citations and a calculation he said showed the plan requests more residential units than allowed under the code.

County staff and the applicant countered that staff had interpreted the C‑4 thresholds by first‑floor commercial use and that the proposal did not exceed those thresholds as presented. A staff representative said the issue would arise only if buildings became exclusively residential.

Other public commenters pressed the council to require conditions if the application proceeds — a privacy fence near schools, stronger preservation of mature forest, routine drainage and noise studies, and stronger requirements for workforce housing and greener building methods.

After public testimony and some discussion, the council closed the public hearing but voted to leave the record open for two weeks for council members to submit targeted questions to DelDOT and DNREC, with two additional weeks allowed for agency responses and a subsequent two‑week period for public reply. A motion to defer formal action for that period was made and carried by roll call.

What happens next: the public record is open initially for two weeks; the council asked staff to route technical questions to state agencies and to post agency responses in the land use docket online so the public can review and comment during the subsequent response period.