Georgetown, Del., Sept. 12, 2007: The first draft of Sussex County’s 2007 Comprehensive Plan Update will be unveiled at two public meetings later this month.

The land-use element and other accompanying sections of the draft document will be presented to the public Sept. 25 and Sept. 26 in the latest rounds of meetings on the Comprehensive Plan Update.

Since January, Sussex County and its consultant, Urban Research & Development Corp. of Bethlehem, Pa., have held numerous public meetings, reviewed scores of documents and met with state planners, all in an effort to produce a document that will guide development and land use within Sussex County for the next five years.

“This is the public’s first opportunity to review and comment on what the County staff and our consultant have put together in the last few months,” said Hal Godwin, assistant to the administrator and the liaison on the Comprehensive Plan Update. “We believe this is a good start, and that the draft represents a compilation of many good ideas we received in our first round of meetings last winter.”

The two public meetings scheduled include:

• Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center on Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach;
• Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Laurel Fire Company, 10th Street, Laurel.

Delaware law mandates that all counties and municipalities have a comprehensive plan in place to guide land use and future development. Counties and municipalities must review their plans every five years, and submit the plans to the state for approval. Such plans define, among other things, growth zones, land-use policies and how development should proceed in the future. The County’s current plan, adopted in late 2002, expires this year.

After this second round of public input meetings, the draft document will move forward to both the State and to the County’s Planning & Zoning Commission for further review. The document then will be subject to formal public hearings before the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission and Sussex County Council later this year.

Once the document has completed those phases, and any further revisions are made, it will proceed to the Governor’s Office to be considered for final approval.

A copy of the land-use element is now available online at sussexcountyde.gov/comprehensive-plan. Citizens can continue to submit comments, suggestions and ideas for consideration via the Internet or by mail. To submit comments electronically, log on to sussexcountyde.gov/comprehensive-plan to complete a form. Comments also can be mailed to the following address:

Sussex County 2007 Comprehensive Plan Comments
ATTN: Mr. Hal Godwin, Assistant to the Administrator
PO Box 589
Georgetown, DE 19947

Officials will incorporate all comments into the public hearing process of the plan’s update.