Will SUSSEX COUNTY
The Deciders are:
SUSSEX COUNTY P& Z COMMISSION president is Robert C. Wheatley, 38375 Old Stage Road, Delmar, DE 19940 administration@sussexcounty.net
SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL:
President, 1st District Dale R. Dukes 28545 Dukes Lumber Road, Laurel, DE 19956 875-7551 dale@dukeslumber.com, ddukes@sussexcounty.net
Vice President, 2nd District Finley B. Jones 14028 Sussex Highway, Greenwood, DE 19950 349-4737 fjones@sussexcounty.net
Council, 3rd District Lynn J. Rogers 306 Mulberry Street, Milton, DE 19968 684-8338 lrogers@sussexcounty.net
Council, 4th District George B. Cole R.D. #1 Box 207, Ocean View, DE 19970 539-6677 gcole@sussexcounty.net
Council, 5th District Vance Phillips 31497 Dogwood Lane, Laurel, DE 19956 542-1501 vphillips@sussexcounty.net, watermelons@msn.com
From delmarvanow.com
Article published Dec 20, 2007
Counties urged to safeguard drinking water
By Bruce Pringle, Staff Writer
Representatives of Rehoboth Beach and Lewes urged Sussex County Council Tuesday to enact adequate protection for their cities' water supplies.
"Having safe drinking water is part and parcel of our public health and welfare," Mable Granke, who represented Rehoboth on a committee that drafted a bill to limit development near major wells, said during a public hearing on the proposal.
But Granke said the bill, drawn up by a majority of the committee over her objection, would expose municipalities' remote wells -- such as Rehoboth's near Route 1, outside the city -- to possible contamination as land is torn up to accommodate real estate development.
The council tabled the proposal and left the hearing record open to anyone wishing to submit written comments. It didn't set a deadline for commenting.
The bill also would prohibit construction within 100 feet of a state-designated "excellent recharge area," where soils enable stormwater to move efficiently toward the underground aquifers from which county residents' water is drawn. That provision has drawn little criticism resembling that leveled at the proposal's approach to protecting the wells of municipalities, housing developments, industrial parks and other entities that extract large quantities of water.
Gilbert Holt, who runs Lewes' water plant, urged the council to bar any further construction within 150 feet of a public well. Lewes' wells are near Cape Henlopen High School -- like Rehoboth's, outside city limits and within the county's jurisdiction.
Holt's comment echoed a recommendation by state environmental officials, but the committee favored a no-build zone of only 20 feet.
The council offered no response when Gary Stabley, president of Lewes Board of Public Works, asked whether it has "better data" than that on which the state based the recommendation of a 150-foot setback.
Last month, the council declined to deviate from the committee's version of the bill when it formally introduced the proposal. Councilman George Cole tried at that time to win support for a compromise, 60-foot no-build zone around wells, but that motion failed when only he and Councilman Lynn Rogers supported it.
However, state law requires just a 20-foot zone. Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has urged local governments to offer greater protection than the state legislature has mandated.
Wayne Baker, a Lewes-area resident who served on the committee that drafted the bill, said Lewes and Rehoboth were selfish in advocating the development restrictions favored by DNREC.
Rehoboth, he said, draws water from out-of-town wells, then charges out-of-town property owners more for that water than Rehoboth residents pay. Towns, he added, would limit development near such wells without compensating neighboring property owners whose development rights would be reduced.
"Everybody in this room who spoke against this ordinance," Baker said, "wants something for nothing."
The Deciders are:
SUSSEX COUNTY P& Z COMMISSION president is Robert C. Wheatley, 38375 Old Stage Road, Delmar, DE 19940 administration@sussexcounty.net
SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL:
President, 1st District Dale R. Dukes 28545 Dukes Lumber Road, Laurel, DE 19956 875-7551 dale@dukeslumber.com, ddukes@sussexcounty.net
Vice President, 2nd District Finley B. Jones 14028 Sussex Highway, Greenwood, DE 19950 349-4737 fjones@sussexcounty.net
Council, 3rd District Lynn J. Rogers 306 Mulberry Street, Milton, DE 19968 684-8338 lrogers@sussexcounty.net
Council, 4th District George B. Cole R.D. #1 Box 207, Ocean View, DE 19970 539-6677 gcole@sussexcounty.net
Council, 5th District Vance Phillips 31497 Dogwood Lane, Laurel, DE 19956 542-1501 vphillips@sussexcounty.net, watermelons@msn.com
From delmarvanow.com
Article published Dec 20, 2007
Counties urged to safeguard drinking water
By Bruce Pringle, Staff Writer
Representatives of Rehoboth Beach and Lewes urged Sussex County Council Tuesday to enact adequate protection for their cities' water supplies.
"Having safe drinking water is part and parcel of our public health and welfare," Mable Granke, who represented Rehoboth on a committee that drafted a bill to limit development near major wells, said during a public hearing on the proposal.
But Granke said the bill, drawn up by a majority of the committee over her objection, would expose municipalities' remote wells -- such as Rehoboth's near Route 1, outside the city -- to possible contamination as land is torn up to accommodate real estate development.
The council tabled the proposal and left the hearing record open to anyone wishing to submit written comments. It didn't set a deadline for commenting.
The bill also would prohibit construction within 100 feet of a state-designated "excellent recharge area," where soils enable stormwater to move efficiently toward the underground aquifers from which county residents' water is drawn. That provision has drawn little criticism resembling that leveled at the proposal's approach to protecting the wells of municipalities, housing developments, industrial parks and other entities that extract large quantities of water.
Gilbert Holt, who runs Lewes' water plant, urged the council to bar any further construction within 150 feet of a public well. Lewes' wells are near Cape Henlopen High School -- like Rehoboth's, outside city limits and within the county's jurisdiction.
Holt's comment echoed a recommendation by state environmental officials, but the committee favored a no-build zone of only 20 feet.
The council offered no response when Gary Stabley, president of Lewes Board of Public Works, asked whether it has "better data" than that on which the state based the recommendation of a 150-foot setback.
Last month, the council declined to deviate from the committee's version of the bill when it formally introduced the proposal. Councilman George Cole tried at that time to win support for a compromise, 60-foot no-build zone around wells, but that motion failed when only he and Councilman Lynn Rogers supported it.
However, state law requires just a 20-foot zone. Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has urged local governments to offer greater protection than the state legislature has mandated.
Wayne Baker, a Lewes-area resident who served on the committee that drafted the bill, said Lewes and Rehoboth were selfish in advocating the development restrictions favored by DNREC.
Rehoboth, he said, draws water from out-of-town wells, then charges out-of-town property owners more for that water than Rehoboth residents pay. Towns, he added, would limit development near such wells without compensating neighboring property owners whose development rights would be reduced.
"Everybody in this room who spoke against this ordinance," Baker said, "wants something for nothing."
The County's SOURCE WATER PROTECTION COMMITTEE seems to have failed at its mission to protect our drinking water. See their DRAFT ORDINANCE at http://www.sussexcountyde.gov/e-gov/ordinances/SWP.FinalOrdApproved042407.pdf
-
BACKGROUND: 2001 State Law requires counties & municipalities with populations of more than 2,000 to adopt overlay maps of “excellent recharge areas” & to adopt regulations governing land use in such areas as part of their 2007 Comprehensive Land Use Plans. (New Castle Co. has protected these by code since the early 1990s.)
-
SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL appointed a Source Water Committee which appears to be made up of farmers, developers, property rights advocates & one public representative (Mrs. Mable Granke.)
The County spent some $34, 000 for Duffield Associates to present ways to protect drinking water. However the Source Water Committee seems to have ignored Duffield’s as well as DNREC’S recommendations.
The committee’s draft ordinance does begin with high-sounding words but do the details prove that?
EXCELLENT RECHARGE AREAS & WELL HEAD PROTECTION AREAS
-
RECHARGE AREAS only some 8 %of
However in spite of the State's recommendations, the Source Water Committee doesn’t seem to have taken adequate measures to protect these areas. See the State's "toolbox" which was offered to the committee http://www.wr.udel.edu/swaphome/contacts.html
The committee's draft ordinance allows -- “all on-site wastewater treatment & disposal systems in recharge areas.” The ordinance would allow “Hazardous Waste Storage, Treatment, & Disposal Facilities, Hazardous Waste Generators, Sanitary & Industrial Facilities as defined in the Delaware Regulations Governing Hazardous Waste, Vehicle Repair, Salvage Operations, Waste Sludge Storage or Application, Solid Waste or Construction / Demolition Waste Landfills, Tire Piles & Dredge Spoil Sites shall not be permitted in an excellent groundwater recharge area”… with an approved Conditional Use Zoning.
DANGEROUS? ALLOWING PETROLEUM STORAGE TANKS IN RECHARGE AREA: From the draft -- “Above ground & underground storage tanks (USTs) containing petroleum or any hazardous substances listed in 40 CFR 116 in an aggregate quantity equal to or greater than a reportable quantity as defined in 40 CFR 117 shall not be permitted in a designated excellent groundwater recharge area unless such facilities meet the above- ground & underground storage tank regulations as applicable to the State of Delaware. “
WISE? ALLOW COMMERCIAL RE-DEVELOPMENT IN RECHARGE AREAS From the draft -- “Business, or Commercial districts within designated development zones where the impervious cover of a property exists prior to the effective date of this ordinance & the applicant desires to re-develop the property, the gross impervious cover shall be equal to or less than the original impervious cover percentage of the original site.”
WHY? NEW DEVELOPMENT to INVADE RECHARGE AREAS.
From the draft -- There are no requirements for development occurring provided the impervious cover of that portion of the parcel within the excellent recharge area is 35 percent or less.
Impervious cover of that portion of the parcel within the excellent recharge area of greater that 35 percent but no more than 60 percent is allowed provided the applicant demonstrates through an environmental assessment report prepared by a registered professional geologist or registered professional engineer familiar with the hydrogeologic characteristics of Sussex County using climatic water budget that post-development recharge quantity will meet or exceed the existing (pre-development) recharge quantity. Efforts to mitigate discharges to impervious surfaces shall count towards the formula used to compute post- development mitigation of any discharges.”
-
WELL HEAD AREAS: