Bravo, Eul Lee, for bringing out yet another problem with the rampant growth in Sussex County (“Is Sussex County a golden goose or a fake one?” Oct. 3).
We all deal with the traffic daily, but weather events will certainly make it clear how foolishly we have wasted the land here. We now have a crowded, polluted mess that offers nothing that was promised to the newcomers except tax breaks, and these will be gone when our state and local governments have to deal with the infrastructure and pollution problems. Unfortunately, all of us will pay the price for the “fixes,” if you call taking more land away for construction of more roads a “fix.”
Georgetown, my hometown, will be adding new lanes on northbound and southbound U.S. 113, as well as overpasses to help us get into town. We all know that this fix will not work — the traffic will have increased so significantly by the time the lanes are finished that we’ll be back to square one. The only real solution is to say “enough is enough” to development, but too many builders are making far too much money to let that happen. They have to have their property rights, after all, even if their “rights” mean loss of our “rights.” It’s really more an issue of “privilege” taking our rights, as the Planning & Zoning Commission and County Council appear to confer greater power to developers than to consideration of those of us who already live here. Eul did a great job of pointing out how land use rules are broken.
The destruction of 35 acres of our forest in Redden State Forest to protect it from burning, rather than making developers leave suitable buffers, is a perfect example of our loss of rights but also of the rabbit’s hole we are going down. What’s next? Will regular property owners be forced to clear-cut our lands to protect us from fire, just as farmers have had to modify their land use due to complaints from new neighbors in developments?
As to the fire risk, think Lahaina, Hawaii. As that tragic story unfolded, my thoughts were, “It could easily happen here.” After all, the county has chosen not to require sprinkler systems in all these new homes, citing the impact on profits for the developers because of the cost of the systems. Second, these houses are extremely close together, to maximize profits to the developers. Next, we certainly have wind events that equal those in Lahaina. Finally, we’ve already seen two events of wind-driven fires spreading through multiple homes, in Dewey Beach (2022) and in Slaughter Beach (2021). And, as Eul pointed out, the road system in Sussex County’s developed areas does look like a nest of worms — not the best scenario for getting fire crews in during a storm, especially if roads are flooded.
Obviously, one part of the state (the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control) must see the danger of fire. Too bad the county doesn’t — or rather, it chooses to pass the cost on to us. We’ll pay far more than the loss of those trees in increased insurance rates and taxes when the inevitable fire comes. Meanwhile, the developers walk away, greedily counting their profits. Perhaps we should think of those roads not as wormlike but as snakelike because they have come back to bite us or in reference to the greedy snakes that have done this: developers, Realtors and elected officials.
Terry C. Kansak
Georgetown
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
