Membership drive and update from the President:
Join us today!
Renew your membership!
Individual and non-profit organizations, $25
Business -
- 99 employees or less, $25
- More than 100 employees, $50
Click HERE for more information- Mail your payment to:
Civic League for NCC
P.O. Box 5562
Marshallton, DE 19808
Or pay online HERE
Forty plus years of the Civic League monitoring and interacting with County and State government officials has continued into 2015 with renewed vigor. In addition to some of the founders who are still with us, a few younger members have joined us in our efforts to make this a government that truly works in the public interest. With Board Members from all around the County and all income levels, we hope we continue to reflect the opinions of the vast majority of its residents with regard to County government actions.
Starting in August 2014, to showcase the primary candidates before their election date, we began debates. In conjunction with GHADA, we sponsored one in Hockessin for candidates in that region. Then the largest debate the Civic League has ever staged was held at the Cranston Heights Fire Hall. We hope our members and the public were better informed about the candidates than ever before, as many of them turned out to participate and the video was put on our website - www.CivicLeagueforNCC.Org
Fall brought us the news that County Executive Gordon had brought in consultants to try to fix the problems in Work Force Housing that our Past President Chuck Mulholland continued to bring to his attention. County Council produced an ordinance which Councilman Hollins was sponsoring, so I appointed a special committee to study the ordinance. The committee found it lacking in improvements in some respects, so we lobbied for changes.
Hollins met with two of our members to review our suggestions, but only a couple of them were adopted. However, as a result, developers will be able to meet the percentage of work force units required by rehabilitating some homes in existing neighborhoods that need vacant and deteriorating homes renovated.
This work led to a natural follow up with the new Vacant Housing Ordinance that was under discussion. Fortunately, some members knew quite a bit about the subject, and I was able to put together another committee to give a recommendation to County Council on it. That work was wrapped up in January after the Recorder of Deeds shared his expertise at our meeting.
Our new Vice President Jordyn Pusey was assigned to help Carrcroft with a drainage problem. We passed a resolution in support of their requests for agency action based on her research.
Fall guest speakers included the new Ombudsman for the people in relation to the Public Service Commission and Dan Blevins of WILMAPCO who spoke about funding transportation and how it impacts future planning.
In December we co-sponsored the non-profits’ reception for newly elected members of county and state government. At that time, we presented Joseph C. Kelly, Sr., Esq, with a Distinguished Service Award for his leadership of the “Save Our County” Legal Team. (They helped their attorney in critically important ways to win the case brought against the Barley Mill, LLC. The Court voided the commercial rezoning of that office park and established an important new precedent for Council clarifying their responsibilities.)
As January 2015 rolled around, we recommitted to lobbying for Vic Singer’s suggestion to the Legislature that Delaware charge tankers off-loading in our Bay a per barrel fee. Millions of dollars could be raised to finance State government that way. The oil lobbyists seem to still have Governor Markell tied up on the subject, but we tried and still believe it would be a big help to our state’s declining fortunes.
That month’s meeting introduced us to the Cavaliers’ Country Club dispute. Some of the officers wanted to sell the club and land, and had already made deals with a developer. Residents of the area came to us for advice on how to cope with the developer as he was already presenting huge plans that would rock their world. Much advice was given at the meeting and later privately, but the Club has not been sold.
This stimulated our thoughts about the fate of Churchman’s Crossing and a request for Transportation Secretary Cohan to pay us a visit. She gave us a whirlwind presentation in April.
February’s speakers from the Attorney General’s office talked about new programs to keep homeowners from losing their homes.
In March, Land Use General Manager Eileen Fogarty paid us a last visit before leaving Delaware to finally retire with her husband to New England - a plan interrupted when County Executive Gordon convinced her to help us. The consultants with whom she was working are still here holding workshops and releasing their initial drafts of the documents they will be presenting to Council.
Officers and Board Members of the Civic League have been dutifully attending the small focus groups and large workshops and reading the documents they have produced.
Some members have also been meeting with the County Executive when he holds monthly meetings. Subjects such as the location of communications towers, problems with the code enforcement division, the new parking garage ordinance, and economic development are discussed.
Mr. Gordon is very worried about the poverty in our midst and is constantly trying to come up with ideas to produce jobs. He has some really good ones, but support from the Governor seems to be missing. The non-contiguous extension of the Port of Wilmington can provide room for much more of the export and import trade -especially for agriculture. Cleaning up the old Claymont Steel Mill property on our border with Pennsylvania can improve the health of Northern Brandywine Hundred. With five highways around and through it, along with a railroad, it is an ideal place to try a high density economic empowerment district that will provide many jobs.
A new small business stock exchange will also bring new jobs here. We need to give Executive Gordon all the support we can to bring these beneficial ideas to life.
In June, we had to derail SB 130. It ignored the planning efforts of this County.
At our September meeting, we heard from the drafting attorney for the consultants working on the UDC Revision documents that will be presented to Council. Following a lengthy session giving him our complaints about what has been produced, we reached consensus the next day. We were then able to present a full statement with some perspective.
If we are to continue to be respected for our work, we must remain united as the voice for many regional and local civic associations and maintenance corporations. We take this responsibility very seriously. Your membership or that of your civic group or business is very important to us and we need your feedback as well. Please read our monthly County Comments newsletter on our website and follow what we are doing.
Help us to help you !
Call or email with responses. President@civicleagueforncc.org 302-463-2239
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