Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Meyer Administration Starts 2022 Comprehensive Plan Update Process

Launch of county-wide comprehensive planning process: NCC@2050

[On June 25, 2020], New Castle County begins an important two-year process of developing a new countywide comprehensive plan which will guide growth and development for generations. The plan, entitled, “NCC@2050,” will be a community-driven process that will allow us to strategically shape how we grow and develop as a county. The plan will help guide development and services; shape the communities where we live, work, and play; celebrate our environmental, historical, and cultural assets; and support a robust economy.

“As the years progress, our current lifestyles will undoubtedly change,” County Executive Meyer said. “Transportation methods will evolve, environmental challenges will occur, and the job opportunities of today may change. What NCC@2050 brings is a prime opportunity for our community to be prepared and trained for those careers of the future. That is why I am calling for broad public input from every neighborhood, every industry, and every person to help build a vibrant, resilient, and inclusive future that reflects our community values and aspirations.”

The Department of Land Use will manage the comprehensive planning process and has developed a central website, NCC2050.newcastlede.gov, where residents will be able to participate in community surveys, explore interactive mapping tools, sign up for email updates, learn more about the county’s planning process, and submit photos of their favorite places.

As part of NCC@2050, a series of virtual public meetings will be held over the next several months to begin a candid conversation with the community. Topics of discussion will include environmental justice, economic development, transportation, housing, as well as other topics that are identified through the online survey.

“Changes, recently witnessed, with technology advances, and better capabilities to engage, collaborate and address issues of the past and the future will provide new and fresh approach to planning for our future communities,” Land Use General Manager Rich Hall said. “Now is the time for all residents to engage in meaningful discussions about how to move New Castle County forward.”

Several other educational components of NCC@2050 include a Youth Planning Board and Planning 101. The Youth Planning Board is a 10-month program designed to expose young adults, aged 14-22, to civic engagement, planning, and other skills while helping to develop the comprehensive plan. The deadline to apply for this program is July 3, 2020. Those age 18 and under must have parental consent to apply and participate. Planning 101 is a series of free online courses developed in partnership with the University of Delaware that discusses why planning matters and helps to explain the planning process. After completing the online courses, participants will receive a Citizen Planner Certificate.

To learn more about the County’s comprehensive plan, including how you can get involved, please visit NCC2050.newcastlede.gov.

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Delete Now-Unlawful Racist Language From Your Deed Or Civic Association Bylaws - Free From NCC Recorder Of Deeds

Attention Civic Associations: From NCC Councilwoman Dee Durham

Erasing the Vestiges of Redlining Language

Systemic racism is a result of decades of discriminatory political, social, and economic restrictions that have been imposed upon African Americans and other racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Criminal justice, lynching, voter suppression, funding of public education, and other practices have created a deeply embedded underclass of those for whom the American Dream is far less attainable. One of the deepest roots in this system of racial repression is the practice of “redlining” that started in the mortgage industry during the Great Depression.

One of the agencies from FDR’s New Deal alphabet soup of government programs, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), embarked on a program of “risk mapping” in cities across the United States. The purpose of these maps was to provide a general guide for which neighborhoods were considered “safe” for the government to invest its money (in the form of government-backed mortgages). Sound underwriting standards should have had the HOLC looking solely at the income, debt, and other financial characteristics of the people who live in those neighborhoods. Instead, HOLC created risk maps based on the race/ethnicity/religions of those who lived in the neighborhoods, with the “worst risk” neighborhoods (the Type D neighborhoods) colored red on their maps.

From their creation in the mid-1930s until 1977, when they were formally outlawed by the Community Reinvestment Act, these redline maps decided who did (and who didn’t) get a mortgage; as banks considered the properties located in the redlined areas to be “un-investable”. Redlining meant that African Americans and others who were targeted by these maps were excluded from being able to build their family’s wealth on the solid financial foundation that homeownership provides. Further it excluded them from better schools which served the “safe” neighborhoods, and relegated them to communities with higher environmental health impacts.

As far as we know, redline maps did not exist for New Castle County. Instead local bankers used their knowledge of the area, so they wouldn’t grant mortgages on the “wrong side of town” or to the “wrong people”. In the post-war era of rapid suburban growth, local developers also practiced a type of redlining through deed restrictions that simply prevented minority groups from purchasing homes in certain housing developments. Since the 1973 passage of §9605(b) of Title 9 of the Delaware Code, such language has been illegal. However, that law did not require that the deed restrictions that already contained such racist and exclusionary provisions had to be rewritten. To this day, there are potentially hundreds of older Maintenance Corporations, Condominium, and Civic Associations (collectively known as “Common Interest Communities” or “CICs”) that still contain this racially discriminatory and offensive language in deeds, deed restrictions, and CIC bylaws and governing documents.

Until recently, the process to remove such language from real estate instruments was complicated and time consuming. Before 2018, the Code required that a property owner must request that a meeting be held by their CIC organization and 70% of the homeowners in the CIC would have to be present to pass and amend their community by-laws. As a result, few of these provisions were actually erased from the record.

Passage of Delaware Senate Bill 243 in September 2018 simplified the process by which property owners and civic associations with deeds or related governing documents that contained racist language can remove those unlawful provisions. It is estimated that there are more than 1,000 CIC’s in Delaware that might be covered by SB 243. Homeowners who wish to remove this type of discriminatory language from their community’s deed restrictions or other governing documents now just need to complete this form: https://nccde.org/DocumentCenter/View/27249/Restrictive-Covenant-Redaction-Form and email the completed pdf to the Record of Deeds, michael.kozikowski@newcastlede.gov, or mail a hard copy to:

Office of the Recorder of Deeds

Louis Redding City/County Building

800 North French Street, Wilmington, DE 19801

The Recorder of Deeds will strikeout the prohibited language at no cost.

If you have any questions about this form or the process, please contact Sharee Cole at 302-395-7721 or sharee.cole@newcastlede.gov in the New Castle County Recorder of Deeds office.

With thanks to Recorder of Deeds, Michael Kozikowski, for his role in developing Senate Bill 243, and who has been working with New Castle County District 2 Councilwoman Dee Durham to raise awareness about the availability of this option for New Castle County residents and civic associations.

SB 243: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNLAWFUL RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS

Friday, June 19, 2020

Support SB 250 -The Renewable Portfolio Standard Act - Virtual Meeting, 10:30-1 June 20th In Wilmington

Come out to support SB 250 and Renewable Energy! as reposted from the Blue Delaware Blog

Senate Bill 250 is intended to advance sustainable energy goals and initiatives in Delaware and to restore Delaware as a leader in renewable, sustainable energy. The Renewable Portfolio Standard was instituted by the state in 2005, and it cultivates a market for utilities in Delaware to require a set percentage of their retail electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind each year. These utilities are able to purchase credits from producers who have used renewable energy sources or they can generate electricity from renewable energy sources themselves.

The newly proposed legislation would require Delaware’s regulated utilities to increase its portfolio standard to 40% by 2035. This goal will be achieved in part by creating incentives for cities and towns to opt-in and invest in building new solar power generating facilities. This section of the legislation will be known as the Community Sustainable Energy Authorities Act that will encourage localities across the First State to create their own fund to develop new solar facilities that will be able to sell Community Solar Renewable Energy Credits and dedicate the revenue generated from them towards lowering utility cost for ratepayers in their communities.

Blue Delaware joined with 37 other varied organizations, businesses and faith communities to urge the General Assembly leadership and Governor Carney to bring this bill to the floor for consideration in this session of the General Assembly. Here is our letter to Governor Carney, Speaker Schwartzkopf and Senator McBride.

Dustyn Thompson from the Sierra Club Delaware Chapter tells us that there will be a public comment meeting this Saturday, June 20 from 10:30 – 1:00. It will take place in the main conference room at the Del Tech Wilmington Campus at 300 Orange Street in Wilmington. There is space for roughly 49 people to attend in person. The chairs are six feet apart and you have to answer a bunch of questions before being allowed to enter. For those that can’t make it, or would not like to attend in person, you can join in Zoom. If you’d like to attend and/or offer testimony, you need to email SB250_PublicComment@delaware.gov and James.Berryhill@state.de.us to let them know you want to attend in person and that you would like to speak. You also want to email Mr. Berryhill if you plan on joining the Zoom and would like to speak. When you do email to register, please provide the following information:

1. The attendee’s full name, address, date of birth, and best contact number.2. The name of the organization that the attendee is representing3. Whether or not the attendee wishes to speak.4. If the attendee wishes to join the meeting virtually or physically.

The Civic League for New Castle County has endorsed this bill and is a signatory of the letter.

Saturday, June 13, 2020

NCC Land Use Virtual Public Meeting On Proposed Heavy Industry Changes - 5PM Wednesday, June 24th

Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club:

Virtual: Meeting with Land Use on Heavy Industry Changes

5 - 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jun 24th

(Sierra Club RSVP HERE)

For far too long, residents in New Castle, especially along the Route Nine Corridor, have been plagued by air and water pollution due to the effects of heavy industry.

Last year, due to the passage of the landfill ordinance 19-046, all heavy industry was forced to go through a more extensive process with increased public engagement in order to obtain a permit.

This year, Ordinance 20-008 was put forward by the lone council member who refused to vote on the landfill ordinance to go back to allowing all Heavy Industry to move forward with very little public engagement. This ordinance, which would take all heavy industry back to a By-Right standing, would strip the council of the important ability to refuse permits from heavy industry applicant.

The Department of Land Use, at the last planning board meeting, introduced an alternative to 20-008 that would still remove the public hearing through the special use process but included other provisions such as a 500-foot buffer, requiring an environmental impact review, and other disclosures for certain heavy industry applications, and the ability of Council to deny a permit. That alternative was tabled until a meeting could take place to review stakeholder opinions from all sides.

This is that meeting. Now we have heard that heavy industry representatives are planning to flood this call with opposition to any alternative to 20-008 and demands to return to By-Right. We CANNOT allow that to happen unchecked.

Join the call to protect impacted communities and demand public engagement and strong environmental protections. Sierra Club will send the meeting links to participants and more!

And from the NCC Department of Land Use ~

Updates on the Heavy Industrial District Virtual Public Meeting