NEWS AND UPDATES
Archived, October 2005

DelDOT Announces Third Round of Workshops on US 301 Project
The Delaware Department of Transportation has announced (PDF) a third round of Public Workshops for the US 301 Project Development Initiative. Workshops will be held on December 5 and 6, in Middletown, and on December 7 in Townsend. DelDOT will present the Alternatives Retained for Detailed Evaluation and an assessment of their effects. The workshops all start at 4:00 p.m.
(10/27/05)

A Slight Change to the November 2 PLUS Meeting Agenda
A proposed land use change that had been on the agenda for discussion at the November 2 Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS) meeting has been withdrawn. Another has been moved from the afternoon of November 2 to the morning and the PLUS meeting will end shortly after noon. The site plan review that has been moved to the morning portion of the meeting is known as the Fry Farm (PLUS 2005-10-07). It involves a proposal to subdivide to put 1,260 residential units on 182 acres near Milford.
(10/27/05)

Delaware's Secretary of Agriculture Offers an Opinion Column on Preserving Open Space and Farmland
Land preservation is an important part of the Livable Delaware effort, but land preservation -- by itself -- cannot guide growth and guarantee responsible land-use decisions. Every time a developer proposes a project that violates a county's or town's own comprehensive plan and Delaware's Strategies for State Policies and Spending, should the state be expected to step in and buy the parcel? Or should land preservation be used in conjunction with land use planning techniques? Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse examines these issues in a Opinion column published in the October 18 editorial in the Cape Gazette.
(10/21/05)

University of Delaware Announces Planning Education Workshop Series for 2006
The University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration has announced a series of six workshops on local government and land use planning in the first months of 2006. The Delaware Planning Education workshop series is offered by the Institute for Public Administration (IPA), in partnership with the Office of State Planning Coordination and the Delaware Chapter of the American Planning Association. The workshops will offer training in the basics of land use planning, tools for planners, administration of land use ordinances, community design, land use law, and Board of Adjustment issues. The program is designed to give tools and information to local government leaders, who make the land use decisions that will shape Delaware's future.
(10/19/05)

Historic Aerial Imagery Added to DataMIL Map Production Lab
The Delaware DataMIL Map Production Laboratory now offers aerial photography from 1937, 1992 and 1997 along with the most recent imagery, from 2002, for viewing on-line in a web browser. The historic aerial photography has long been available as a streaming Internet Map Service (IMS) for use in desk-top GIS applications. Adding it to the Map Production Laboratory makes it more readily available for casual users and quick browsing.
(10/19/05)

Delaware Population Consortium Releases Latest Population Projections
The Delaware Population Consortium predicts that the population of Delaware will grow by just over 23 percent between 2005 and 2030, gaining over 194,000 persons to reach an expected population of just over 1.035 million in 2030. That projection is part of the 2005 Annual Population Projections series, approved by the Consortium on October 11, 2005.

The 2005 Projections are the latest in a series of annual population projections that started in the 1970s. Every year, the Consortium provides 30-year population and employment projections for the State, the counties, and for selected municipalities. These projections are based on information provided to or generated by DPC members and other agencies at the federal, state, and local level. These data include the actual births and deaths since 2000, the latest Bureau of Census estimates, and the latest migration data from the IRS.

The 2005 Projections reflect a slight decrease in the total projected population over the 2004 projections. Internally, projections were increased for Kent County to reflect increased housing unit construction over the past two years. Projections in New Castle and Sussex counties were reduced slightly to offset the change in Kent County and to reflect slower growth in the state overall.
(10/11/05)

New Castle County Sets Schedule of Meetings for Land Use Plan Update Advisory Committees
The New Castle County Department of Land Use has laid out a schedule of meetings for the four advisory committees (PDF) that have been created to gather input for the 2007 Update of the County Comprehensive Development Plan.

• The Future Land Use Advisory Committee, which deals with the issue of where and at what density development should occur, will meet on the fourth Monday of each month.
  
• The Infrastructure Advisory Committee, which deals with the issue of what infrastructure and services are needed to support existing and future growth, will meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.
  
• The Community Character Advisory Committee, which deals with the general issue of how future development should be designed, will meet on the second Wednesday of each month.
  
• The Development and Building Review Process Advisory Committee, which deals with the design of an efficient and effective process, will meet on the third Monday of each month.

Meeting times and locations will be posted on the Planning Meetings page and on a regularly updated calendar on the County's Plan Update page. The County's web site also includes an on-line discussion forum for comments on and discussion of the Plan Update.
(10/7/05)

State Planning Offers RSS Feed of Planning-Related News for Delaware
The Office of State Planning Coordination now offers an RSS feed of news and information of interest to the Delaware planning community. RSS is generally considered to stand for "Real Simple Syndication." It provides a simple format that a variety of free "reader" applications can use to track headlines and updates from web sites such as this one. The State Planning RSS feed joins a growing list of Delaware RSS feeds offered by state agencies in Delaware.
(10/6/05)

New PLUS Forms Posted
An updated set of PLUS Forms has been posted on the Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS) web page. The new forms include several specifically intended for use by municipal governments seeking PLUS reviews of Comprehensive Land Use Plans, of amendments to those plans, and of draft ordinances to implement the plans. The standard form for application for a PLUS review of a land use change proposal has been updated to reflect lessons learned in the past year's worth of PLUS reviews.
(10/6/05)

October PLUS Meeting Agendas Posted
The Office of State Planning Coordination has posted agendas for the two meetings scheduled for review of projects submitted for review in October under the Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS). The October PLUS meetings have been set for October 26 (PDF) and November 2 (PDF). Both meetings will take place in the Third Floor Conference Room in the Thomas Collins Building, at 540 South Dupont Highway, in Dover. Both start at 8:30 a.m.
(10/5/05)