Sussex County passes perimeter buffer requirements for residential developments

GEORGETOWN — The long debated perimeter buffer ordinance passed the Sussex County Council unanimously on Aug. 27, establishing the rules, content, procedures and penalties associated with the new boundaries.

During the council’s regular session, it engaged in some minor tweaks and wordsmithing of what would become the code based on a variety of inputs including county staff and officials like the planning and zoning board, the Sussex Preservation Coalition, the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays and private citizens.

The size of the buffers has been set at 30 feet along the entire outer perimeter along with an adjacent protection area 20 feet from the boundary’s outside edge.

In addition, builders installing new buffers are required to provide a landscape plan for the boundary, and will contain information like planting schedules, species types, fencing and signage to facilitate maintenance. Buffers will now need to be included on preliminary site plans as part of the approval process.

Existing buffers, or those making use of existing forested areas as part of a buffer, have a slightly different requirement — an inventory. Developers are required to provide a report of what is in the marked boundary areas so, among other things, infractions can be tracked.

The buffers are required to have a variety of trees and shrubs consisting of local species at a density of about 15 trees per 100 linear feet of buffer, according to the ordinance

There are exceptions for removal in the case of dead, dying or dangerous trees as well as invasive species within wooded areas on a buffer, so some tree removal within a buffer or woodland area is possible under the new rules.

However, according to the ordinance, “at no time shall trees of six-inch diameter at breast height be damaged, removed, or otherwise adversely affected.”

It also established the developers are responsible for the maintenance and life of the buffer vegetation until the project is granted “substantial completion” status by authorities. Once deemed substantially complete, the buffer maintenance can be handed over to a body like a homeowner’s association.

Trees damaged or removed outside of acts of nature are subject to mitigation under the new rules, generally at a rate of three trees for every damaged one, and must be on the same lot, parcel or tract where the infraction occurred, with exceptions.

Developers may also be subject to monetary fines of up $10,000 per quarter acre, formulating a mitigation plan and denial of additional permits or inspections for infractions.

The ordinance goes into effect in February, to allow existing applications to move through the system and for new proposals to incorporate the new rules, Vince Robertson, attorney representing the county in this matter, said.

Staff writer Brian Gilliland can be reached at 410-603-3737 or bg@iniusa.org.