Sussex County Council on Tuesday continued a push to preserve Sussex farmland through the state agricultural preservation program, agreeing to pay just more than $400,000 to preserve 214 acres on the western side of the county.
According to a county release, county officials have helped preserve 2,400 acres of county farmland through the program by purchasing or placing easements on that land. Those measures have cost the county roughly $2 million.
“Historically, agriculture has been the No. 1 industry in Sussex County,” County Administrator Dave Baker said in a press release. “Council believes preserving working farms like these will solidify agriculture’s continued role in our economy and its rooted presence in the community for many years to come.”
Michael McGrath, head of the Department of Agriculture-led program lauded council for continuing to participate. He said in the release that the extension of the partnership Tuesday “reinforces” the county’s “commitment” to protect agricultural land in the county.
Farmland preservation is just one part of a county mission to preserve land while amazing development – and development potential – remains. Sussex entered into a public-private partnership with the Sussex County Land Trust in 2002, and accepts recommendations from trust officials, most of which are approved.
Through the open-space program, county officials have shielded wetlands along Pepper Creek from development, recently added more than 300 acres to Redden Forrest and helped preserve 1,400 acres of farmland through purchases and easements since July of 2002.
Working with the Delaware Department of Agriculture, Sussex County helped preserve nearly 500 acres of farmland in the 2006 fiscal year alone, and budgeted $300,000 for farmland preservation this year. That number is roughly 20 percent of the total number budgeted for open space this year, $1.48 million.
County officials have spent $6.5 million to preserve at least 2,800 acres of county land since July of 2002, when the partnership was formed.
“The combined efforts today of the County Council, the Land Trust and the State will guarantee that agriculture has a home in Sussex County tomorrow,” County Council President Dale Dukes (R-1st) said in Tuesday’s release. “This is an investment in our future.”
Wicks’ comments
Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks dropped by council chambers Tuesday and called Sussex County’s major east-west routes “critical” and the completion of road projects on those roads vitally important.
A Route 26 widening project and a parallel project to widen area back roads have been delayed as DelDOT seeks ways to remedy its $1.5 billion shortfall. DelDOT officials have said that the fate of Route 26, along with more than a dozen others statewide, parallels that of the governor’s fee package, which will be, and has been, debated in the state legislature. The package includes a 5-cent motor fuel tax increase, documentation fee increases and toll increases on sections of Route 1.
“We need to move on Routes 24, 54 and 26,” Wicks told county council and those in attendance Tuesday. “They need to get done. They are critical east-west routes. We need to support the revenues to get them done.”
Others, including state Rep. Gerald Hocker (R-38th), have argued that there are other ways – including further spending cuts – to cover the transportation deficit.