4 -CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, February 3 ' February 9, 1995
Center for Inland Bays anxious to get up and running
By Steve Hoenigmann
The fledgling Center for the In-
land Bays, created by the
Delaware General Assembly last
year, is still struggling to get orga-
nized.
But the enthusiasm of its leader-
ship - Dr. Kent Price, chairman,
and Bill MeGowan, vice chair-
man, was indisputable as the lO-
member group met for the second
time last Friday, Jan. 27.
The meeting was dominated by
discussion of the organization's
bylaws, the strategic plan and
funding sources, the job descrip-
tion and hiring of an executive di-
rector and an update on the Com-
prehensive Conservation and
Management Plan (CCMP) - the
plan the Center for the Inland
Bays is charged with implement-
ing.
Anxious to get the organization
up and running, members were
buoyed by the optimism ex-
pressed by Environmental Protec-
tion Agency official Richard
Pepino, who told the group that
$200,000 in EPA funding was
waiting in the wings.
The only roadblock in applying
for the funding was establishing
articles of incorporation (as a
501C3 non-profit organization)
and final approval of the organiza-
tion's bylaws.
Georgetown attorney Richard
Stokes, who will Charge the group
only $500 for his legal work, told
members that he has talked with
Internal Revenue Service officials
who feel the organization should
have little trouble establishing its
non-profit status, which could
take up to three months. He said
he also will add several new pro-
visions to the organization's by-
laws which can then be approved
at the Center's n.ext meeting in
February.
In addition to the $200,000
funding from the EPA, the Citi-
zens Advisory Committee (CAC)
to the Inland Bays Estuary Pro-
gram, announced last month that it
is willing to give the Center for
the Inland Bays up to $10,000 in
funding to hire an interim person
to begin fund-raising.
Along that line, the board of di-
rectors ap-
proved a five-
member ad
hoc commit-
tee who will
develop a "re-
quest for
qualifica-
tions," which
will be adver-
tised in the
future. The PRICE
committee
will then interview prospective
candidates and recommend one
person to be hired by the Center's
executive committee.
In other interesting develop-
ments, new member Patricia
Campbell-White said she has been
contacted by somebody who is in-
terested in donating land and fa-
cilities to the Center for the Inland
Bays. It also was mentioned that
Sussex County Councilman
George Cole has in the past sug-
gested that the Center for the In-
land Bays couldutilize about 140
acres of land in the Ocean View
area.
That land, donated to the county
by the Lighthipe family, would he
ideal for the Center, according to
Cole.
"The property is worth mil-
lions," said Cole over the week-
end. "The potential is there. It's
ideal because it's right on Indian
River Bay. I think all they [the
Center] would have to do is come
to the county with a.box of good-
ies - a proposal that we could live
with. The county already owns
the land. I don't know if we'd
want to put any money into it."
In other business, the Center's
board of directors also was briefed
on the progress of the CCMP,
which is hoped to he approved by
the EPA by June 30. John Schnei-
der, coordinator of the Inland
Bays Estuary Program, told the
group that he is currently meeting
with members of the Sussex
County Farm Bureau in hopes of
reaching a compromise on revi-
sions to the CCMP that had been
suggested by the EPA.
Members of the Farm Bureau
have been reluctant to endorse the
CCMP, charging it points a finger
at agriculture as one of the main
culprits polluting the Inland Bay
estuaries. "We've made over 100
changes to the CCMP," said
Schneider, noting that he has
made a presentation to the Farm
Bureau. Schneider said state offi-
cials will be meeting with EPA of-
ficials in late February to discuss
the progress of the CCMP.
Who's part of Center for Inland Bays?
There have been a few changes in the membership of the board of
directors of the Center for the Inland Bays. The 10 members now
include:
• Kent Price of Lewes, chair, program director at the College of
Marine Studies in Lewes.
• Bill McGowan of Laurel, vice chair, will be replaced by Grace
Pierce Beck, a Dover environmentalist, who this week became the
new chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) to the Inland
Bays Estuary Program. (The chair of the CAC automatically is ap-
pointed to the Center's board.)
• Patricia Campbell White* of Rehoboth Beach, who recently
was appointed to the board by the speaker of Delaware's House of
Representatives, is a resort area Realtor who has long been involved
in the Inland Bays.
• Danny Magee* of Ocean View, another new member who was
appointed by state Sen. Richard Cordrey, who serves as President
Pro Tern of the state Senate. Magee is a former Sussex County
Planning and Zoning commissioner. He serves as treasurer for the
Center.
• John Johnson of Ocean View serves as a representative of the
Sussex County Association of Towns.
• Greg McCabe of Selbyville, who operates McCabe Enterprises,
serves as a representative of the Sussex Conservation District.
• Richard Pepino*, chief of the Environmental Assessment
Branch, serves as a representative of the Environmental Protection
Agency, Region HI based in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Robert Stickels, Sussex County Administrator, serves as a rep-
resentative of the county.
• John Tarburton, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Agri-
culture.
• Christophe Tulou, Secretary of the Delaware Department of
Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
* - designates ex-officio, or non-voting members of the board of
directors. However, it was a consensus of the board on Jan. 27 to
have that status upgraded to voting members, and the board will
seek an amendment to the legislation that created the Center for the
Inland Bays. State Rep. John Schroeder (D-Lewes) has indicated
that he is willing to introduce such legislation.
- Steve Hoenigmann
Inland Bays group pleased
ditch won't lead to creek
By Denise M. Marshall
Members of the Citizens Advi-
sory Committee for the Delaware
Inland Bays Estuary Program em-
braced news this week that a pro-
posed tax ditch in the Long Neck
area would not divert stormwater
into Guinea Creek.
"It does not move towards
Guinea Creek," William Me-
Gowan, an extension agent with
the University of Delaware, an-
nounced during the committee's
meeting on Monday, Jan. 30.
Instead, the proposed ditch will
dead-end in a large field owned by
Townsends, Inc., McGowan said.
"I think the saga is over on the
ditching through the treatment
plant," he said.
The purpose of the proposed
ditch would be to drain stormwa-
ter from Townsends' farmland, as
well as drainage from a road ser-
vicing the Inland Bays Regional
Wastewater Treatment Facility in
Long Neck, explained John Bis-
ter, program manager for the
drainage section of the Delaware
Department of Natural Resources
and Environmental Control
(DNREC).
Bister confirmed that DNREC
is looking at the option to con-
struct a ditch that ends in one of
Townsends' farm fields.
"We're not pursuing any other
options at this time," Bister said.
Until recently, the plan was ve-
hemently opposed by Mary Bur-
ton, a committee member who
represents the Sierra Club. Burton
expressed concern that chlorinat-
ed water from the treatment plant
would flow into Guinea Creek and
kill fish.
"If they're not going to take it
into Guinea Creek, then rm very
pleased," Burton said.
Bister, who noted that another
option would be to "do nothing,"
explained that a specific plan has
not yet been finalized and that it
could be years before a plan was
actually implemented.
Approximately 50 pe.ople at-
tended the Citizens Advisory
Committee's meeting Monday at
the Indian River Yacht Club. In
other business, the committee:
• Affirmed the appointment of
Grace Pierce-Beck, who previous-
ly served as the group's vice-
chair, as chair of the committee.
Pierce-Beck, who represents the
Delaware Audubon Society, suc-
ceeds McGowan.
• Elected Jim Alderman, a
teacher at Cape Henlopen High
School in Lewes, as the new vice-
chair.
• Listened to John Schneider,
coordinator of the Inland Bays Es-
tuary Program, talk about spon-
soring an Inland Bays Day in ear-
ly August to celebrate the adop-
tion of the Comprehensive Con-
servation and Management Plan
(CCMP). As part of the celebra-
tion, the regional administrator of
the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) would sign the
CCMP. The plan outlines the
problems facing the inland bays
and offers a string of action plans
for saving the bays.
• Established a subcommittee to
revise the committee's bylaws so
they are in line with the bylaws of
the Center for the Inland Bays.
Members of the Citizens Advisory
Committee have agreed to donate
up to $10,000 to assist in start-up
fund raising for the Center for the
Inland Bays.
The Citizens Advisory Commit-
tee, which is comprised of repre-
sentatives from 33 organizations,
is concerned with improving the
water quality of the inland bays.
The committee's next meeting
will be held on Monday, April 10.
Reducing phosphorus overload in
Inland Bays to be forum topic Feb. 13
Delaware's Inland Bays are suffering from too much of what we usu-
ally view as a good thing - nutrients. This nutrient overload causes a
chain reaction of events in the bays that may lead to fish kills and other
serious effects. The two chief components of the Inland Bays' over-en-
richment problems are nitrogen and phosphorus, which reach the bay
through a variety of human activity, ranging from farmland to sewage,
lawn fertilization, and urban and industrial runoff.
The Citizens Advisory Committee of the Inland Bays Estuary Pro-
gram will host a forum on one of these key nutrients, phosphorus, on
Monday, Feb. 13 at 9 a.m., in the Virden Center, College of Marine
Studies, Lewes. The forum will determine the best way to reduce its
impact on the Inland Bays.
"We want to bring scientists, resource managers, elected officials and
interested members of the public together to discuss the phosphorus
problem in estuaries, and how phosphorus gets into the Inland Bays,"
said Joe Farell, resource management specialist for the University of
Delaware Sea Grant College Program and the Citizens Advisory Com-
mittee member who organized the event. "Once we've laid out the ex-
tent of the phosphorus problem in the bays, we want to consider differ-
ent options to reduce loadings from various land-use practices. Our goal
is to come up with a cost-effective approach to phosphorus reduction
that will improve the water quality of the Inland Bays," Farrell said.
"Options for Reducing Phosphorus in Delaware's Inland Bays: Look-
ing for Solutions" will begin with an introduction by 37th District Rep.
John Schroeder. Speakers from the University of Delaware Graduate
College of Marine Studies and Sea Grant College Program, College of
Agriculture, and Cooperative Extension Agency, along with Delaware
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Sussex
Conservation District, coastal towns, industry and wastewater engineer-
ing firms will participate. During lunch, keynote speaker Royden Pow-
ell, assistant secretary of agriculture in the Office of Resource Conser-
vation for the State of Maryland, will relate Maryland's efforts to enlist
grassroots support in developing a tributary-based strategy for reducing
the level of nutrients that reach Chesapeake Bay.
