18 - CAPE GAZETrE, Friday, April 5- April 11, 1996
SCAT approves immigrant resc00lution in close vote
By Michael Short
The Sussex County Association
of Towns voted to support a reso-
lution recognizing the expanding
immigrant population of Sussex
County on April 3.
The group postponed a second
resolution on farmland preserva-
tion and Delaware's 21st Century
funding of open space preserva-
tion until next month.
In a close vote, SCAT voted 13
to 9 on a roll call vote to support
the immigration resolution. The
measure has sparked controversy,
although it's only a resolution that
doesn't require any action.
County Administrator Bob
Stickels has argued that it would
raise awareness of increasing im-
migrant populations in Sussex
County. County Council voted for
the measure, although County
Councilman George Cole last
month argued that it sent the
wrong message and would roll out
a red carpet for more immigrants.
Cole had said he was worried
about the impact immigrants can
have on county and local services,
saying expanding populations put
Budget
Continued from page 12
been around $480,000, to be
spread across a couple of budget
years, however bids opened
Thursday afternoon, April 4,
showed costs in the range of
$645,000 to $721,000 without al-
ternates.)
• The police department, at
$418,792, represents the largest
share of the budget expenditures.
Mayor George H. P. Smith said he
has received notice that the feder-
al COPS FAST program will add
$32,000 to Lewes's budget to help
pay officer salaries. The street de-
partment, which maintains streets,
collects garbage, and clears snow,
is the second largest department
more and more stress on those ser-
vices.
Other members of County
Council like George Collins and
President Dale Dukes argued that
it was not an invitation to immi-
grants, but a recognition that the
growing population is a issue
which should be addressed.
The resolution urges: the place-
ment of international safety and
traffic signs, support of the county
library literacy programs, creating
acceptable housing standards, en-
.couraging community participa-
tion with the immigrant popula-
tion, establishing multi-cultural
educational programs, requesting
the establishment of an Immigra-
tion and Naturalization Service
office in Sussex and requesting
the INS to take action against em-
ployers who employ illegal immi-
grants.
Stickels has said he has heard
estimates that the immigrant pop-
ulation in Sussex may be as high
as 20,000, although the last census
only counted 1,221 Hispanics in
Sussex County, a number that
many consider to be too low.
with a budget of $390,683.
• The capital projects budget in-
cludes $50,212 for purchase of
two 3/4 ton 4x4 vehicles; $21,724
for a vehicle for the administrative
department - a 4x4 for use by
Rehoboth voted unanimously to
support the resolution at the April
1 Commissioners meeting. Mayor
Sam Cooper said this wasn't in-
tended to take a stand on immigra-
tion or promote immigrants, just
to recognize that there are a lot of
them in Sussex, that many don't
speak English, that they get low
wages and employers sometimes
take little responsibility. "It's a
wake up call to the state and coun-
ty government to get involved.
They're exploited," Cooper said.
Dewey Beach Mayor Bob Fred-
erick said after Wednesday' s reso-
lution vote that Dewey felt strong-
ly that the resolution was needed.
He compared immigrant popula-
tions to growth in the Rt. 1 area
and said that officials should plan
ahead to meet situations instead of
playing catch-up lateL
"I don't want to sit here ten
years from now and have people
say why didn't you deal with a
growing concern," he said. "Let's
not play catch-up with an emerg-
ing immigrant population."
Milton's Town Council, also at
an April 1 meeting, voted against
building inspector Bill Massey for
residential and beach inspections;
$80,350 for street improvements
with more coming from state and
federal funds; and $37,072 for po-
lice department vehicles.
Lewes variance board to hear two requests
Two public hearings on requests for zoning variances will be heard by
the Lewes Board of Adjustment on Wednesday, May 1. The hearings
will begin at 1 p.m. One of the hearings involves a request by Mr. and
Mrs. Frank Colletta who own property at 340 Pilottown Road. They
want to build an addition to the front of their house and a 23' by 40'
garage addition to the rear of the house. The garage addition proposal
violates the rear yard setback requirement of 15 feet within an R-1 resi-
dential district. This proposal leaves a 9.9' rear yard setback. The oth-
er request comes from Stephen Sosman and Alicia Sosman who own
property at 428 Kings Highway in Lewes. They want to build a utility
room iddition, an elevated rear deck, and place an accessory building to
the northwest corner of the rear of the property. The proposal violates
the minimum side yard setback requirement of eight feet in an R-2 resi-
dential zone. The proposed utility room and elevated deck would leave
only 1.31 feet on the n/e side and 1.6 feet on the n/w side.
the resolution. "They [immigra-
tion officials from INS] should
[already] be coming down here as
part of their job," said Milton
Mayor Jack Bushey.
Here is the breakdown on vot-
ing from Wednesday's meeting.
Towns voting to support the im-
migration resolution included:
Delmar, Millsboro, Dewey Beach,
Fenwick Island, Frankford,
Greenwood, Laurel, Lewes, Re-
hoboth Beach, Seaford, Slaughter
Beach, South Bethany and Sussex
County Council (which is a voting
member of the Association).
Bethel abstained and both
Blades and Henlopen Acres did
not vote.
Towns voting against the reso-
lution were: Bethany Beach,
Bridgeville, Dagsboro, Ellendale,
Georgetown, Milford, Milton,
Selbyville and Ocean View.
The farmland and open space
resolution was delayed because
several towns said they had not
had time to review the issue. Re-
hoboth took no action on that is-
sue at its April 1 meeting.
Commissioners said it was not
really an issue which affects Re-
hoboth Beach and Commissioner
Jan Konesey" said she was disap-
pointed with the way the program
has been handled. "I am very dis-
appointed."
Commissioners Rich Sargent
and Konesey said they thought se-
lection of some of the farms
which were able to sell develop-
ment rights to the state (farmers
keep the land but are paid to never
develop the land) was political.
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