About 20 Millville residents gathered at town hall Monday, Oct. 21 to submit their input concerning the upcoming Comprehen-sive Land Use Plan the town is required by law to prepare and submit to the state.

Residents and town leaders who gathered for the 7:30 p.m. special meeting were given an overview of what is in the works for the town's comprehensive plan by Ann Marie Townshend of the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination in Dover.

A questionnaire was handed out to all who attended. The planning coordination office will use the survey to gather Millville residents' input on how they would like to see existing land used and how they would like unused or unacquired land developed over the next 10 years.

Millville Mayor Gary Willey was unable to attend the meeting, but John Giorgilli said he and fellow council member Gerry Hocker Jr. will have copies of the survey for citizens who wish to make their opinions known. Anyone wishing to pick up a copy of the survey can call Giorgilli at (302) 537-4697 or Hocker at (302) 539-3022. Townshend said the surveys must be completed and returned or mailed to the Millville Town Hall by Friday, Nov. 15. The mailing address is: P.O. Box 938, Millville, DE 19967.

The next town council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 12 and completed surveys can be brought to that meeting.

Townshend said she was impressed with the number of citizens that attended Monday's meeting.

"I was very impressed with the number of people who came," Townshend said. "Very often people stay at home and then wait to come to the rezoning meetings later on. But I was very pleased with the way these people came out and were active in the meeting."

In addition to filling out the questionnaires, Townshend asked residents to name their top-five priorities for the town as Millville begins to go through the process of creating the comprehensive plan. The most common five areas of concern included a future sewer system, a future water system, road improvements (in particular the widening of Route 26 within town limits), schools and how future growth will be paid for and public safety, including police and fire protection.

"I think we achieved the goals we had for the meeting," Townshend continued. "I wanted to explain what we're looking for in the plan, and get a sense of where the people want to go from here."

Several of those in attendance brought up other topics of interest, including possible cooperative projects between the town and the Delaware Department of Trans-portation, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the Delaware Department of Education and the Sussex County Engineering Department.

Townshend said she will meet with representatives with those entities and report back to the group at the next land-use public meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.

"I'm going to meet with these entities to give the people of Millville an idea of where the town stands with several future projects," Townshend continued. "For example, it wouldn't do much good to put a new road in to replace [Route] 26 in 2006 and then have to come back in 2008 and tear the road up to put in a possible new sewer system. It would be better to coordinate all these projects under the comprehensive plan as best we can."

Townshend provided a slide show explaining what the comprehensive plan can achieve for the town and why it is necessary. She said most of the history used to help formulate information heading into the next plan came from the town's previous comprehensive plan, which was created in 1991.

The Delaware Land Use Planning Act requires all towns to create and have a comprehensive plan reviewed every five years and updated every 10 years. Although the law states that towns were required to have a plan in place by July 1, 2002, Townshend said that only three of the 57 municipalities in the state have officially had theirs certified. She added that some are currently going through the approval process.

"Our goal [at the Office of State Planning Coordination] is to get the town plan certified," Townshend said. "And I'm going to work with the Town of Millville to get that done."

She added that although Millville's plan has yet to be completed, it is her understanding the five-year review will not take place until five years from when the plan is certified.

In closing, Townshend urged the town's residents to complete a survey so that the final comprehensive plan incorporates what residents hope for the future of Millville.

Reach John Krueger at (302) 537-1881, ext. 105, or by e-mail at mailto:jkrueger2@smgpo.gannett.com

Originally published Wednesday, October 23, 2002