Members of New Castle County's four community planning groups met as one for the first time April 1, petitioning the county for some significant changes.
Called Design Review Advisory Committees, the groups were established in Claymont and Hockessin back in 2006 and this year in Centreville and North St. Georges, to offer a layer of local control over new development and signage in their communities.
Paramount among the evening's topics was a plea from several DRAC members that the county revisit a policy that requires members to submit statements of financial interest prior to serving. The forms, which are filed with the Ethics Commission and are available to the public, are similar to what's required of elected officials.
But Hockessin's Ken Murphy said he doesn't think DRAC members ought to be held to the same standard.
"When you're in a small community where everyone is working together, it's like a fish bowl and the financial disclosure form just exposes too much," he said.
Three of Hockessin's nine members quit the board because they were uncomfortable filing the forms, Murphy said. Similarly, Centreville and St. Georges are having trouble filling out their committees because of the requirement, members said.
"We're eliminating a lot of good folks by requiring the statement of financial interest," said Hockessin's Joe Amon.
Patt Cannon, of Centreville, said she had no idea the forms were available to the public through the Ethics Commission's Web site and joined several others in requesting a review of the policy. Murphy suggested a simple conflict of interest pledge would be more appropriate.
But Claymont's John DeCostanza warned against completely scrapping all financial reporting.
"I think there is a need for our constituency to believe in us," he said. "I think we need to be as up front as we can and I'd like to see us continue to disclose things that could affect our objectivity."
Tangential to the financial disclosure issue were concerns by some that vacancies on the DRACs took too long to fill. Hockessin has seen months go by without a nominee receiving confirmation and both Centreville and North St. Georges have nominees awaiting council approval. Centreville met for the first time last month while St. Georges has yet to meet.
Murphy said he'd like to see district council members nominate committee members without a council vote or without County Executive Chris Coons having to sign off on them.
"When it takes six months to seat a DRAC member, something's wrong," he said.
Land Use General Manager Dave Culver said a code change would be needed to alter the nomination process. He also suspects much of the delay centers on respective appointees' willingness to submit their financials - something he said the administration would review.
In Claymont, the primary concern is the proliferation of illegal signage. Claymont has its own sign guidelines that are more restrictive than the county code, but some business owners along Philadelphia Pike routinely ignore them. And that has business owners who have voluntarily complied crying foul because their competitors appear to be playing by different rules.
Claymont wants the county to conduct random sweeps of area businesses and to issue fines for illegal signage. But Jim Smith, who oversees code enforcement, said the department simply doesn't have the resources to conduct sweeps and that code enforcement would remain complaint-driven.
Smith did say that illegal signs could soon be added to the list of violations for which code inspectors can issue instant tickets. That could bring more businesses into compliance faster, he said.
