New Castle County Council has voted unanimously to extend the time developers have to get through the land use approval process.
The change, approved by Council at its Sept. 30 meeting, allows developers an additional three months to complete the engineering and studies during each phase of the approval process outlined in the county’s Unified Development Code.
County attorneys had asked the Department of Land Use to draft the change because of an increasing number of lawsuits by land developers over the timeframe being too restrictive. Plans that are not completed by the end of the allotted time are sunset and must go back through the process to gain approval.
Councilwoman Stephanie McClellan (D-Newark) amended the legislation from the floor Tuesday to make the reasons extensions are granted part of the public record.
The extensions would be available to the developers both at the exploratory and preliminary stages.
