New Castle, DE – Today, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, along with New Castle County’s Land Use General Manager Rich Hall and Public Works General Manager Tracy Surles, announced key Land Preservation Task Force findings. They will officially present the report at a joint meeting of the County Council’s Land Use and Public Works Committees later today.
The full Task Force committee report can be found HERE.
“Preserving our land, air and water for future generations is among our most important responsibilities,” said County Executive Meyer. “I thank the New Castle County Land Preservation Task Force, County Councilmembers Janet Kilpatrick and Tim Sheldon who served on the Task Force and County Land Use and Public Works Departments for work that will impact our communities for generations to come.”
County Executive Meyer highlighted a number of future policy propositions that stemmed from the report including:
- Creating an agriculture preservation committee
- Forming an open space conservation committee
- Reviewing funding for more preservation and investigating ways to make our land preservation investment dollars go further
- Creating a land preservation trust/reserve fund to roll unspent funds forward year to year
- Making land preservation a priority issue in the County’s comprehensive plan update
Land Use General Manager Rich Hall said, “Success will be determinate on key partnerships with stakeholders like New Castle County Council, land preservation leaders, nonprofits, State of Delaware, and the citizens of New Castle County to advance recommendations of the Task Force to preserve land for us today and for our children into the future.”
Public Works General Manager Tracy Surles added: “I appreciate the work of the Task Force. It enabled all of us to see the range of land preservation issues in the county so that we could develop a comprehensive recommendation report to address the key issues.”
“My administration looks forward to working with County Council and all of the other stakeholders in advancing the Task Force’s recommendations,” said County Executive Meyer.