The Worcester County Commissioners have agreed to ask leaders in Sussex County, Delaware, to oppose a conditional use request to construct a substation at the Indian River power plant.
The Indian River Power Plant in Sussex County is pictured.
File photo courtesy Coastal Point
Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor
The Worcester County Commissioners will ask its northerly neighbor to oppose a conditional use request to construct a substation at the Indian River power plant.
The commissioners recently voted to send a letter to the Sussex County Council asking for its rejection of a conditional use request from a US Wind subsidiary. While the company has presented a request to construct an electric substation in the heavy industrial zoning district, the county council has yet to issue a decision.
“They did not make a decision last month on a [conditional] use to allow the landing of the power cables from the windmills,” Commissioner Joe Mitrecic told his colleagues at the conclusion of last Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s a conditional use that they have to rule on that would allow the cables to come in through the Indian River Inlet, and land up at the power plant I believe. So, I would make a motion that we send Sussex County a letter asking them not to grant that conditional use to the wind farms, that they will be just as destructive to their ocean as it is ours.”
As proposed in its application to Sussex County, a conditional use approval will allow Renewable Development LLC to construct an electric substation and utility uses on a 140-acre property located off of Iron Branch Road in Dagsboro, Delaware, The project would bring cables from the proposed wind project onshore to connect to the power grid.
In July, the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission considered the company’s request and forwarded the matter to a public hearing, which the county council held on July 30. However, the council at that time opted to defer its decision following hours of testimony.
With the decision still pending, Mitrecic asked commissioners to pen a letter of opposition to the Sussex County Council. Mitrecic’s motion, seconded by Commissioner Eric Fiori, passed in a 6-0 vote with Commissioner Caryn Abbott absent.