Get involved: Wilmington housing, Georgetown bike lanes, more highlight public meetings

Delaware’s state government will hold dozens of meetings this week to discuss the the public’s business, including topics around road safety, the environment, and the Port of Wilmington.

Wilmington Housing Summit

State Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman will be hosting her second Wilmington Housing Summit on Tuesday, bringing together community members, housing advocates, and representatives from all levels of government to continue the important conversation on housing challenges in Wilmington. 

This event follows the first Wilmington Housing Summit held in February, during which stakeholders shared data, experiences, and insights regarding the state of housing in the city. This upcoming event will present the findings and feedback collected by the initial summit, and open the floor to input from the public.

Among the topics to be discussed are affordable housing, homelessness and housing instability, vacant homes, protecting tenants, and supporting homeownership.

“My goal in hosting these summits is to foster a proactive and transparent dialogue with the community about the barriers in Wilmington,” Lockman said in a statement. “This summit is not about just identifying problems – but about collaboration. No one branch or level of government can solve this alone. Tackling housing challenges will require all of us – local, state, and federal leaders – working together to create long-lasting solutions through legislative action.”

The event will be hosted at the Carvel State Office Building, located at 820 N. French St, in Wilmington. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, with the event running 6 to 7 p.m.

DelDOT

On Tuesday, Delaware transportation officials will hold a public workshop to publicly present proposals to change the ways in which Georgetown’s roads are designed for cyclists and pedestrians.

The Delaware Department of Transportation will release its specific proposals at the workshop, but has already signaled that it will focus its improvements to bike and pedestrian infrastructure along Bedford and Market streets, which are the primary corridors in the town.

The public workshop will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Georgetown Public Library located at 123 W. Pine St.

On Wednesday, DelDOT officials will hold a meeting of their Transportation Infrastructure Investment Fund Council to consider awarding taxpayer money to developers of several construction projects across the state.

Those potential recipients are CMT Inc. of Harrington; Felton Drive-In LLC of Felton; FR First Park New Castle LLC of New Castle; REACH Riverside Development Corp of Wilmington; SCMC Rt 24 LLC of Rehoboth Beach; WitSil Lincoln Assoc LLC of Lincoln; and RMG Harrington LLC of Harrington.

The meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday. It will take place at the Delaware Room of the DelDOT Administration Building, located at  800 Bay Road in Dover. It will also be streamed virtually here.

DNREC

On Tuesday, Delaware’s environmental regulators will consider a permit application from Goodwill, Inc that would allow it to manufacture sand by pulverizing recycled glass and ceramics at their building at 400 Centerpoint Boulevard in New Castle.

The meeting will take place virtually on Tuesday from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. The meeting can be accessed here.

Port of Wilmington

The Port of Wilmington’s new legislative oversight committee – called the Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force – will hold its first meeting on Wednesday after lawmakers reestablished the long dormant group earlier this month.  

The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wednesday at the Buena Vista conference Center, located at 651 South DuPont Highway in New Castle. It also will be streamed virtually here.

The board of the Diamond State Port Corporation, which separately oversees the Port of Wilmington, has not yet scheduled a public meeting since state senators approved three of Gov. Matt Meyer’s nominees to the body earlier this month.