Why Should Delaware Care
Sussex County’s population has boomed in recent years, leading to a fraught balancing act to serve those new arrivals and maintain a rural lifestyle. Governor-elect Matt Meyer’s plan for the county aims to bring in a medical school to address staffing shortages and steward planned growth for southern Delaware going forward.
Governor-elect Matt Meyer is like most longtime Delawareans in being able to recall a time when Sussex County and its beaches were still a hidden treasure.
But that is no longer the case, as growth has exploded in the southernmost county, driven by retirees looking for a beach life and Delaware’s low tax climate.
Over the decade from 2010 to 2020, Sussex County’s population grew by over 20%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That unplanned growth has led to sprawl, traffic and new demands on health care and workforces.
Despite running New Castle County, the state’s largest on the other end of the state, the changing reality downstate led the governor-elect to draft a plan specifically for Sussex County.
Planned growth, open space preservation
By focusing on walkability, preservation of natural habitat, anti-sprawl measures and planning for climate change, Meyer aims to make future growth in Sussex County more planned and managed.
That would be aided by giving planning grants to cities and towns that would consider laws that provide more opportunities for affordable housing development or that want to implement “smart growth” development.
Meyer also pledged to coordinate planning efforts between state and county governments to promote thoughtful development in the state and ensure new development is discouraged in areas that cannot support it because of infrastructure or environmental concerns, especially non-essential building in floodplains statewide.
The governor-elect promised to curb this development by fortifying the enforcement of development guidelines in the upcoming 2025 Delaware Strategies for State Policies and Spending.
The strategies document must be updated every five years, with 2025 being the next update, and it determines what areas in the state are most prepared for growth and where the state can make the most cost-effective investments in roads, schools and public facilities.
In Delaware, agricultural production is the predominant land use, with just under 40% of state land being devoted to it, according to the Delaware Department of Agriculture. As of 2023, the state has preserved over 150,000 acres through the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation.
The foundation buys farm owners’ development rights to their farmland, allowing a farmer to gain the full value of his or her land while retaining ownership and the public can be assured that the farm won’t be developed.
Meyer set forth a goal to sustain the state’s investment in preserving farmland by using funds from his comprehensive statewide efficiency review and engaging with the philanthropic sector. He also pledged to provide matching incentives to county governments to “create, enhance and expedite” farmland preservation alongside improving support for the agricultural preservation program.
Additionally, Meyer pledged to preserve 5,000 more acres through Delaware’s Open Spaces Program by 2032, bringing the total to 50,000 preserved acres. The program, which acquires ownership of undeveloped land for the public good, has preserved 45,000 acres through the program to date.
Meyer also promised to provide more funding for biking and hiking trails throughout the state. As New Castle County Executive, he helped usher in federal funding to expand the federal Jack A. Markell Trail, which now connects Wilmington to New Castle.
Will a Delaware medical school happen?
Seeking to bolster depleted ranks of doctors downstate, Meyer wants to bring a medical school to Delaware, pledging to create a public-private work group to explore how to bring together the necessary partnerships and funding for such a project.
Bringing a medical school to the First State has been discussed for years, as Delaware is only one of three states without a school. A medical school could help establish a pipeline of doctors who are trained and remain to work in the state, potentially reducing the stark disparities seen in Sussex County.
Doctors and healthcare professionals have lauded the idea and pointed to it as a solution to provider shortages in southern Delaware.
Critics, however, argue that the county lacks the capacity for a school because of the already present strain on doctors and hospital systems.
As Sussex County’s population grows and becomes increasingly elderly, the demand for care has increased in recent years. Many doctors choose to practice elsewhere, given the largely rural county and skyrocketing housing costs.
This has led to months-long wait times for appointments and many people delaying care, which could lead to worsening medical conditions.
A Sussex County branch campus of an already established medical school in another state is estimated to cost about $85 million, according to a Sussex Economic Development Action Committee report on bringing a medical school to Sussex.
It’s unclear exactly where the funding for the school would be obtained. The feasibility study attributed financial investment coming from an established medical school, philanthropic sources and the government.
“The upfront cost is steep, for sure, but the investment in people and also jobs that that would bring will make a difference,” said State Rep. Jeff Hilovsky, co-sponsor of legislation that urged the creation of a medical school in Delaware. “What we need is a funnel to provide an ongoing amount of people to service the needs of the population.”
Hilovsky, a Millsboro Republican, co-sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 160, which called for the formation of a formal steering group for the planning and implementation of a medical school. The legislation was passed in both the State Senate and the House of Representatives in June.
Delaware State University and ChristianaCare have started discussions on establishing a medical school program that could “leverage existing facilities and partnerships,” according to the legislation. The talks could potentially make DSU a branch campus of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia.
“We need to have more accessibility for health care and generating medical professionals is key,” said Gwendolyn Scott-Jones, dean for Delaware State University’s Wesley College of Health & Behavioral Sciences and DSU’s School of Graduate, Adult and Extended Studies.
The feasibility study found that Sussex County lacks enough clinical teaching sites to support an independent four-year medical school. The report recommended a branch campus of an established osteopathic medical school is feasible, and that planning and implementation of a branch campus should begin immediately.
The potential for a medical school has been celebrated by health care professionals across the state.
“It’s going to help tremendously with recruitment,” said Lisa Butterworth, women’s health director and midwife at La Red Health Center in Georgetown. “Sussex County Health Care is in need of every kind of provider.”
Butterworth has seen an increase in prenatal patients inquiring about and receiving care there because wait times at other practices are so long. La Red, which serves underinsured and uninsured people in Sussex County, has had to hire a fourth midwife to help respond to the increase in need.
The uptick in patients is due to a lack of medical providers in Sussex County, she added. There’s been a shortage of OB-GYN providers in the county for about six years with the strain only worsening in the last two, she said.
Meyer’s Sussex plan called for the expansion of residency slots in primary and specialty care to address the doctor shortages in Sussex County. Meyer acknowledged expansions at Bayhealth and Beebe Healthcare are good first steps forward.
Dr. Paul Sierzenski, chief physician executive for Beebe Healthcare, applauded the push for more residency slots and said a new medical school would bring about job growth, attract people to the area and spur excitement surrounding medical education in Sussex County.
“It is important that in the time and the challenges that we’re having with access, that we do need to be bold,” Sierzenski said.
In 2023, Beebe welcomed its first four-person class of residents for its family medicine residency program. The program’s new clinic broke ground in Long Neck in March.
Ruth Briggs King, former Republican state representative, doesn’t think that Delaware, and Sussex County in particular, has built the necessary capacity to establish a medical school.
It’s a “noble” idea but the underlying logistics of doctors’ capacity, time and compensation to help establish and run the school have not been sufficiently planned, she said.
“Delaware built so quickly that it did not build capacity or infrastructure,” Briggs King said. “I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Offshore wind push may face local barriers
Meyer described offshore wind as one of Delaware’s “biggest opportunities” for renewable energy generation, in his Sussex plan. Meyer acknowledged that many offshore wind projects have stalled for years but said he’d push for new offshore wind farms in Delaware waters.
But the governor-elect also acknowledged the reality that many Sussex County residents are not in favor of the projects.
“Delawareans are rightly concerned about the impact of wind farm construction and operations on the natural environment and on their local communities,” Meyer said in the plan. “As Governor, I will spearhead an inclusive, community-led process to understand community concerns and develop strategies to minimize disruptions due to construction and to protect vulnerable habitats.”
Meyer pledged to solicit the best bids for the state and work with local communities to create a process to find a landing point for power cables connecting the grid with offshore turbines.
Meyer’s plan may be hampered by local and county governments, which have delayed or rejected offshore wind proposals in the past.
In December, Sussex County Council rejected a proposal needed to build a wind farm off of the Atlantic coast. The application would have allowed the connection of high-voltage cables from the Indian River to a substation near the Indian River Power Plant in Dagsboro.
The county denial has delayed the offshore wind project that already had federal approval.
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