Seaford City Council approves subdivision of property, allowing for single family dwelling

The Seaford City Council approved the subdivision of city owned property lot located on Cedar Ave and Poplar Street. Building official Mike Bailey said the water tower is located on the one lot while the other lot will be put up for sale for R-2 zoning. The property subdivision will allow for a single family dwelling.

Additionally, the council approved the request of BCDE Investment Group LLC to subdivide two lots on Porter Street into five lots for five single family dwellings. The lots all meet R-2 code requirements and are 6,115 square feet to 6,102 square feet and 40 feet wide.

The amendments to chapter 15 of the municipal code of Seaford updates were approved by council after the public hearing and second reading that updated the definition of apartment and dwelling and added condominium. Also the changes updated sections using the new language in the definitions in “uses by Right,” “accessory uses,” “area and bulk regulations,” and added uses by special exception.

          Seaford City Hall

The council approved a policy update of the personally identifiable information policy (PII). Director of Finance June Merritt said the purpose of the update is to protect people’s information as well as a requirement of some federal grants. The policy establishes guidelines of collection of PII and how the city uses the information. All city employees, elected officials, contractors, and third party services must follow the policy who have access to PII. The policy outlines the collection of PII which must be for legitimate purpose of providing services or business for the city. All individuals will be informed if there is data collected. There is restricted access to authorized personnel and includes safeguards of encryption and firewalls, 

The city will provide appropriate training to employees who have access to information. The city will be audited to make sure the policy is being followed to provide safe environment. Councilman Dan Henderson inquired if biometric data is included such as using fingerprints for access or DNA. Merritt said it is not in this amended policy but will return to council at a later date upon research to possibly include it for the future.

The city moved forward for the future installation of a new water well and treatment facility, which would be located at the end of Poplar Street. The design of the treatment facility is still uncertain as the city waits for the results of the water tests that were taken from the location. Director of Public Works Mears and City Manager Anderson both said it is not unusual for treatment facilities and wells to be located within residential areas of towns.

Seaford resident Dan Cannon spoke to council during public comments and shared his objections to the choice of placement of the wells and treatment facility. The drilling is taking place in view of Susan Allen’s, Cannon’s spouse, front yard. Cannon in his public comments to council asked of the how, when, where, and why the city chose to use the east side of Hooper’s Landing at the intersection of Nylon Blvd and W. Poplar Street for the well drilling and water treatment facility.

The city had five production wells until in 2021 when the Delaney well, which was in operation since the 1960’s, was shut down due to radium positive tests. There were four production wells but only three treatment sites and one site has two production wells piped together to one treatment building. The original Nylon well, which was approximately 65 years old, was shut down in 2005 and is in emergency only status. The Delaney well was taken off line which took the city to two wells.

Once the city lost Delaney and were down to two production sites, it was necessary to begin looking for a place for a new well. There was discussion to rehabilitate Nylon well, however, a treatment building could not fit on the median. The thought was to find another site for a treatment building and still rehab the well and pipe it down to the property for treatment however once discussions initiated with well drillers on the age and concerns of the Nylon well it was recommended to not rehab the Nylon well.

The city had sited the area on Poplar Street for the treatment facility and therefore looked at the area for the wells.

Mears said going to the west side is concerning because of the radium contamination that was present previously, “We felt that the property we picked for the treatment building would be the proper spot to house a couple wells.” The city acquired a grant to test the quality of water. 

Anderson added, “We were very concerned about the Delaney well contamination. In all the years we ran Nylon, which is about 1,000 feet from the new well, we had no water contaminate issues at that location, it is high quality water. All the piping that we build to inject water into the system is generally in that area, and that is why we looked in that close proximity so to make the project as affordable as possible for our rate payers.”

The treatment building will be on the right side and there will be two wells with one well head in front of the Allen house. Anderson said, “Berley (Mears) and I have committed to landscaping the area with fence around it and try to make it as harmonious to the residential neighborhood as we possibly can.” Also, the golf course superintendent agreed to landscape around the area of the treatment plant. Anderson said, “We understand that aesthetics are very important because it is on the edge of the 16 hole of the golf course.”

The treatment building, if located on the west side of the golf course, would require costly new raw water piping from east to west and placing them under the golf course with a possible leakage at some point, would be costly repair and destructive to the course.

The well is submersible which will have of a height of two-to four feet above ground. Mears said there will be an enclosure around it to keep it from freezing. Anderson noted of the importance of the wells and treatment facility due to increased water demands related to lawn and fire irrigations systems and new housing.

The city of Seaford Municipal Election will be held on Saturday, April 19 in the city council chambers located at 414 High Street, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. One council member will be elected for a three year term. Councilman Orlando Holland has filed for reelection and former Councilman Jose Santos has filed.