Developers Running the Show in NCCo
Sunday’s NJ featured a fantastic piece of reporting by Adam Taylor and Maureen Milford. Called Influence, Access Taint Land-Use Decisions, this is a remarkably detailed look at how the NCCo land use planning process — from both the county and the DelDOT side was apparently captured by the developers, their lawyers and their lobbyists. Not only that, but Pam Scott’s showy leaving of Saul Ewing was just for show. So not only is the land planning process broken, but so is the Ethics Policy in the county.
This was choice:
Scott said she doesn’t believe that she and Roy received greater access or favorable treatment.
“People know who the players are. Delaware’s a small state,” Scott said. “My colleagues in the land-use business know who to talk to. I don’t think the access we had was any different than any of the other people.”
Indeed they do. And I expect the gleeful outrage expressed by other land-use attorneys in this article indicates that, as well as a number of players getting their licks in. And again, Pam Scott was doing her job, one I expect she was paid for pretty well. The people who failed here were the NCCo and the DelDOT people who let Ms. Scott and Roger Roy just hijack the entire process. Any regulator who is waiting to make decisions pending input from attorneys and lobbyists very likely should be out of a job. Period. One of the biggest quality of life issues anywhere is the difficulty of getting from place to place. Traffic studies AND accompanying mitigation to not deteriorate the current traffic situation in any targeted area is supposed to be one of the jobs of government. Just building everyplace while not upgrading the traffic infrastructure is a planning failure. If you’ve been to Christiana Mall (before the construction), you get what bad planning looks like. I’ve often thought that the cure to bad planning decisions (or just ignoring it) is requiring master planners to be licensed in the way that engineers are. Professional licencing comes with responsibilities AND liabilities for not doing the right thing. Certainly runaway suburban building with no improvements to traffic infrastructure would slow way down.
Governments taking their cue from corporate interests at the expense of the rest of us isn’t new. But it does deteriorate the quality of life for the rest of us. I’m very glad that there is finally light on the shenanigans of Scott and Clark as well as the NCCo planning process and DelDOT’s failures. Both NCCo and DelDOT need to revisit how they do business so that they aren’t a wholly owned subsidiary of Delaware’s developers.
What do you think needs to change?
I agree that the piece was enlightening and well-researched, but what good will it do? We can’t prosecute Pam Scott or Roger Roy. Not one person has been held accountable for the shenanigans that occurred with respect to Barley Mill.
What’s most disappointing to me is that no one in the county tried to expose what Stoltz was trying to do. I don’t recall a single member of the planning board or county council speaking up. Not one whistleblower emerged from the county headquarters or from DelDOT. It took a group of well-heeled neighbors to expose this. This may never have come to light had it been in a part of the county where the residents couldn’t afford a lawyer.
DelDot is a piggy bank with no oversight. Sure we have Bhatt he has done nothing! At DelDot we have crooks overseeing crooks. We get the standard answer “it won’t happen again I pinky swear”
We have county council bending over for Clark and Scott — every one of you should be voted out of office. Where are big mouth Smiley and Kilpatrick??
No one in land use has lost their job — actually no one has even been reprimanded
The Bar has not issued any legal sanctions on any attorney
What needs to change EVERYTHING!
When my family moved to Delaware in 1974 it was obvious that the state had a wild west mentality about land use and none existent zoning, just the sight of Sea Colony right on the first dune sent shivers down my spine. Nothing has changed and development in the state has followed the same path I saw on Long Island, some get rich and the rest of us get to deal with what they leave behind.
What’s most disappointing to me is that no one in the county tried to expose what Stoltz was trying to do.
This is a great point. There wasn’t (still isn’t) any mechanism to stop the train or at least get a community’s concerns heard. And I don’t think that this exists in any bit of DE government.
I’m still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out what laws Stoltz et al broke. Seems like they hired a darn good legal and lobbying team and got their money’s worth. Linda is calling for land-use employees to get fired and for lawyers to be sanctioned. Just what did they do that’s against the law?
Now don’t get me wrong, I despise developers. But I fail to see what the legal issues are in this case. Pam Scott wrote a bunch of emails to Alan Levin. Did Levin lobby DelDOT on Stoltz’s behalf? Doesn’t seem like it. So what, then?
SW, I don’t think anyone has said Stoltz broke any laws. They played the game well. I think the anger lies more with the county and DelDOT for seemingly bending over frontward for Stoltz. No traffic impact study, no problem. We’ll recommend a traffic operational analysis instead.
Pam Scott drafted the letter for county exec Chris Coons announcing the compromise between the county and Stoltz. And she wanted all decisions to remain confidential. Scott also intervened on behalf of Stoltz months after she was supposed to have stepped down from her law firm due to her husband’s blatant conflict of interest.
As for DelDOT, they based decisions on a lobbyist’s concerns, not on what was in the state’s best interests. Anyone who authorized such an arrangement should be fired. Who are they supposed to serve, the state or Keith Stoltz?
So it sounds like she’s a good attorney and advocate, and that DelDOT listened to her because of that. Seems like the process worked the way it should. The residents eventually had their day and effected some change. I’m not sure why you expect some mid-level county or state employee to buck their boss and go public with … what? The fact that an attorney is working for the best outcome for their client? That happens every day.
The people with the most outrage here seem to have a lack of understanding of the land use process as well as a certain political naïveté. State employees are not supposed to be advocates for either side in a situation like this – they are supposed to apply the policies and regulations fairly. For all the newspaper’s smoke, I fail to see the fire here. There were one or two people in DelDOT who said that planners should talk to the developer or their attorney first. That’s neither a crime nor a firing offense.
stoltz played the game well- and there will be building on that site. The other reality which execept for a number of City politicians and the new County Executive who have voiced this concern publicly- what does Barley Mill’s development do to commercial and business interests in the City. What study/studies have been done on this?- none to my knowledge.
Actually, Scott may have violated county ethical provisions. She ‘resigned’ from her law firm precisely to avoid any ‘appearance of conflict of interest’ on the Stoltz deal.
And then she tried to get Alan Levin to do Stoltz’ bidding after her ‘resignation’. She claims it was just one phone call but, even if true, that was one phone call too many.
And I don’t believe it’s true.
El Som,
It’s a stretch to say Scott “may have violated county ethical provisions.”
First, the one affected by the county ethics code was her husband, Paul Clark. Second, the contact you cite is with a state official, not someone in county government.
Add it all up, and I think SW has the concise summary: more smoke than fire here. But what the tediously detailed reporting does show is this: government, at both the county and state levels, operates to better serve private interests than the public good.
Unfortunately, that will not change until our lawmakers (most notably those in the General Assembly)stop relying on lawyers who work for private interests to draft the laws they pass.
“Seems like the process worked the way it should. The residents eventually had their day and effected some change.”
I don’t think the process was designed to involve multiple lawsuits that cost the citizens millions of dollars. If this is the process “working,” then we must change the process.
As Another Mike noted, the community affected by the Stolz business got heard only because the could afford a lawyer to force the issue. What happens for communities that can’t afford a lawyer in order to get their interests recognized? If your representatives and government don’t represent you, then maybe the government needs to help communities level the playing field by subsidizing lawyers who will.
Cass, the government should not be subsidizing lawyers to represent the interests of communities. Rather, the government, primarily through its elected officials, should be looking out for the interests of the communities.
What we have here is a government whose mission has been distorted (perverted?) so that it neglects the interests of those it is responsible for serving.
El Som: By definition, the appearance of a conflict is not a conflict. I don’t recall any ethics board or judicial finding or attorney opinion stating that it was a conflict – but freely admit I may have missed that.
Geezer: Residents spent millions? You’ve seen the billing records?
This story is less a slam on the county and more another example of Maureen Milford’s continuing vendetta against DelDOT. That’s what’s driving this pony.
Which is my point. And Another Mike’s point, I think. And the point of the NJ article. Because the community’s interests certainly were not what NCCo or DelDOT were especially interested in.
“By definition, the appearance of a conflict is not a conflict.”
Incorrect. An actual conflict might or might not appear as one.
“Residents spent millions? You’ve seen the billing records?”
I am related to one of the principals in one of the groups. I have not seen the billing records. Is your position that, if the residents spent less than seven figures, it’s A-OK then?
“This story is less a slam on the county and more another example of Maureen Milford’s continuing vendetta against DelDOT.”
Where the fuck did that come from? Why would Maureen Milford — whose purse you couldn’t carry — have a “vendetta” against DelDOT? What kind of dumbass thinks a reporter could “have a vendetta” against anyone or anything without the cooperation of her editors?
And, most important, why SHOULDN’T we all conduct a vendetta against DelDOT? I realize that scamming the government is the only source of outside income for Sussex County, but the rest of us see an ugly train wreck of an agency that has been out of control since the days of Kermit Justice. EXACTLY the same issues were behind his prison term.
“That’s what’s driving this pony.”
Drive a pony? And you live in Sussex? Why don’t you stick to whining for money for beaches?
Exactly, Cass. Citizens should not have to worry about whose interests its elected and appointed representatives have at the fore. Residents are spending their money to unearth stuff that should have been part of the public rezoning process, and now the county is spending residents’ money defending itself in a lawsuit.
What was real new to me in this article was the heavy involvement of Roger Roy. Had I known that back in 2010, I’d have been screaming bloody murder about Janet Kilpatrick’s participation in the deliberations, and her subsequent vote to pass the rezoning, which passed 7-6.
Roy and Kilpatrick were long-time collaborators, and nobody knew DELDOT more intricately than those two. For years, Kilpatrick was the ‘go-to’ person on the General Assembly staff when it came to getting projects funded. I know ’cause I went to her. She is exceedingly smart and competent, and she knows at least as much about the internecine levers of power at DELDOT as Roy does.
Which is why I believe that Kilpatrick owed her constituents a ‘heads-up’ on Roy’s involvement on behalf of Stoltz, and her work with Roy. Kilpatrick not only knows the difference between a TIS and a TOA, she is well aware of the far more rigorous standards attached to the TIS. Had she represented her constituents instead of Stoltz, she would have done everything in her power to insist that the more rigorous analysis be conducted. She KNEW that the difference would likely save Stoltz millions, but she said nothing.
When she cast the deciding vote for the project’s rezoning, her explanation was that ‘it was the best we could do’. It was only the ‘best we could do’ because she was in the bag for Stoltz and Roger Roy. She did not use the vast knowledge at her disposal on behalf of her constituents, she apparently just pretended not to know what we know she knows. We didn’t realize it until now because she didn’t tell us, and nobody told us of Roy’s unprecedented involvement.
I’ve always liked both Roger and Janet. But, this stuff goes way over the ethical line, IMHO.
SW, I’ve always found the term ‘appearance of a conflict of interest’ to be almost laughable, at least in Delaware.
My point re Pam Scott is that she had a REAL conflict-of-interest when it came to lobbying on behalf of such a controversial proposal while her husband was pushing for the same project as a public official.
Which makes the fact that Scott continued to lobby on behalf of Stoltz after receiving a judgment that she would be in violation of county ethics standards a REAL conflict-of-interest, IMHO, not just the appearance of a conflict-of-interest.
She continued lobbying for Stoltz after publicly severing her ties with Stoltz. Case closed.
How the truth comes out after the fact that Paul Clark’s administration had a tremendous amount of conflict of interest with Pam Scott (his wife working on the Stoltz project). But Roger Roy being thrown into this mix is truly puzzling to me. A decorated and well respected retired State Representative and lobbyist down in Dover, Delaware being associated in this mess? A lot of research needs to be done on the involvement of Roger Roy before you cast complete judgment on him. But I do agree the Stoltz project has both Wilmington City Officials and New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon up in arms about this going through. A traffic report not being conducted is unacceptable. Why don’t we fix the current projects within New Castle County first before starting a new one? Maybe if we finished or enhanced certain commercial and residential projects, things would be moving in a better direction for the county. This would be more appealing for businesses to relocate to Delaware and become important aspect to our community.
“A decorated and well respected retired State Representative … A lot of research needs to be done on the involvement of Roger Roy before you cast complete judgment on him.”
Bullshit. Roger Roy was a sleazeball long before he became a lobbyist. He had a do-nothing six-figure job that paid him from money that came straight from the General Assembly.
I like Roger Roy, but he was an expert operator. Became a lobbyist as soon as his legislative term ended. Funneled money to his own ‘not-for-profit’, aka ‘Transportation Management Association’ while he was both legislator AND the CEO for TMA. Virtually all the money went to pay the CEO.
Respectfully, SED, I worked for him (he was co-chair of the Joint Sunset Committee when I was the Legislative Analyst for the committee) and I worked in the General Assembly with him. For a long time. I like him. A lot of people like him, and he makes it easy for some to overlook seeming ethical improprieties. Legislators like the fact that, once he switched from legislating to lobbying, he’d show up at their fundraisers with multiple checks on hand from his various clients. Party affiliations did not matter. It is/was about buying influence.
This is not about Roger, it’s about the Delaware Way. Ignore it at your own risk.
Geezer,
I have too heard these same statements on Roger Roy but he kept getting re-elected year after year by his constituents that was mostly Pike Creek and Mill Creek area of the state. But we have many retired Delaware State Representatives working now as lobbyists down in Dover, Delaware. There is no secret about that. I sense you want justice but I say due process needs to be done and thoroughly. Our great News Journal paper has not always been 100% accurate in reporting the news (but they are the only big game in the state). Remember the newspaper is still a business and it needs to keep things interesting for their customers. However, a newspaper can bring to light pieces of information that can spark our government agencies and officials to check the value of their reporting. That’s when journalism is serving the community at its best.
It is easy to point the finger and I do understand it is frustrating what is going on with Stoltz’s project. However, before you cast the judgment make sure you got all your ducks lined up correctly. If the individual is guilty and did do wrong they must face the consequences for it. Plain and simple. However, we are at point where there are more questions and not enough answers being given.
El Somnambulo,
I agree with you, it is about the Delaware Way. What is right and what is fair.
SED: I don’t care how many times he was re-elected, and I don’t care what your opinions of the media are. I know Roger Roy, I know Janet Kilpatrick, and I know the News Journal. Facts are facts, and I’m not depending on second-hand information or press accounts. His job was bullshit, it was funded by the state, and he’s a sleazeball.
What “process” do you think I need to follow to reach that conclusion? What “ducks” do I need to line up?
This stuff is perfectly legal, and calling it out as the action of a sleazoid creep is perfectly legal, too.
By the way, he’s a very nice guy. He was my district’s representative, and we never had a cross word.
SED: He didn’t keep getting ‘reelected’ in the sense that he had serious D opposition. He and Bob Gilligan formed a mutual non-aggression pact: Roy would not be challenged as long as he kept out of other local races. This is why the Roys were usually skiing in Colorado in October. Carefree and opponent-free.
At this link is a document of UDC / DelDOT policy reform suggestions some civic leadership has been working on since December. We rolled it out last night at the NCC Admin – Civic Umbrella monthly meeting. The RFP for the national search for a consultant to take the reins on land use code reform was released today (read: getting an independent expert to lead a process to remove all the mess that Pam Scott and Paul Clark stuck into the code to benefit her clients).
http://delawareway.blogspot.com/2013/04/udc-reform-recommendations-introduced.html
TMA benefited greatly from AZ coming here IIRC. There is a lot of baggage floating around about Roy and most of it is just filthy DE Way stuff – perfectly legal but under-handed all the same. I have a lot of it on a cd someone gave me back in 2005.
Is anyone following the competing DEM-GOPer lobby revolving-door bills now filed in Dover?
Geezer: As long as you don’t care about others’ opinions, you thus know what some of us think of yours.
SW: Yes, I figured you couldn’t answer any of my points. My opinions are based on facts, whereas yours are…. what? Care to detail how you know Maureen Milford is motivated by a vendetta, or are you just talking peckerwood shit?
Geezer: Seems I hit a nerve there. Settle down, pal. Vendetta was the first word that came to mind, but perhaps it’s not appropriate, as it does suggest a personal motivation. I didn’t mean to imply that Ms. Milford had flunked a driving test at the DMV and was trying to get back at DelDOT. So I probably should have used “fixation and tendency to approach stories with preconceived notions and ignore basic facts.”
HItting one of my nerves doesn’t require pinpoint accuracy, for sure.
But let me restate the question in light of your restatement. Which basic facts are being ignored?