At a recent meeting, Milford City Council members questioned City Planner Rob Pierce about a group home that opened on West Clarke Avenue. Council questioned why they were unaware of the new home.
“I received some notices from a few people regarding a group home on West Clarke Street and I think they were concerned that this snuck up on them,” Councilman Dan Marabello said. “I know there was a recent state law that passed that allowed them to do that, but I don’t recall ever discussing a group home going in that community.”
Mayor Todd Culotta stated that the city did not have a group home ordinance. Pierce stated that the city’s ordinance was no longer consistent with state and federal law.
“We have some language in there related to establishment of group homes, but it is contrary to recent legislation enacted by the Delaware General Assembly.”
Marabello stated that he did not recall council being made aware of that law going into effect and asked if anyone else on council had.
“Since I am getting no response, I guess they have not,” Marabello said. “The reason I am concerned about it is I think we’re concerned with helping out the people, but all the same, we have to consider the property values of people living in that area. They have put a lot of money into their homes, and I think it may be worthwhile to have a workshop to discuss this whole matter.”
Marabello felt this change in the law had “snuck up on council” and that people could be hurt economically by the loss of value of their homes.
“I know it has passed, but these things can be changed if we work hard enough with the state legislature,” Marabello said. “We’ve got sometimes six families going in one home, six cars. We know that’s not normal, but it seems to be increasing and before we know it, the value of the property is diminished, and we have to discuss this. We want to be fair to everyone.”
Councilman Jason James agreed with Marabello.
“This doesn’t have to be a separate workshop because we shouldn’t take that long to discuss it, but just so Rob can explain how the state statute affects the city,” James said. “What we are required to allow, what we can’t deny and then we can move forward from there. But here are some things running because I had this question about a home that showed up on Church Street, so maybe council does need an explanation about how these showed up without any conversation.”
