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For years, Sussex County has been the First State’s epicenter for development.
According to the Delaware Office of State Planning, the county issued almost 24,000 residential building permits between 2020 and 2024. That makes up more than 60% of the total residential building permits issued in the state during that time.
The development comes in response to the county’s growing population. The county’s population has grown by nearly 17% since 2020, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It’s gotten to the point where it’s just not sustainable,” Nancy “Nan” Mathis said. “The traffic is horrible. It takes months to get a medical appointment if you’re new to the area. It takes months to get a medical appointment for your pet. The classrooms are crowded. Everything that comes with growth, which [has] no infrastructure around it.”
Mathis is the president of the Save Our Sussex Political Action Committee. The group formed in 2025, and their goal is to elect candidates to office in local races, like the county council, school boards and town councils. Mathis said these governing bodies have the most impact on resident’s day-to-day life.
At the center of the PAC’s platform is “managing growth” in the region. Other key concerns include affordable housing, access to health care, protecting the environment, improving road infrastructure and maintaining safe public schools among other things.
Save Our Sussex is funded through donations from residents, and is disconnected from other organizations and special interest groups. Mathis said the PAC aims to be “for everyone.”
“We have a lot of issues that we need to deal with in Sussex County,” Mathis said. “And it’s by getting together, figuring out where the common ground is, and moving forward on that, I really think we can make some progress on fixing issues that we all agree need to be addressed.”
