Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 9

189 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9 TOWN OF SMYRNA , DELAWARE Town Manager Andrew Haines declares, “We talk about Smyrna Strong, you hear that often here. It’s not a cliché. There is a high level of engagement in town, from the participation of students and families in the schools, to the way people came together to support those affected by a series of house fires in 2020. It’s not unique to Smyrna, you see it in other small towns as well, but in a community that is growing, it’s not lost. It’s a strong sense of taking care of each other.” Less than half an hour from the state capital of Dover, Smyrna is perfectly poised for growth, on both the residential and business fronts. “Dover has its natural assets and features that bring guests there,” says Haines, “but we are turning into a prime location for the next growing areas of residential communities. There is great access to infrastructure, great public schools. We have that convenience of location, so our residents can go north or south for work. It is still an affordable place to be with a strong local government – whether it’s our police service, or public works and our growing Parks and Recreation department.” With growth comes the need for housing, a problem which is more challenging due to the booming real estate market. With several planned communities in the early stages of construction, and several others nearing completion, Smyrna is working to ensure housing availability, including affordable housing. According to Haines, “We just went through our comprehensive plan process for the town, and affordable housing is an important piece. We have some growing light commercial in the area, but Delaware is a strong retirement state. We also have a significant number of renters in our town, so we need to make sure we have an eye to that. We try to work with developers, obviously they will build what they think they can sell, but we are trying to make sure we put incentives in there to have housing to serve everybody in the community. We do Town Manager Andrew Haines