Why Should Delaware Care?
A proposed 2.4 million-square-foot warehousing complex slated for construction near Middletown has been in limbo for years. A recent legal opinion, however, signals the project may move forward in spite of fierce local resistance.
The developers of a massive warehouse near Middletown secured a major legal win last week, which may clear the way for their long-stalled warehousing project that faced years of county resistance.
In an opinion issued Nov. 3, a New Castle County Superior Court judge admonished a key argument used by county officials to delay the project, calling it “legally indefensible.”
The ruling also addressed one of the main legal questions posed by attorneys for the county and Nevada-based Dermody Properties, which hopes to build two logistics warehouses totaling more than 2 million square feet on 229 acres of land near the U.S. Route 301 interchange with Jamison Corner Road.
It is unclear how the development will proceed following the opinion or if the litigation will be dropped. The opinion also compels attorneys for both sides to discuss how to implement an order enforcing the court’s findings by Nov. 18.
Dermody, the company that also built the massive Boxwood plant for Amazon in Newport, has been eyeing additional projects in the region. Four years ago, it announced plans for the “LogisitiCenter at New Castle County” after being attracted to the land north of Middletown that had access to the Route 301 bypass.
It was caught up in a wave of public opposition to several warehouse projects in the surrounding area over fears of traffic and noise and light pollution. Ultimately, progress was stymied.
Dermody sued the county in April 2024, claiming that county land-use officials “arbitrarily failed or refused to perform” their duties when they did not respond to questions posed by New Castle County Council members about the planned development.
The developer currently has three appeals filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Superior Court and New Castle County Board of Adjustment surrounding the future of its massive warehouse proposal.
At the center of one of its challenges in the Court of Chancery is whether further traffic studies would be necessary to move the proposal forward.
According to the recent opinion issued by Judge Charles Butler, the county, Dermody and Delaware Department of Transportation signed an agreement that waived a requirement of a traffic impact study. The opinion also said that in the months leading up to the lawsuit, county land use officials said a traffic study wasn’t required for this project.
But months later, the county “unilaterally decided” that a study would be necessary to continue the project, according to Butler’s opinion.
“This reversal of positions is not only factually inexplicable, it is legally indefensible,” Butler wrote.
An attorney for Dermody declined to comment on this story.
New Castle County Councilman David Carter, who represents the area where the warehouses are slated, questioned the signed agreement, calling it “inexcusable by the prior County Executive and DelDOT.”
“In an ill-advised step, they committed the County and the State to a major infrastructure obligation without the supporting analysis,” Carter said in an email.
In his statement, he claimed traffic studies needed for future infrastructure projects had yet to be completed, and that the agreement was signed with “outdated” and “incomplete” traffic data.
A spokesperson for Gov. Matt Meyer, who was county executive for New Castle County at the time of the agreement, did not respond to a request for comment.
Natalie Criscenzo, a spokesperson for New Castle County, did not answer questions about the future of the project or if it intended to appeal the ruling.
“New Castle County has received the court decision and is reviewing the findings to determine our next course of action,” Criscenzo said in an email to Spotlight Delaware. “At this juncture, it is premature for us to comment further until a thorough review is completed with our legal counsel.”
Brianna Hill contributed to this report.
