Why Should Delaware Care?
Debate over how to reckon with the fast-growing data center industry has risen to the forefront of conversations at the state and local levels in Delaware. Amid concerns of electricity demand, Dover officials are considering an outright pause of data center projects.
Dover’s proposal to impose an 18-month moratorium on data center approvals is advancing.
On Tuesday, a Dover City Council committee voted unanimously to bring to the full council an ordinance that would pause official reviews of data center proposals for up to a year-and-a-half. During the period, city officials would develop permanent policies regulating data centers.
Councilwoman Donyale Hall, who presented the idea to the committee, told Spotlight Delaware she plans to introduce the finalized ordinance to the City Council by September. Before then, she will work on shoring up the ordinance’s language, based on feedback from city staff, she said.
As currently written, the measure would establish an 18-month pause on the “acceptance, processing, review, approval and issuance of permits” for new data centers, while the city conducts a “comprehensive review” of the effects these facilities could have on Dover.
The capital city’s consideration of the measure comes amid a flurry of data center proposals and discussions over the past year about how the industry should fit into Delaware’s economy.
While New Castle and Kent counties recently approved rules limiting where a data center could be built in unincorporated areas, Dover appears to be the first municipality in Delaware considering a policy to halt the review of data center projects for a period of time.
If ultimately approved, Dover also would likely be the first jurisdiction of any kind in the state to implement a temporary ban on data center projects.
The General Assembly also passed a slate of bills in June regulating data centers, including one that would require developers to supply all of the power the facility would use for the first 10 years of operations.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Hall and Paul Waddell, Dover’s electric director, said Dover needs to undertake a more comprehensive study of the potential impacts of data centers on the city’s electrical infrastructure and other utilities before adopting a permanent policy.
They also have cited concerns that there could be an influx of data center proposals within Dover city limits following Kent County’s recent passage of strict regulations.
“This is not about closing Dover’s doors to data centers,” Hall said. “It’s about making sure that before we open that door, we understand what is on the other side.”
A ‘comprehensive review’
The conversation about a data center moratorium occurred near the end of a marathon four-hour City Council Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday.
While city council members, residents and experts sparred over other topics – including building safety codes, and how the city should use its Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission money – the proposed data center pause was a rare moment of unity between the city government and members of the public.
Hall described the proposed moratorium as necessary to give the city time to make an “informed decision” about whether data center projects are well-suited to Dover, and if so how to implement them without forcing residents to bear the costs.
She and Waddell both said the city has already been approached about at least one small-to-medium-sized data center project. Neither would share additional information when pressed for details about the potential project.
City Council President Fred Neil said figuring out the city’s approach to electricity costs and data centers is a complicated “jigsaw puzzle” that will take more time, especially after a Wilmington-based company recently announced plans to open a clean hydrogen production facility in Dover.
While residents raised a litany of concerns about other agenda items at the committee meeting, the attendees who lasted until the late-evening discussion of the moratorium said they support the data center pause, particularly as the city government raised residential electric usage rates in its fiscal year 2027 budget.
Dover resident Bill Faust, who is a frequent critic of the city government, said he supports the pause so that the city can be careful not to “create another monster” in the form of overloaded electricity and water usage systems from data centers.
At the same time, Linda Parkowski, executive director of the Kent Economic Partnership, advised that the city move efficiently – quicker than the 18-month maximum time frame provide by Hall’s proposal – to develop a permanent policy on data centers.
“We don’t want to send a signal out that we’re not open for business, and that could be how this is interpreted,” Parkowski said at the meeting.
Other regulations across the state
New Castle and Kent counties and a handful of municipalities around the state have passed measures regulating where data centers can be located.
Kent County’s new regulations, which passed the Levy Court unanimously last month, require a 300-foot buffer between data centers and residents; 6-foot tall tree or bush buffers; a noise limit; and a written statement from water and electric providers about how the project would impact existing infrastructure resources.
The Kent County attorney said at the July meeting that county officials are also in the process of conducting a legal review to see whether a complete ban on data centers is a viable option.
The county’s data center policies do not apply to possible projects in Dover or any other incorporated community within the county, including a proposal under consideration in Harrington.
New Castle County also adopted regulations similar to those of Kent County earlier this spring, following months of acrimony between county council members, and debate over a controversial data center project proposed near Delaware City.
