Kent County, DE Levy Court Passes First Data Center Restrictions: Industrial Zones Only, 300-Foot Setbacks

The Kent County, Delaware Levy Court voted unanimously on July 21 to pass the county’s first data center ordinance, restricting facilities to industrial zones with 300-foot setbacks from residential areas, closed-loop cooling requirements, and natural screening buffers. About 200 residents testified over two hours before the vote; amendments are still to come. The ordinance follows Leon County, FL’s 18-month moratorium (July 14) and the broader national wave of county-level data center regulation.

Kent County’s ordinance is a regulatory framework rather than a moratorium — permanent siting rules rather than a temporary pause on new applications — placing it alongside Escambia County’s outright land-code ban (2026-07-24–escambia-county-fl-data-centers-not-permitted-vote) as one of the more durable regulatory responses the timeline has tracked, compared to the many fixed-term moratoriums passed elsewhere in 2026.

Kent County’s rules do not apply within incorporated Delaware municipalities, including Dover (the county seat, but a legally distinct municipal actor). Three weeks later, Dover’s own City Council committee advanced a proposed 18-month data-center moratorium of its own — see 2026-08-11–dover-de-committee-advances-18-month-datacenter-moratorium, which is a committee-stage advance, not yet adopted.