Kent County Levy Court is considering new rules to facilitate -and regulate- data centers in central Delaware.
Kent County Levy Court’s workshop meeting this week laid out some rules data centers would need to follow if built in Kent County amid a prospective site being mulled in Harrington.
They include things like street setbacks for zoning requirements, along with protections for residents. Light, utility, and noise restrictions were drafted to directly respond to common reservations heard about data centers.
The Kent Economic Partnership helped create the draft ordinance. Its executive director Linda Parkowski says the group believes data center impacts are not entirely avoidable, even if built out of state
“No matter where the data center goes, it’s going to end up affecting [people’s]utility bill, If the data center in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland- anywhere on the PJM grid, it’s going to affect everyone on that grid” she said.
She says the partnership’s philosophy is that Kent County should create rules for data centers rather than banning them to open the door to collect the tax revenue on their construction.
Parkowski also says putting regulations in place is important for the county - and municipalities, which she says often look to county code for guidance.
“The county has a professional land use planner on staff- we have a department. The municipalities, especially some of the smaller ones, don’t have that capability or depth in order to draft something like this. So, the municipalities could easily look at this draft ordinance and say ‘Does this work for our municipality?’” she said.
She adds that even if the ordinance was passed, municipalities would still have final say over data center development in their city or town limits- meaning they could still choose to ban the facilities if they chose.
Ordinance Regulations
If the ordinance was accepted as drafted, it would require any proposed data center to be at least 300 feet from a residential zoning district and screened with natural barriers, like trees or shrubs.
Those barriers would need to be at least 6-foot high, last all four seasons, and be native to Delaware- this would be done to further buffer the facilities from interfering in residential life.
Other restrictions were suggested on both the noise and light pollution of a data center- the draft ordinance says that a plant wouldn't be allowed to exceed 55 decibels at the property line. Testing for noise pollution could be done by licensed engineer in Delaware, during the hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and all equipment at the center must be running during the time of inspection.
Lights would also be required to be fully shielded and pointed down to prevent light from spilling beyond the property.
The ordinance would also dictate that data centers must be feasibly powered by existing infrastructure, and that open-loop or once-through cooling systems would be prohibited unless reclaimed water were utilized. An exception could be granted if the environmental impact were demonstrated to be minimal.
Under the draft ordinance, data centers that were not operating for more than one year would be considered abandoned, and the owner of the property would be required to decommission and remove the facility within 180 days after its declared abandoned.
Finally, the ordinance also dictates that an applicant would need to provide a letter of no-objection from several state agencies, relevant utility companies, and any other agencies that have jurisdiction in the proposed area.
Currently, a data center has been considered for the Harrington area, the former Harrington Logistics property.
Levy Court plans to introduce the ordinance at its June 9th meeting, but it will face public hearings in the Regional Planning Commission and Levy Court before any vote.
