702 p.m.

on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026.

Can County Levy Court Business meeting is now called the agenda.

Our call to uh business.

Uh we're at Levy Court Chambers 203, and I'll turn it over to County Administrator Kevin Sippel.

Thank you, Madam President.

This meeting is being held in person at 555 Bay Road Rodelaw and Alevy Court Chambers.

We're also making it available via the internet through WebEx.

Participants can join us by phone or by computer during the meeting.

There will be opportunities for public comment for those attending in person or online.

When the president opens a public comment period, those attending in person may step forward to one of the two podiums and be recognized.

If you're joining us by phone and wish to comment, please press star three, which will raise your electronic hand.

Our operator will identify you and bring you into the meeting.

Pressing star six will mute and unmute your line.

If you're online, you will see a hand and microphone icon at the bottom of your screen.

Please use those at appropriate times.

We ask guests to begin public comments by setting your name and address for the record.

The county attorney will administer an oath of affirmation to anyone giving testimony during a public hearing.

We ask that the public comments relate to the subject announced by the president.

In addition to public hearings, there are two public comment periods, one at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items, and one near the end of the meeting for general comments.

This meeting is being recorded and will follow the rules and procedures adopted by Levy Court as well as the Mason Rules of Order.

Back to you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Before we start, we're in Levy Court Chambers, and I would appreciate anyone who has a hat on.

Please take it off.

Thank you very much.

Pledge allegiance will be done by Commissioner Hertz.

Moment of silence for our troops and first responders.

Commissioner Sweeney, all rise.

Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to come together this evening to discuss important issues for this county.

Please let us make wise decisions that not only please our constituents, but especially please you.

Chief Engineer Eugene Servey from the Deep Creek Volunteer Fire Company in McHenry, Maryland, probationary firefighter Robert Ryder the third from Malaga Volunteer Fire Company No.

One in Malagan, New Jersey, Fire Chief, Fire Safety Chief Dan Hernandez from the Slocum Volunteer Fire Department, Elkhart, Texas, and please keep our local firefighter, family, fire police chief, fire police Frederick Sonny Wyatt, a 64-year member of the Harrington Fire Company, who also had a term as the president of the Kent County Fire Police Association.

Fred also served his country in the Army National Guard for six years, obtaining the rank of a buck sergeant.

Please keep these lost lives and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you.

Ms.

Tanaka, roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Present.

Mr.

Hall.

Present.

Mr.

Hertz?

Here.

Mr.

Pepper?

Here.

Mr.

Scott?

Here.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Here.

Mrs.

Maston?

Here.

Madam President, roll call reviews.

Seven present.

Let the record show we have a quorum.

We have seven commissioners present.

Next on the uh agenda is the adoption and uh motion to accept.

So moved, Madam President.

Second.

Motion by Vice President Scott, second by Commissioner Pepper.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Yes.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call, reveal seven years.

Let the record show seven years to adopt the agenda.

The next item is where we offer public comment for anything that's not covered under a public hearing.

That's on the agenda.

Is there anyone who would like to speak on anything that's not covered under a public hearing?

For our guests joining us online, if you would like to make public comments on anything that is not scheduled for a public hearing tonight, please indicate by raising your electronic hand or pressing start three if you're joining us by phone.

I see no hands raised online at this time, Madam President.

Thank you, Mr.

Kennedy.

Next item is a consent agenda 2611.

Need a motion to approve?

So moved, Madam President.

Second.

Motion by Vice President Scott.

Second by Commissioner Angel.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Yes.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President Roll Call.

Reveal seven years.

Let the record show seven years for consent agenda twenty-six eleven.

We do have some presentations, so you all have to bear with us this evening.

Mrs.

Hortsey, are you here?

So Laurie, would you like me to read everything into the record for Mr.

Harrington?

Okay.

Resolution 4169, retirement of Michael W.

Harrington.

Whereas the retirement of Michael W.

Harrington, an employee of Kent County, State of Delaware, from his duties as a utility construction coordinator and Department of Public Works Engineering Division presents a suitable opportunity for expressing the esteem in which we hold Michael W.

Harrington as a good and faithful public servant.

Therefore, be it resolved that Kent County, that County of Kent expresses its warmest appreciation and thanks to Michael W.

Harrington for the able and loyal manner in which he performed his public duties.

Be it further resolved that this resolution be his evidence of a right to the pension provided by the Kent County Employees Retirement Program, and that this resolution be and hereby is incorporated into the official minutes of the July 21st, 2026 meeting of the Kent County Levy Court.

So moved.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Pepper, second by Commissioner Hertz.

All in favor.

Is uh Mr.

Harrington here?

Yes, he is.

Down Burnt.

There too.

Mike, it's certainly an honor to be up here to give you this presentation to celebrate your 28 plus years with the county.

You've certainly been an outstanding employee here, and it's going to be hard to fill your shoes, that's for sure.

But I certainly wish you the very, very best as we go forward.

And little did I know.

I went to school with your dad at Smyrna High School.

So I knew you would do well.

Anyway, thanks a lot for all your service.

It's greatly appreciated.

Mike, congratulations.

Uh your loyalty and dedication is definitely going to be missed.

Um I know when you talked about this a year ago, I told JJ, I said, it's not going to happen.

He's not going nowhere.

Well, here we are.

So congratulations, quite a milestone, and thank you for everything you've done for the county.

Yes, Mike, congratulations.

You still have time to change your mind now.

But thank you for all your service, sir.

Thank you.

Mike, thanks for your service.

I can tell you from experience retirement is glorious.

You're gonna love it.

Congratulations, and uh thank you for everything you've done for the county.

Mike, you've been uh household name with all the contractors here at Kent County, so uh we're quite missing at public works.

Thank you for your 28 years of service.

You've done our community well.

Uh you have a big party here tonight.

And um and uh congratulations on through retirement.

My congratulations.

Uh we surely are going to miss your institutional knowledge and uh everything that you know about the county.

And uh well, we certainly do have appreciated you over the years, and we wish you only the best.

Yeah, Mike uh waited it would go out with a bang, I believe last month was the first time you ever got employee of the month, and this month second.

Okay.

And this month you're going out uh to retirement, you're already dressed for it.

I love it.

Congratulations.

It looks like you're going out in style, appreciate everything you've done for the county.

Such important work.

Thank you very much.

My congratulations on your 28 years with the county.

We appreciate all that you've done for us and all for the public works department.

Thank you.

Now you get to speak.

Well, I'm not gonna sit up here and go on and on a bunch of uh stuff that I've seen over the years.

Um but I've I've seen a lot of changes, I've seen a lot of commissioners, I've seen what, four uh county administrators.

Um, so and I've seen a lot of people come through the doors, employees and uh residents of Kent County, and uh I can just want to say it's been an honor to uh work here for 28 years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mrs.

Horsey, do we have our employee of the month here tonight?

Yes, he is present, and I'm going to ask Deputy Chief Justin Conrad of the Emerging Emergency Medical Services Division to come down and read um the employee of the month in for the record.

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody.

Kent County Department Heads have selected Kenny Kelly from the Department of Public Safety Emergency Medical Services Division as the August 2026 employee of the month.

Kenny currently serves as paramedic lieutenant and has been a dedicated member of the King County team since August of 2013.

Throughout his career, he has steadily advanced through the ranks of paramedic one, two, and three before being promoted to his current position in June of 2024.

Widely recognized as a leader within our organization.

Kenny exemplifies the professionalism, dedication, and commitment to service that all paramedics strive to achieve.

According to EMF's Chief John Tinger, as a leader, Kenny sets clear expectations for accountability, efficiency, fostering a culture of responsibility within his platoon.

His influences not only drive performance, but also strengthens the overall cohesion and professionalism on the team.

Lieutenant Kenny Kelly's leadership, dedication, and passion for the profession have made a long and lasting impact on Kent County EMS, making him deserving of recognition of employee of the month.

Congratulations, Kenny, on a job well done.

Kenny resides in Commissioner Sweeney and Peppers districts.

And then Kent County Levy Court, August 2026, Employee of the Month, Kenneth Kelly, on this the 21st day of July 2026.

The Levy Corps of Kent County State of Delaware does hereby recognize Kenneth W.

Kelly, Paramedic Lieutenant, Department of Public Safety, Emergency Medical Service Division, for his exceptional initiatives, dedication, and conscientious to the delivery of services to the citizens of the county.

Kenny, congratulations on your achievement.

I know that there's not enough things that can be said about the work that you do at public safety.

Goodness knows, I'm sure at some point in time we've all had to use your services.

We are to commend it for everything you do every day, and I can't begin to appreciate you enough.

Thank you.

I don't think he is.

I've probably known you longer than anybody in the room.

Since you're about six years old, I think.

Six or seven.

Actually, I live one door down from his parents for 40 years.

So I've known Kenny for a long time.

And uh he's just a great person.

Uh he works hard.

He um he works hard.

He always has worked hard.

And he was a Marine.

So I'm very proud of what Kenny has accomplished.

And uh I know his uh parents are too.

Uh I think he got the love of this job from his his mother, who I think is in Alaska right now.

Um, but she's uh retired nurse.

So Kenny has uh really done a great job.

He's done a great job for the county, and um he's uh one that uh all the other paramedics look up to.

So uh Kenny, thank you.

And uh we appreciate you and everything you've done for us.

You make us look good.

All right.

Well, first of all, Separfy.

Well, I served a lot long uh way back in the eighties, but uh congratulations.

All I hear about is how great things you're doing over there.

Everybody talks really great about you.

And I also know your dad.

He used to work on my cars when I was sixteen, way back in the eighties.

But uh congratulations on a job well done.

Just congratulations well deserved and uh appreciate all that you do for the county.

Kenny, congratulations again.

I might not know your father as well, but I surely know you.

As a as a young man, uh he came to our local fire department and started working for us as an EMT and has worked his way up through the ranks through the public safety division, and prior to me being the county administrator, I was director of public safety, and uh he sets the the model of what you're looking for an employee within within public safety.

So congratulations, well deserved.

Because public recognition is not his forte.

Your brother's here, though, he'll take care of it.

But but seriously, Kenny, you know, what you do, you never do the job for recognition.

You do because that's who you are.

And you are a person who leads by example, and you are one of the greatest role models that this department has.

So keep up the great work.

We're proud of you, and congratulations, you deserve this.

Wow.

Here we go.

So I'll tell you a story or two.

Now I'll keep it short.

Uh I've known Kenny since he was an early teen.

He used to work at the dealership, him and his brother both uh at the dealership that I worked at for 20 plus years.

Um the same passion.

Um he's fortunate.

He comes from a very stand-up family.

His mom and dad are amazing people, solid people.

Put good values into both of their boys.

Um his mom actually delivered my daughter.

Um but Kenny Kenny has always been an active first class through and through.

And the county is extremely fortunate to have him as part of the team.

So thank you for everything you do.

And I mean that.

Yes, Kenny, congratulations.

I think it can be said if you look around the room, how many paramedics are in this audience right now to support you also, which I think says a lot about you.

So thank you for doing what you do, being a leak uh member of the uh employee of the month.

Good luck on getting that $500 in December, and uh good luck with it.

So um you work with the cream of the crop.

You soar with eagles every day, yet you stood out above for the employee of the month.

That says something, says something from your peers, from your management, and and this recognition, you deserve everything you get.

So take it in, take the public.

Everybody here is gonna clap, take it in.

Congratulations.

Thank you guys.

I didn't know if you guys were all these people here came for me, so I thank you guys for showing up.

Um, I'd like to thank my administration for recognizing me.

Um Director Tinger is letting me use his take-home car for the month of August.

So thank you for that, sir.

Uh the medics that showed up, especially my platoon, they are the reason I'm up here.

They work hard for me.

They're all bought in, they support me in everything I do, so I want to thank everybody.

Um if it's possible after I get a picture with you guys, if my platoon could come up and we could take a picture.

Yep.

Okay.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Ryan.

Ryan, right?

Yeah, we're gonna get the platoon.

For those standing along the wall, we do have room two twenty and two twenty-one set up with both the audio and video, so you can have a seat and still participate in the meeting if you would like.

Thank you.

Oh, there are ten years.

Okay, two.

Next on the agenda um is the resolution forty-one seventy, the retirement of Rose W Rose M.

Wurzel, Wills Clark to Mrs.

Horsey.

Resolution four one seven zero, retirement of Rose M.

Wurzel, whereas the retirement of Rose M.

Wurzel, an employee of Kent County, State of Delaware, from her duties as a Wills Clerk too in the Register of Wills office, presents a suitable opportunity for expressing the esteem in which we hold Rose M.

Wurzel as a good and faithful public servant.

Therefore, be it resolved that the County of Kent expresses its warmest appreciation and thanks to Rose M.

Wurzel for the able and loyal manner in which she performed her public duties.

Be it further resolved that this resolution be her evidence of a right to the pension provided by the Kent County Employees Retirement Program, and that this resolution be and hereby is incorporated into the official minutes of the July twenty first, twenty twenty six meeting of the Kent County Levy Court.

And Ms.

Werzel is not here, so we can move forward to the vote, please.

I need a motion to accept resolution forty-one seventy, please.

A motion by Vice President Scott, second by Commissioner Sweeney.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper.

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Yes.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call, reveal seven years.

Thank you.

Next is resolution forty-one seven five, the retirement of Frederick J.

Burke, environmental program manager.

Ms.

Horsey?

Resolution four one seventy-five, four one seven five, retirement of Frederick J.

Burke, whereas the retirement of Frederick J.

Burke, an employee of Kent County, State of Delaware, from his duties as an environmental program manager and the Department of Public Works Environmental Program section presents a suitable opportunity for expressing the esteem in which we hold Frederick J.

Burke as a good and faithful public servant.

Therefore, be it resolved that the County of Kent expresses its warmest appreciation and thanks to Frederick J.

Burke for the able and loyal manner in which he performed his public duties.

Second.

Motion by Vice President Scott, second by Commissioner Pepper.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel.

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Yes.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President Roll Call reveal seven years.

Thank you.

Mrs.

Horsey, we have some new hires for the record.

Yes, Madam President.

We have four new hires for the month of June.

Leah Palmer in the administration office, human resources coordinator.

We are excited to welcome Leah as our new human resources coordinator.

Leah joined Kent County on June 1st, 2026.

She brings valuable experience from her previous role as a payroll coordinator with Amic Farms LLC.

Prior to that, she worked for the same company as a yield coordinator.

Leah resides in Commissioner Scott's and Pepper's District.

We also have Brian Johnson in the public works department.

He is an engineering technician one.

And we are excited to welcome Brian as our new engineering technician one.

Brian joined Kent County on June 1st, 2026, and he brings experience from his previous role where he retired as an EPS Tech 5 with the State of Delaware.

Brian resides in Commissioners Maston and Peppers districts.

We have Riley Pritchett in the Community Services Department.

We are excited to welcome Riley as our new seasonal parks worker.

Riley joined Kent County on June 8th.

He brings experience from his previous role as a Greenhouse attendant with 302 Aquaponics.

He is currently enrolled at the University of Delaware, majoring in environmental science.

Riley resides in Commissioners Hall in Peppers District.

And we have Ryan Buckwald, Community Services Department.

We are excited to welcome Ryan.

He is also a seasonal parks worker.

He joined the county on June 15th.

He brings experience from his role as a Kennel technician with First State Animal Center and SBCA.

He is also a Teddy Delaware Tech Community College, majoring in business administration.

Ryan resides in Commissioner Sweeney's and Pepper's districts.

Thank you, Ms.

Horsey.

Much appreciated.

Thank you.

Before we start the public hearings, and we have several for this evening, what is imperative is for you to know we welcome you all here to speak.

But please understand each person will have three minutes to speak.

So before you come up to the podium, get your thoughts in line about what you want to say.

And the other thing that's really important, because I'm sure a lot of you are going to want to speak, is if someone comes up before you and says we have an issue with ABCDE and F and you believe that that's why you're here, you can always say, I agree with the previous individual.

The one thing I will ask you, and I think we had circulated a pad and paper around asking for your name, whether you are for or against a particular ordinance.

It is so important because when we do our minutes, we have to know who's here to put it in the minutes that Joe Smo or Ben Blow or whoever has spoke.

So it's not for us to track you, but it's to make sure that our minutes are filed appropriately and go into archives with your name.

So we'll make sure that there's a pad up at each one of the podiums.

But please, all we're asking you is just put your name and whether you are for or against that particular item.

It is so important to make sure that our minutes are acceptable.

But keep in mind you have three minutes to speak because I'm sure there's a lot of you here who are going to speak to us on some of these ordinances.

We appreciate everyone's support and we're happy to see you all out.

Thank you.

With that.

Public hearing for ordinance L20 L C 2604 will now be heard.

Uh Commissioner Angel?

Madam President, Mr.

Gardner.

Good evening, Commissioners.

As mentioned in the synopsis that's attached to this document, this ordinance repeals and reenacts Chapter 41 ethics code of to explicitly incorporate Title 29 and Chapter 58 of the Delaware Code as amended as governing ethics standards for county officers, employees, and appointed officials, and includes specific ethics standards for Kent County elected officials and employees.

This ordinance also deletes Chapter 68 personnel policy, Section 687H with incorporation of that policy into Chapter 41.

The existing Chapter 41 was adopted in 1989, and the proposed ordinance replaces that chapter with a new policy that applies to all county elected officials, appointed officials, employees, and members of boards, commissions, and committees.

It sets a high standard for ethical conduct by having those subject to the code maintain public confidence and avoid both actual impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.

It also mandates a certification of ethics training every two years and upon swearing in, appointment or hiring.

Finally, a review of this chapter of the county code will occur each five years.

Other notable changes include the prohibition on nepotism, specifies consequences, penalties or remedies as sanctioned by Title 29, Chapter 58, and includes new standards for post-employment restrictions and the handling of confidential information.

Thank you.

I need a motion or first of all.

Madam President, I would President Scott.

Madam President, I'd like to make a motion to table ordinance LC 2604 due to verbiage concerns.

We have a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a motion by Vice President Scott, second by Commissioner Angel.

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz.

Yeah, I'd like to just say that I had a problem with a piece of this ordinance, and um I am glad that my fellow commissioners, I hope this goes as a 7-0 vote that they listen to the constituents who voice their opinions on something I'd posted, and uh it's not the desired outcome that I exactly wanted, but I welcome this table and I appreciate the Commissioners that are voting to table this and have further discussion on it.

Thank you.

So I vote yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Yes.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President Roll Call reveal seven years.

Thank you.

The next item for public hearing.

Is ordinance LC 2606 data centers?

Commissioner Hall.

Thank you, Madam President.

I'd like to invite uh Schiefer to give us an overview of this ordinance and before we open it to public discussion.

Good evening, Commissioners.

Before we begin the hearings, just a word about how these hearings will be conducted this evening.

This public hearing is being conducted for the purpose of giving the citizens of the county the opportunity to present testimony on the applications before the levy court.

Everyone will have a chance to speak.

All statements are to be made from the podium at the front of the room.

For the record, please give your name and address.

Copies of any written exhibits or statements used during the hearing should be presented for identification and inclusion in the record.

For each application before the Levy Court, the President will introduce the application.

The levy court will then receive testimony from all of those in favor.

Testimony will then be received from those who may be opposed.

After everyone has had an opportunity to speak, the hearing on the application will be closed, and the levy court will take what action it deems appropriate.

Levy Court's decision will be based upon public hearing testimony given at this meeting and a recommendation submitted to the levy court by the Regional Planning Commission.

I would ask that that recommendation be included by reference in the permanent record of this meeting established by the Clerk of the Peace.

The public notice of this hearing was published in the July 1st, 2026 edition of the Delaware State News.

The first item before you tonight, ordinance LC2606, is related to data centers.

As the county's code currently stands.

They are wrapped up into a bundle of uses and would be permitted currently in the IG, IL, and BG General Business Zoning Districts simply as a site plan.

So after seeing the interest in data center development, particularly in Newcastle County, it was determined it would be wise to call out data centers on their own and effectively institute some guardrails for their for their development.

So the ordinance in front of you establishes definitions of both data center and an accessory use to a data center.

Explicitly excludes power generation as part of a data center application.

Power generation itself would remain its own conditional use application.

It does permit data centers as a permitted use with specific conditions only in the IL limit in industrial and IG, general industrial zoning districts, and includes a 300-foot setback for the actual data center and 400-foot setback for the mechanical equipment, including the generators.

And we discussed this in workshop, and there was actually in the cover memo provided to Levy Court, there was a link to an online map we created taking all of those standards, most notably the setbacks, to see which industrial areas in the county could actually support a data center with these restrictions.

In terms of sites that are currently vacant, there is one that is zoned appropriately and vacant and available it would be available for development.

It should be noted we've received no application, we've received no inquiry, it's just a piece of ground where it meets the criteria.

There is a second area south of Felton along the railroad line that is not currently zoned appropriately.

It's simply called out for industrial development in the comprehensive plan.

All of the other parcels of size are already developed by businesses that are in operation and there is no indication they would be open for redevelopment.

So again, that's an overview of what the ordinance does.

The planning commission uh did consider this earlier this month and voted unanimously to recommend approval of it.

Um most notably because there are not existing restrictions or conditions on the development of a data center, um, and they thought it prudent to proceed and then continue monitoring the situation and potentially continue amending it in the future.

I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you, Ms.

Keeper.

Commissioner questions?

Yes, Madam Pert.

Mr.

Pepper.

Just one for clarification.

And probably bears being repeated.

We are not doing this to entice lore or try to get data centers to come to Kent County.

Not at all.

We're doing this to be proactive.

In case someone does want to bring one here, we will have something on the books to tell them what they cannot do in this county or what they can do.

Yes, that is entirely correct.

So this is entirely proactive thing that we're doing this evening.

Yes.

And um, and so some of you have heard that uh data centers are lined up to come to Kent County.

It's not true.

So we're trying to get ahead just in case someone discovers a piece of land that Ms.

Kiefer mentioned and slides to come to Kent County.

We want to have ordinances on the books to prevent things to happen that we all don't want to happen.

So I just want to make that uh point of clarification.

Thank you.

Vice President Scott.

Ms.

Keefer, I have a couple of questions for you.

I guess my first question being if we did nothing with this ordinance, what word is that, how does that leave us open?

It depends on what you mean, and I'm not trying to be flip.

It depends on what you mean by nothing.

Um which again is it would be permitted in the three zoning districts with no specific restrictions on its development.

If it were tabled, it's still a pending ordinance.

And I would I would certainly defer to our attorney to discuss the pending ordinance doctrine.

But if it were to fail entirely, we revert back to what we have.

And and what we have creates a lot more ability for if there was a data center that was coming in.

We'd be able to fall back on potentially the standard noise ordinance.

But yeah, in terms of development, we'd have very little to work with.

And just confirming this is uh right now with nothing, they can go on business, commercial, light industrial, industrial.

General business.

Where we're confining it to industrial and light industrial.

Correct.

And they wouldn't still need to bring their own electric source, correct?

Yes.

I mean, because some of that keep in mind power generation, aside from the land use, governance of power generation is at the state level just as water is.

We've incorporated what we can to try to protect those resources.

Um the state has certainly been both adopting and considering more restrictions on power generation.

Ms.

Kiefer, also I know that we had looked at um additional setbacks on it, and we ended up at three when we initially went to 500 and a thousand.

How many how many places were available at that time?

The the reason the ordinance is settled on the three and the four is because if you go higher than that, then we have no properties that are available.

Um Ms.

Kiefer, just so I'm I'm clear on this, by not having any properties.

I know that's what many of us want, but doesn't that kind of put us at a legal position as well?

I would defer to the county attorney on that.

Max.

I am actually looking into this for another municipality, and I'll provide you guys a memo on this issue.

Thank you, sir.

And uh the last thing I have, Sarah, just to um just to make sure I'm correct.

How many properties at the ordinance that's before us now, how many does that create?

I mean how many properties would have the clearance to do it?

There are two.

Again, there's one property that's properly zoned and is vacant and available to develop.

There.

There is another that is identified in the comprehensive plan.

The entire area is not zoned appropriately.

Um it's simply identified in the plan.

Every other property that is appropriately sized to accommodate.

Um they are either they are already developed, and then there is a second one, owned the the State Fair is zoned industrial.

It's not going to redevelop, I suspect, for a data center.

Um and then the county's wastewater plant is zoned industrial.

I would suspect the levy court is not going to develop a data center there.

So the risk there is small.

There's one ready for development should someone want to redevelop it now.

And where would that be at, Ms.

Kiefer?

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um it is the old Dal Ryichold site north of Dover.

Is that the old Ryko plant?

Okay.

Which there is another, I think uh another industry looking at part of that property possible.

We have been approached by the owner who is interested in developing a portion of it for a house of worship.

So that would be a good thing.

So thank you, Ms.

Keefer.

Thank you.

Commissioner Sweeney?

Thank you, ma'am.

So um, Sarah, I just want to be clear.

All the properties you just listed unincorporated lands.

Yes, that's correct.

We have no authority in the towns in any city, in any municipality in Kent County for what they do to regulate data centers in their borders.

Correct.

However, some are waiting for us to do this so that they can copy the same ordinances into their code.

They have not said that directly to us.

It has been suggested that they would appreciate the county doing something as an example.

Right.

And a lot of that has to do with the municipalities may not have the may not have the planners that we do to be able to write this type of code.

Right.

And they're just going to copy and paste it into their okay.

So we some of the questions that came up and then the discussions over the last few days had to do with water.

We are requiring a letter approof of water supply availability for any application that comes in.

Correct.

If the water is not available, they're not getting in.

They're not getting approved.

There's also been concerns about the designation of residential versus residentially zoned.

Can you kind of address that a little bit, please?

There's been because two of our residential districts are preceded by agricultural, right?

We have agricultural conservation, we have agricultural residential.

They are entirely residential zoning districts.

And I understand that there is some interest in providing a bit more clarity and security that those count.

So we actually put together a draft amendment to the ordinance that Commissioner Hall has that would define that.

That would just list all the residential districts.

Perfect.

Thank you.

So do we have any authority to restrict noise based on the time of day?

Yes.

So is that included in this ordinance?

It is not.

The restriction is not specific to time of day, but we did again, based on the comments we heard, put together an amendment that at the very least calls for the noise study to account for both daytime and nighttime and recommend mitigation measures wherever it doesn't, wherever the study would show noncompliance.

Okay.

Thank you.

And the same with the electricity.

They must get a letter from the provider saying that they have adequate electricity to provide for any data center.

Can we limit the size of the data center based on their electricity usage?

Can we say that we don't want a hyper data center built in Kent County?

We want something that keeps their electricity usage less than 20 megawatts.

Can we include that in the ordinance?

It could it size limits, I would say yes, could be included.

I mean we do that with solar.

So yes, I think if the levy court wanted to add that as an amendment, you could.

Okay.

So just just everybody knows when levy court does an ordinance, we do not cut these things in stone and they're forever like that, period.

We write them in pencil.

And what Sarah's already suggested that there's we're looking at amendments to move forward on this based on the testimony that we have, based on the conversations we've had with the public, and some of those things are already being looked at for us to include in the data centers going forward, but we need to move forward on this to be in a place where we're regulating data centers before they start.

The only other issue I had, and this is a touchy one, is buy right.

What other options do we have other than the by right approval in the industrial zone parcels?

The levy court could certainly choose to make the uses a conditional use.

That would be a separate ordinance because it would be out of alignment with the title of the ordinance.

Okay.

So that's not available to amend.

If you wanted if the levy court decided to go forward with a different kind of ordinance, we can do that.

It restarts the process.

And then my usual caveat is it is often thought that if something is a conditional use, it could be denied just because people don't want it there.

Right.

And that is not the case.

Right.

And I understand that, but as tonight, with 150 people, 200 people who are here, they're getting the opportunity to present to us the elected body, whether they want or do not want this ordinance to be passed.

I think that needs to be extended for each individual application.

So knowing that I can't do an amendment for tonight's ordinance, um I'm asking Levy Court for a workshop to look at removing these from by right.

And when I say by right, what I mean is an application for a data center will go to the regional planning committee, which they almost have to rubber stamp approve it.

They can't block it and never comes in front of the elected body the seven of us up here to have a public hearing for you to come to us your elected representatives and say I elected you I vote for you.

I don't want you to vote for this that will never happen.

So I just want to make sure that you guys understand why I'm what by right is and why I'm opposed to by right and that's not the only area data center is not the only one subdivisions are another one that I think we need to look at but I'm going to ask Levy Court to come back and and look at that as a much bigger picture.

Thank you.

Other commissioner comments Commissioner Angel.

Thank you Madam President Norman we have a large crowd like this we always ask how many here are because of the data centers can I have show of hands that shows us why you're here not in favor just here because here you're not in favor.

Just here I know I engaged I will I will piggyback after Commissioner Sweeney is uh there's going to be an amendment after tonight look forth I've talked with legal counsel look at something too to bring forth so it's not a done deal 100% other than we have to have something on the books tonight that I that I do understand.

Unfortunately one of the things that bothers me is our farmland and our food base it seems to be going by the wayside because our farmers lands are being used for housing of course that's what keeps brings people here because our low taxes but at the same time we got to make sure we have the right things in place so our kids and grandkids won't have this problem down the road.

That's the hardest part for us because we have to almost be mind readers as well as look at that crystal ball what's it going to be like if everybody would have thought we would have handheld computers doing our work today we would have laughed at 25 years ago that's how fast technology is moving.

So unfortunately this is a necessary evil is what I call it I'm one of two representatives for the state and the county on the national level and I've believed me I've heard this from all my counties what they're dealing with.

And I still think there's things that are missing because we can't know it all but we want to try and get there so we can get everything down we can now so we can make those amendments as they come along we want to do be proactive as Mr Pepper said which I think Ms.

Kiefer is also alluded to noise I have a problem with noise don't I miss Keeper.

Not just with this but noise in general with with the county we have problems with dog barking musical fests all kinds of things happening and in my area that I've always been brought brought up for years.

So noise is a major issue.

55 DB I think should be lower.

50 dB means 25 feet from that you can still have a conversation but the waves that sent out in in the general public you don't see those but you'll feel them and sometimes depends on how you can have a vortex where somebody is very prominent to a vortex and they know what I'm talking about they drop to their knees.

So if there's more here than we're not talking about that's why we want to get this on the books first and get things settled as fast as we can with the right information.

That's what we're seeking anyway there's more I want to say but I I'd rather hold off until we get through this and make it part of the amendment but thank you for coming tonight.

Glad to see a bunch of people show up again.

Thank you.

Commissioner Halloween thank you madam president just two things um one to dovetail off of Commissioner Sweeney's points we're developing an ordinance for the unincorporated portions of the county so we have no authority over Dover or Harrington or Smyrna or Milford.

So we have no authority over Dover or Harrington or Smyrna or Milford.

And so I would just ask you to keep an eye on the news, and if you see any sort of effort to develop data centers in those areas, then you need to go to those city and town councils.

And lastly, I again agree with Commissioner Sweeney.

This needs to have public input at the levy court level.

Just based on the applause and the looks on your faces and the number of Facebook comments and email comments.

Your message is heard.

But this was necessary.

If we did nothing, there would be no guardrails.

And so what we're going to consider tonight is an ordinance to place guardrails for data centers in Kent County.

And so I'm going to guess that some of you may be opposed to data centers.

But we still need to have guardrails in place, and without an ordinance, we would not have that.

So I just wanted to put that on the record.

Thanks.

Thank you, Commissioner Hall.

Any other commissioner have a comment?

Okay, thank you.

With that, we're going to open up the public hearing for ordinance LC 2606 for data centers.

Please keep in mind, once you come to the podium, state your name.

You'll be sworn or affirmed by our attorney.

You have three minutes to speak.

At this point in time, I would open it up to anyone who's in favor of the data centers.

Please step forward.

Thank you.

Good evening, Commissioners.

Thank you for having me here.

My name's Linda Parkowski.

I am the economic development director for Kent County.

Good evening, Commissioner.

And it is my job to bring businesses into the county.

Linda, I've known you forever, but I need to swear you in.

I'm sorry.

Got it.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes.

Whether it's a new business or whether it's an existing business, it's my job to do that for the county.

And I can tell you that there is not a data center that's on the books for Kent County, the county.

There is if a data center were to come into Kent County area, it would be in a municipality.

It would not come on, it would be very unlikely that it would ever come into the county properties.

The properties that Sarah showed are not ones that a data center is going to be attracted to.

So that's like null and void.

What the commissioners are trying to do tonight is be proactive and get ahead of the curve.

Because the inquiries are going to come in, and if the county doesn't have anything on the books, the county is going to be at a disadvantage.

This is just a proactive move to have something on the books that regulates them in a very mindful manner.

Our planner did a comprehensive ordinance.

She looked and learned and went to other municipalities to learn that have data centers, to learn what they're doing and what they need to do.

So I just don't want a lot of fear in the room.

Kent County land.

And it's unlikely we will get that.

It will end up in a municipality, and then you may have to come back and show up.

But not to have an ordinance is neglecting what the commissioners should be doing as a levy court.

And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Ms.

Parkowski?

Thank you.

Commissioner Sweeney?

Linda.

Yes.

So in in you stood up during the president's request for those who are in favor of data centers.

Do you think data centers are an economic benefit to the county?

I think in I think done correctly, they can be an economic benefit.

Some municipalities learn how to deal with them and make agreements with them so that they're benefiting from having a data center.

There are good paying jobs, not a lot, but there are good paying jobs that come with the data center, high-paying jobs.

Now there was also construction jobs that come with the data center.

So I'm not against data centers.

And when I started this journey, I felt like a lot of people I had a lot of I needed to learn a lot more than I knew about it.

And I think as you learn, the fear goes away.

So if you ask me, yes.

We're all using this.

We all need it.

And everybody's on it 24-7.

And this only happens if we get data centers.

So you know, I think it's a reality.

They're coming.

We might as well do something and be proactive.

So a data center is going to pay property taxes.

Absolutely.

And they could be high enough that a property tax from a single data center could set a tax increase.

In some municipalities, they have agreements with them and they've built schools and roads and helped and helped their senior centers and all kinds of things.

They are actually, if you look across the country, they're really good citizens.

Thanks.

And I want to clarify your point.

When it's done right.

Yes.

Are we doing it right?

You are.

I think this ordinance is amazing.

She did, she took the best of all the ordinance that we've looked at.

She took the best and incorporated it into this Kent County ordinance.

And and like I said before, it's written in pencil.

We can make changes.

Right.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks, Linda.

You're welcome.

Commissioner Hertz.

Yeah, Linda, I got a question for you.

Sure.

Through all the testimony and stuff, there was only four possible properties.

We've eliminated three, so we only got right gold.

And you said RICO is not an ideal place for a data center.

Why?

Well, you don't need rail.

You don't need rail for a data center.

Right cold has rail.

So we want to make sure all the rail properties in our county are preserved for an industrial user that's gonna need the rail.

And that's why right coal wouldn't wouldn't be top of the list at all.

Plus, plus right cold can get to Route 1 and can get to Route 13.

It has excellent highway access.

You don't want to waste that on a data center.

You don't need it.

All right, and the Felton property that has rail also.

That has rail.

So we're like, there's no way, since we commissioned the rail study and we've been trying to reserve all the land that's along the rail for industrial users, there's no way we would promote that to a data center.

All right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Commissioner Hall?

Thank you, Madam President.

Yeah, just to uh echo that we did do a rail study, and that's a limited resource in this county.

Um so for example, uh the Del Marva packaging site, uh you know they acquired that property only because it gave them immediate access to rail.

And so we we only have parcels that have such access.

So you know giving a data center priority on a piece of property that also has rail and highway access is not the best for the county.

Any other questions for Ms.

Parkowski?

Okay, thank you.

Okay, at this point, if we have is there anyone else here who would like to speak in favor of data centers, please come forward.

I have a question.

You keep saying speak in favor of data centers.

Sir, we do both in favor and we do in opposition.

I thought it was about a particular ordinance.

That is controlling the data center.

Are you in favor or are you in opposition?

I'm in favor of the ordinance.

Then this would be the time for you to speak.

Thank you.

If you're in favor.

Okay.

That doesn't make any sense at all.

Sir, one minute.

I'm going to confer with our legal counsel.

One minute.

Correction.

If you're in favor of ordinance LC 2606 for data centers, please come forward, state your name and be sworn or affirmed.

Thank you.

My name is Garth Stubbolo.

I live in Clayton, Delaware.

So that's Kent County.

Sir.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Absolutely.

Okay, so uh first of all, I think this ordinance is awesome.

Me personally, I'm against data centers themselves.

Uh yes, we do all use these, but the big explosion of them is so that they can actually make more money, so people can make cute little pictures and things.

However, that's not what's up for debate here.

Okay.

And from the things that I've read about this particular thing, uh the ordinance, I think it's absolutely awesome that you're doing this.

However, there seem to be some loopholes.

And they should be plugged first.

And a couple of them have been addressed already.

Um I have degrees in science, and uh I know what low frequency sound can do to people.

And um, uh farm animals and uh wildlife.

And so that's pretty uncool.

Uh that needs to get nailed down.

Um, and the only other thing I'll address and I'll get off here, is I think that the um areas that are zoned agricultural there seems to be a little bit of nebulosity on are they going to be uh have the setbacks and that kind of stuff if they're put into some of the smaller sites.

So that's what I would say.

I think it should be passed, but some of these loopholes need to be plugged.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Anyone else who would like to speak in favor of ordinance LC 2606 for data centers come forward?

How are you doing?

I'm Von Desmack County.

Hello, everyone.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

Think this is a great thing that you are thinking in advance.

It's my first time in here.

I'm going to tell you now.

Feels like I'm in hell, but you can adjust the just the temperature of it.

I'm a stage four cancer warrior.

I'm burning up.

But um, thank you guys.

Uh my name is Von Delir Smack.

People know me as Smack said it through social media.

I'm here tonight because every time Delaware talks about economic development, I always ask one question.

Who benefits and who bears the burden?

For generations, marginalized communities have been asked to make sacrifice in the name of progress.

We live next to highways, industrial sites, landfills, and other developments while being promised opportunity.

Too often those promises never reached our neighborhoods, but the health impacts did.

Look at Sussex County.

So tonight I need this question and answer, just a couple, because I do like what y'all are doing thinking ahead.

How will this project protect marginalized communities from environmental harm while ensuring they receive meaningful economic benefits and not just promises?

Environmental justice is an optional, it is a responsibility.

Data recenters require enormous amounts of electricity and water.

They can place significant demands on our electric grid and other infrastructure.

Across Delaware, lawmakers and regulators have already raised concerns about the impact large data centers could have on electric reliability and whether everyday rate pairs, everyday rate pairs, everyday rate pairs could end up paying more if profitable safeguards are not in place.

My concern is simple.

I'm just about done.

If our communities are expected to host these infrastructures, then our communities deserve answers.

What independent environmental studies have been completed?

How will air quality, water use, noise, public health be monitored over the next 10, 20, and 30 years?

Who will be held accountable if the promised protections aren't delivered?

And how will residents have access to this information to uh in plain English, not hidden under technical reports down and down and down?

Oh, excuse me.

Then there's the question of wealth.

If Delaware is creating opportunities worth millions or even billions of dollars, then the people living closest to these developments should not have to be left watching prosperity pass them by.

I want to see largely, let me I want to see legally enforceable community benefit agreements, not shake handshake agreements as the lady where's she at?

From the MN MCO was just standing up here.

She knows me from the city of Dover.

You know, just get some agreements in there.

That means local hiring.

Good paying careers, not temporary construction jobs, workforce train investments in schools.

You said something about helping the our elderly.

Let's do that.

Okay, hold up.

I'm about just done a promise.

I know, but I'm sorry, but we have to hold just my first time.

If development, the wealth of our people, living costs to it, then it's not community development.

It's just another business deal.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, Commissioners.

My name is Caroline Truman.

I'm a Dover Delaware resident.

Do you swear or affirm?

Excuse me, that the testimony that you're about to give us the truth.

Yes, I do.

I would like to thank you all.

Sir ma'am.

What is your name again?

Caroline Truman.

Okay, thank you.

I would like to thank the Commission for being proactive on this very sensitive issue for recognizing what Newcastle went through and for setting a model for our municipalities since the municipalities are so critical in this role.

I would like to echo the earlier to two earlier speakers who expressed concern about some of the loopholes.

I appreciate the concern about uh by the county about availability of electricity and availability of water.

Unfortunately, I think the water and the electricity is there.

It's been showing up for many uh towns where the data center gets all the electricity and all of the water.

So further protection beyond them being able to say, yes, we can get the electricity in the water would be appreciated.

I am in support of the ordinance.

I recognize the buyright issue.

I think that's a very helpful.

I appreciate you helping us to understand that.

And I appreciate the speed that you are doing this in because I do understand that the municipalities are looking for a model.

They're also looking for a good solid model.

I think a lot of research has been done on this.

I greatly appreciate that.

I just hope that should you vote in favor of moving forward with the ordinance as is that you are able to keep your word to us and speedily get those amendments resolved if that's the if that isn't fact how it goes this evening.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Max Flaxman.

I am a resident of Nobles Pond in uh Kent County until July 1 I was a resident of Cheswold, but no more.

Sir, sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

I, in fact, checked on the list that I was against, but now that I understand that we're discussing whether I am in favor of the ordinance I am.

Uh I want to uh have a necessarily guard rail.

I think the guardrails I have seen are correct but are insufficient.

I would like to propose two additions to them, which would definitely make me in favor of the legislation.

Number one, several people, including our economic development director, have mentioned that it would not be wise to use land with uh easy access to rail and roads, uh, that that would not be in the benefit of the county.

I would like to see wording to that effect in the resolution that would make sure that these properties that do have that right now are not subject to uh possible development as a uh data center.

Number two, I am worried about this being the only public discussion of this subject, because if the legislation as shown is introduced in future, those who wish to might wish to establish data centers and who have the money to try to influence things will work on altering the zoning of other properties that they would like to see.

And I don't think we should make this one hearing the ultimate one on it.

Therefore, I would recommend that this legislation apply to IL and IG zoned properties, which were so designated as of the date of this legislation.

The purpose of that being that we would prevent in future those with economic interest attempting to get zoning changes, and then there is no more protection to the public against the establishment of such a center.

So that uh with the wisdom of the fathers of our country who made the Constitution changeable, I'd like the first state and the county, this county and the first state to follow that example and limit this to existing ILNIG properties.

And I too thank you for your time.

Mr.

Black is Mr.

Blackston.

Yes, please.

So uh so real quick, first of all, thank you to everybody for coming out, especially those who have stood up and now, you know, showing that they're open-minded enough to understand what we're trying to do.

Um but the the by right is what you're referring to.

If there is another ordinance change, and you've heard some commissioners say tonight that we're going to implement some ordinance changes to this right, the same ordinance later.

Always open to the public, always able to come in and speak to that negatively or positively, however, you feel.

Well what are also has been suggested is we want to, when a singular application comes in for a data center in county lands, we're trying to get it so that you also can come back and express your opinion.

Yes, I would I'd like to be sure that's going to happen.

Okay.

Well, be sure is is a very wispy word.

It's true.

We'll do everything we can.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Hello, Marissa McClinton.

I grew up in Spring, but I currently live in Wilmington.

I'm representing the Sierra Club members in Kent County.

Hello, how are you?

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

Good evening.

Marissa McClinton, Chapter Environmental Justice Organizer for the Sierra Club Delaware chapter and facilitator of DClear, the Delaware Data Center Coalition for Local Environmental and Accountable Regulation.

I'm grateful for the work that has gone into drafting this proactive ordinance.

We have seen both in Delaware and across the country the consequences of waiting to put rules and guardrails on data center development until after there is a project waiting for approval.

Although this ordinance is a great step forward, we have a few concerns that we hope can be addressed via amendments to this ordinance.

I have heard that, but I'm going to say it for the record.

First, while we agree that data centers should only be allowed in IL and IG zoning, the ordinance currently has that as a permitted conditional, which would not allow public hearings for each project at front of the Kent County levy court or allow the levy court to apply conditions on a case-by-case basis, both of which have been vital across the country.

Public hearings allow the public to voice their unique concerns about projects that would otherwise not be heard outside of site plan reviews.

We believe that changing the zoning to conditional use would allow for public hearings at each step.

It would allow communities to effectively advocate for themselves and bring forward suggestions on how to eliminate impacts to nearby properties that can only be done at the local level.

Furthermore, we appreciate that noise issues are starting to be addressed in this ordinance.

A request is that there is a night penalty of at least 10 decibels below the daytime allowance, knowing that in rural areas, evening hours carry a lower noise profile.

This nighttime penalty is relatively common throughout noise ordinances dealing both with data centers and generally.

So this is not something unknown to the industry or local governments.

Low frequency noise from data center cooling units is incredibly disruptive, especially at night when folks are trying to sleep.

This nighttime penalty would guarantee a silent night for folks around these facilities.

We appreciate the work done by planning staff to address water issues when a water utility is present.

However, it is vital that any data centers coming to the county should be required to use municipal water systems and not rely on wells.

Even with closed loop systems, recharging these large systems can cause pressure issues on nearby wells, which can lead to sedimentation issues and pressure issues that can damage water infrastructure in homes and businesses.

We hope that these edits can be taken into consideration that we can fully support this ordinance.

The protections that we can fully sub that could be guaranteed through these efforts will go a long way in setting the tone-free municipalities within Kent County about what it looks like to demand that data centers do it right or not at all.

Thank you.

I'll take any questions.

So you mentioned that you agree with this because we're being proactive before any applications come in.

And just you know, Levy Court has tried to retroactively make ordinance changes to impact applications that have already come in.

And the attorney will tell you, Delaware Supreme Court has already told us you can't do that.

An application comes in, it's based on the ordinances that are in place right now.

So us trying to get these done now is very important.

Yes.

There were two projects in Newcastle County that had applications in, and we had tried to get the ordinance to be retroactive.

Even within Newcastle County members, it was not clear what the pending ordinance doctrine said in that instance because the ruling said that you could retroactively place an ordinance.

We I think this is something that the county attorney would be better suited for.

We are in the mindset that you can apply ordinances retroactively.

It is what we fought for in Newcastle County.

But I'm glad that we're doing this now.

So we don't have to touch the pending ordinance doctrine.

So I'm glad that y'all are acting right now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before we go to the next person, we're very fortunate tonight to have two esteemed gentlemen.

We have our Senator Eric Buxlin, who's here in the audience.

He was also a fellow commissioner here when I joined Levy Court.

And we also have Mayor Glandon from Fredericka.

Thank you so much for attending the meeting.

We really appreciate it.

Good evening.

I live on Dyke Branch Road in Dover, very near to Cheswell.

Ma'am, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth?

Yes.

I was a data center opponent.

After coming here tonight, I'm very relieved to see and hear all of the proactive things that are being done, which many are things that I have listed in my little uh presentation here.

Um I'm here tonight to address concerns about ordinance LC2606 in regards to data centers.

I recognize many of you up there who are old schoolmates and friends.

And we all grew up in this area, and we all have deep roots and history here, and I know you're here hopefully to protect our neighbors and friends.

My primary ask is if we can slow down a tiny bit.

I I appreciate the idea of amendments.

Makes me nervous to assign something now and promise something later.

Um as a public part of the public, I don't feel that we have had enough time to understand all the research that's gone into this, whereas you all have been privy to that.

I feel a little more transparency would be helpful to alleviate our concerns.

A big fact that I feel is we don't know what we don't know about data centers.

And I think that's countrywide.

It's an exploding new industry that has major potential to damage, destroy our natural resources, impact our electric grid, and also cause human health and wildlife damage.

Reports are coming in from Texas, Michigan, and Georgia of the serious consequences of unregulated or underregulated data centers.

Please let's not fall into this trap of being just short-sighted.

Um C 2606, as it now, I think it's an awesome start.

I feel it's much too lenient for a couple different topics.

Um the buffer of three to four hundred feet is just not acceptable.

Uh National Institutes of Health and many other agencies have published that the recommended distance buffer is at least a half a mile.

300 to 400 feet is less than an eighth of a mile.

Uh we need an acceptable buffer zone for human and wildlife protection.

Water resources, major concern.

Most of our aquifers are pretty shallow.

Water consumption by data centers, even closed loop systems can be 30,000 gallons to 300,000 gallons a day.

I would hope a nationally certified geologist has been consulted to study and provide documentation about our aquifer health.

The noise goes without saying 10 decibels, 50 is too low.

One last request is all future potential data centers that apply.

We need to have public comment and not make LC2606 a blanket policy.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate your good evening.

Uh my name is Haley Girardi, 31-year lifetime resident of Kent County, currently residing in Magnolia.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes, I do.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

What was your first name?

Haley Girardi.

Giorardi.

Thank you.

Sorry.

So I come to you tonight.

I couldn't figure out whether to stand up on the for or the against side because there was a little ambiguity about where I should stand.

So I just want to put it out there that I absolutely support that there is an ordinance being drafted.

There's a deep part of me that thinks a data center should never come anywhere near Delaware.

But the realist in me that has been alive for 31 years knows that having something on the books as a preventative guardrail is necessary.

So I've come to you to talk tonight.

There's quite a few loopholes that a couple of folks have mentioned and that you yourselves have brought up.

I want to highlight one in particular that hits a little home for me.

So personally, I think that LC2606, as it currently is worded, needs to explicitly state and include an amendment that will require state groundwater determination to take place in place of the water utility letter that is currently described in the ordinance.

For the residents in the unincorporated towns nearby who use well water, a utility letter cannot be written to truly reflect water availability at these sites.

Annual water use reporting should also be a requirement that is tied to the defined usage limits.

Limits ideally would be scaled to reflect the maximum limit of water withdrawal in the local area can sustain without detrimental impacts.

These independent assessments can come from environmental assessors, either from DenREC or from outside sources.

As a former chemistry teacher, uh passing these changes to L626 is actually really important to me.

Lastly, we must consider about data centers in Kent County and who we are.

We are an agricultural and conservationist stronghold in the state.

What we represent, we are farmers and laborers and everyday people.

I don't want to wake up to the sound of a humming data center every day and go to sleep to it at night.

I want to wake up to see the beautiful fields, marshes, and unique ecosystems that are inherent to our state, and I want to see them preserved not only for me, but for those who come after me.

It is our responsibility and yours to make this ordinance preserve our state for those who aren't here yet to defend it.

Thank you so much for your time.

Yes, ma'am.

Hello, my name is Cynthia Rusimano, and I've lived in Dover Delaware for about 40 years.

Ma'am, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes.

If there are larger or standalone data centers built in Kent County, the conditions and requirements outlined in ordinance, LC2606 are a good start when it comes to preventing all the damage that we know data centers can cause.

That said, we need to be extremely careful when rezoning any place in Kent County to allow for these types of data centers being built across the country.

Whatever short-term jobs promised for construction workers, those short-term jobs are not worth the potential and even likely long-term consequences of pollution and other detriments to wildlife and humans.

Thank you.

For those of you that are wishing to speak in favor of the ordinance, is there anything additional you would like to add to any of the testimony that you've already heard previously?

Yes.

Go for it.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes.

And just be to be clear.

Depending on his testimonies, whether or not he's related to me.

Regardless of my testimony.

I am not just a resident of Kent County.

I believe that it is extremely important that we workshop this particular issue.

You can see how many people sitting in this room today have opinions about this.

I think that that's really important speaking in favor of things like removal of the buy right proposition, because I think, as you well know, we are a democratic country still.

And in that democratic country, I think we all have a right to speak at every point in time, regardless of what is at stake about how it impacts our community.

And so I speak in favor of that as well.

So I apologize for reiterating that.

I do believe that a workshop is really important.

Um you can see that there are tons of people that are here from various backgrounds.

Many of them are lifelong residents here in Kent County, or they may be new residents.

They have opinions that I think are really important to hear, and I think bringing on expert witnesses, I think bringing on people that are part of the community.

Um in the uh in the education industry, we have a word, it's called stakeholders.

We are stakeholders.

Um to add to that, a lot of people talk about these data centers, which I am opposed to as being an inevitable.

I think we are inevitable, not data centers.

So no matter how many times somebody waves a cell phone in front of me and says this is the future, I am the future.

We are the future.

And I think that that's a waste of our time.

So thank you very much.

Commissioner Sweeney, is he still family?

He's got two of my grandkids, so yes.

Yeah, he's lucky I didn't bring them today.

Okay, sir.

Uh hello, my name is Connor Greenwood.

I live in Dover.

I've been in Delaware my entire life.

Uh sir.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes, I do.

Uh can you state your name again?

Connor Greenwood.

Um sorry, I woke up at 2.30 too.

I saw a Facebook post and I figured I'd I'd come here.

Um I think that it's kind of insane that we need to grow infrastructure for cell phones.

It's perfectly fine how it is now.

We don't need bigger facilities.

We need the land.

Uh it's insane.

Um I think you should void the paper that was passed around at the beginning, since there was a lot of confusion for it.

I don't think that should matter at all.

I voted against.

Um I had no idea there was no label on top.

We should buoy that completely.

Um I I just don't want this to turn into I I like that there's guardrails.

I don't want this to turn into putting a tourniquet on your arm before you chop it off.

I don't want this to be insane.

So I I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but I just figured that I needed to voice something.

Someone's gotta.

So, hi, um I'm Mary Louvre.

I actually spend a good bit of time down here visiting friends regularly in Smyrna, but I do live in Newcastle County.

Yeah.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

Um, what did your name again?

Mary Lou.

Hi.

Mary Lou.

Louvre, yes.

Okay.

Oh, Lou.

Thank you.

Yep.

Um I just want to say that I agree with the by rights.

I do agree with the fact that this should be tabled for further verbiage um concerns.

And I did actually have a few suggestions as a engineer who has worked in the marine industry for the last 10 years of ways you can c actually close in some of those loopholes that are in this um ordinance.

Uh one of those being uh requesting additional air scrubbers be added into the facility for the diesel to prevent air pollution, as well as uh further increasing the distance from any of the um existing residences, as well as uh changing the way you're writing about the electrical allowance.

Yes, we have the electricity to support it.

However, do we have is it does you should create a percentage?

I believe like saying something closer to like maybe do we have enough to power all of our current residences at peak times, such as peak winter, peak summer, before then factoring in the allowance for the electricity.

I think closing in some of those gaps will really help with the ordinance and likely actually prevent data centers from building here altogether.

So that's all.

Now the esteemed Mr.

Boxing.

All right.

Hi, everybody.

Uh Eric Vuxen.

And uh Ready?

Eric Bucks at Cannon Wyoming Delaware.

I usually don't swear uh members of the General Assembly, but I'm sorry I have to do so.

I appreciate that.

Uh do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I swear.

So thank you.

I just came.

I didn't plan on speaking, but I wanted to come down and say hi, it's good to see you.

I appreciate the work and and the comments made by the ordinance.

Uh I really appreciate the fact that the community showed up.

I wish that the General Assembly would take note of this because this is many times what's missing when we go to make votes that we feel touch and appreciate the concerns before we actually make it a vote, and I mean right before we make it.

Um I said to folks that asked me the thoughts on the ordinance itself, I said the county has two options.

The county needs to make a decision either to ban them outright or use a moratorium of sorts, or the ordinance.

If you're not going to ban or not use a moratorium for an extended period of time, and why would you do that?

Because of the testimony presented that says it's ever evolving, that there are a lot of options right now that are being presented that might make the ordinance better.

And why would you ban it?

Because essentially you're doing that anyway with the ordinance that you have.

So why not just eliminate the apprehension, the tension in the room, gain the confidence of the community and say, listen, we just don't want them in Kent County.

And you can do that.

So for now, and I I truly want to appreciate the fact of where you are.

Where you are right now is where you are need to handle your business.

The ordinance is well written, does a lot of good things, but a follow-up would be, and Commissioner Angel, we've worked together and others have worked together.

We before I left, we did an ordinance dealing with some other issues that allow you the time needed to cover in its entirety your full flank is what I would recommend.

But at the end of the day, kudos to you and kudos to all of you.

You guys are what it means to be a representative elected body, and I appreciate your effort.

Thank you.

Eric, Senator Buckson for one today.

Can you um can you talk to Senate Bill 353?

So I can if you tell me what it's about.

We did 650 pieces of legislation.

We did a it doesn't look like it's the moratorium on data centers.

It's your introduced the land, I introduced a moratorium by a request to suspend the rules, present it to the General Assembly, and then introduce a moratorium.

And it did not pass?

It did not pass.

They were currently working on another piece of legislation.

Um they did not feel that it was wise to introduce at the time frame that it was, in fairness to them.

So I'm not beating up the General Assembly, the majority side who did not agree to suspend the rules.

I get it.

It was a challenging decision.

I just thought at the time it was the wise use we could take our time, freeze the system, come back in January like you're requesting now, and have a bill that's even better than it currently was the day we voted on it.

That's why I did it.

I appreciate the fact that the folks who didn't support it had their reasons.

I didn't agree with that, but they had their reasons.

I understand that.

And there's no opportunity between now and when you guys come back in January to act on this, correct?

So the moratorium will not be acted on until January if they wanted to take that up.

What the moratorium would have allowed us to do was to continue to work on the legislation that was being presented that day, right?

Or or being presented for a vote that day and allowed us to improve on it, and we could have during a special session, there are a couple planned, come back and voted on the language of the legislation that I was challenged with.

Since Kent County is trying to be proactive, can your moratorium exclude Kent County because we're taking action right now in order to regulate data centers in unincorporated lands.

And I don't want to hijack the meeting, but the reason we did a statewide moratorium that infringed on local control is because moratoriums are a statewide issue.

Right?

They impact the entirety of the grid, the water resources, and other things.

And they have to go through a state, you know, author authored uh or with authority public service commission.

So that's why we did a moratorium.

Could we have carved out Kent County?

We could have done a lot of things uh to do that.

I think that Kent County is in complete control of their destiny right now.

If you guys next week want to introduce language or legislation that says we want there is nothing planned right now anyway.

But if you want to close that door right now temporarily, you can do a moratorium.

Or you could or you could really simply or you could really simply just look at what's been said, the the zoning requirements in there have all but narrowed it down to one spot, and then you've just heard that that one spot is not a useful spot because of the railroad.

And so if that's what you're saying, you're basically banning them anyway, then just ban them.

Just go ahead and ban them.

All right, so just to be clear, you've heard two words here moratorium and a ban.

Moratorium is not a ban.

Moratorium is stop until this date.

Right.

Well, we're already taking action which negates that date.

I'm going to ask the county attorney.

Um, what is the process for banning a specific type of construction in the county?

Excuse me, I talked about this earlier.

I want to perform more research on this subject, and I'll tell you why.

Because if you did a full, if you did a full ban, right?

And I need to make sure that that you'd be okay with that, because if not, then you would be subject to suit by a by a data center developer to go on a particular property.

In other words, I gotta make sure that it's careful to come up quickly.

I have somebody actually working on this now, probably tonight.

I don't have an answer for you, whether or not you can ban 100%.

I know there are uses that you cannot ban, like adult uses and things like that.

So I need to nail that down.

A moratorium has to follow under Kent County Code, and I'm trying to remember the name of the case, but under Kent County, it has to follow the process that you have to go through for any other ordinance.

And there's a case out of the court of chancery that says that.

So in other words, if you imposed a moratorium, you couldn't do it here, you would have to have an ordinance put together for the moratorium, it would have to go to the Regional Planning Commission and follow the standard process.

That's just the way the courts have said.

Otherwise, you would be subject to challenge.

And my job is to keep you out of a challenge.

Right.

If you have, for example, if you propose additional amendments to if you propose additional amendments to this ordinance, let's say you introduce another ordinance, right?

You would get the benefit of the pending ordinance doctrine.

What that means is that if you have a pending ordinance, then um functionally uh you can deny applications that go against that ordinance.

So in other words, it would be my recommendation if you wanted to take these comments to receive strengthen, do whatever, take my advice on the ban, right?

Whatever that may end up being, and then you could move forward in that fashion.

Perfect.

Thank you.

We appreciate your advice.

Just end with this.

I didn't come down to it was a question asked.

Uh I stated the ban only because after understanding more clearly what this ordinance actually does and the narrowness of what it creates, that's when I said, well, then you're better served.

I'm not suggesting you do or you don't.

That's for you to decide.

What I like about a moratorium is that then it allows what others have said and we already know.

This is such an evolving issue.

And getting more clarity in the impacts of data centers and how they do impact and don't impact the environments, how we make sure that they pay for themselves right now.

It we would be better served to be late with protections than early with protections.

Does that make sense?

So let's let's be late.

Let's let others traverse this trail.

Let's let the evidence present itself.

And once it does that, then we come back, lift the moratorium and implement the correct policy.

But uh I thank you for that.

Thanks.

I appreciate I just want to recognize the director of operations, Joel Gardner.

Joel did not get the hook out at three minutes for you, so we're good.

That was your fault.

You know I like the talk, Joanne.

You know that.

I told you duct tape works.

I love him.

Yes, ma'am.

Well, that's a tough fact to follow right there.

Sorry.

Thank you, sir, for your time and uh and hearing us and putting in your two cents.

We appreciate you.

Uh my name is April Murray.

You swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth.

I swear.

Uh I'm originally from Long Island.

I'm a transplant, people would say, um, from the eastern end of Long Island.

I grew up in a very uh most people would think it's affluent because it's called the Hamptons and all of that, but my father uh instilled in me many principles um of stewardship to the land, the hunting, the fishing, the wildlife.

Uh I I went to the beaches during the day and swam in the freshwater ponds and and you know, by the afternoons.

Uh I live here, I live in Cheswald, I've been here for 20 years.

I don't know how many people can remember.

I live right down the road from the Cheswall plant.

Uh I was a volunteer firefighter uh on the east end of Long Island, and I took the hazmat chemical class.

Uh I got certified in it.

I understand that from living down the road from a chemical plant, propose many questionable things, and living through the mandatory evacuation that happened probably for two or three days, probably should have woke a lot of people up about how companies can come in and run them the way they do.

And maybe there are regulations that you put in place, but sometimes they're not followed through.

It was scary to have I'm a caregiver and I take care of my mom and she's a stroke patient.

To have someone knock on your door at 11 or 12 o'clock at night and said, you must go find a place.

You are in serious danger by the state police officer.

So when I heard about this coming apart, I'm like, okay, Cheswell Paul will probably want to be one of their places if they want to do it.

Yeah, so it's next to a railroad, but guess what else is right next to the Cheswell plant?

Natural gas.

Natural gas, and then right across the street is the um the Delmar Power Plant, their section that they have on.

Some people get the power from there, and some people get their power from Delaware Electric.

I can tell you that for them putting even proposing to put that there is crazy.

I my property that I live on is right next to wetlands, and we have well water.

So all I ask is that when we're I'm a I'm definitely in favor of this ordinance.

But like the gentleman, the few people before me said, we definitely need to close the loopholes.

Demand economic um studies to do in the area that how it will directly affect those with wells.

Because I can tell you, with us with well water in that area, we don't have city water.

So what happens to us?

We try to dig another well, and guess what?

There's no water.

What do we do?

Does the county come in and say, okay, or does a company, whoever is proposing the data center, do they pay for for the county water to come in?

Those are these are questions I have.

I know.

Temperature, 20 degrees.

We don't have any any economic studies about how much temperature they raise the people in the area in the immediate half mile to mile radius.

Mrs.

Murray.

Murray, April Murray Murray.

Thank you.

Thank you to everybody who's here.

Know your rights and know what's going on in your town.

God bless.

Yes, ma'am.

My name is Deborah Four.

That's D-E-B-O-R-A.

The last name is four, like the number, but it's spelled F-O-O-R.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give us the truth?

I affirm that the testimony is the truth.

Thank you.

Um I really am glad that Senator Buxton showed up here today.

I emailed to each member of the council of the uh levy court, um, as well as had the clerk ask the clerk to distribute a copy to each of you, including the county attorney, the administrator, and the clerk, I think.

A copy of Senate Bill 353 that Senator Buxton and Reps Representative Michael F.

Smith introduced on June 30th of 2026.

So granted, the last day of the session of the General Assembly.

And um and it's been sent to committee, no chance to vote on it at that point in time.

Um, but I think that there's some language in that Senate bill that makes a lot of sense to add to what Senator Buxton had to say.

And I've got it in front of me.

Imposing a temporary moratorium will allow the General Assembly to review existing policies, assess environmental and economic impacts, and ensure that this growth aligns with the public interest, aligns with the public interest.

Um I've heard a lot, and I agree with a lot of what I heard today.

When I walked in here, I was in opposition to the ordinance as it's drafted.

I do feel a little bit differently about it, having heard your what I hope are sincere expressions of proactive behavior, because proactive can be really good, but it can also be a bad thing.

I do take some issue with um, and I don't want to blame it on anybody, but that centers are a necessary evil that they're coming, whether we like it or not.

I think that if anybody's been paying attention to this issue and is doing the requisite reading, they're going to understand that right now AI companies are giving all kinds of stink of signals that what they are investing in these data centers and in this AI project is not going to be profitable.

Corporations are starting to back out of how much IA AI they are buying because it's not saving the money.

They're actually gasp learning that maybe human people working is actually more beneficial to the profit line than AI.

Now my daughter is a software developer.

She graduated from UD in uh computer engineering, and here's what she tells me about AI whenever I get really nervous about it.

She said, Mom, it's a word predictor.

Now I know that they're talking about the new version of AI, I forget the name of it, AGI, General Intelligence.

But the AI that we have right now is a word predictor.

It's why?

And Mr.

Walton, I believe the attorney's name is, will attest to this.

It's actually generated legal briefs to actual courts that make no sense and cite cases that have never been heard at all.

It makes shit up.

Pardon my language.

Like any other summary or conclusion, I think it's really important to find the facts behind that summary or conclusion.

So my vote, if I were on Levy Court, would be we need a temporary moratorium.

Yeah, I know my time's up, guys.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator Buckley.

Yes, ma'am.

Hi.

My name is Heidi Patton, and I am a resident of Kent County.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony are about to give us the truth?

I do.

I think the ordinance definitely is necessary, but with some changes, I live in an agricultural residential zoned area.

Currently, my neighbors consists of about a hundred other families and several dozen cows and chickens.

We are roughly 1,000 feet from the cows, which is a far greater distance than the proposed distance for any data center.

However, in the still of a country night, you can hear everything.

Every cow, every chicken, and if approved, the way the ordinance is written, the continuous hum of a data center.

The animals take naps.

However, a data center noise will never stop.

I ask that you apply Chapter 161 of a noise ordinance into the amendment and add a nighttime low frequency ordinance.

In addition, please include the AR zones into the residential zoning district so that these residents that I'm a part of are also protected.

Yes, sir.

My name is Patrick Bates.

I live in uh Dover, specifically Noble's Pond.

Um I came here tonight.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give us the truth?

I do.

I'm sorry, sir.

What is your name again?

Patrick Bates, B-A-T-E-S.

Thank you.

So I came here tonight uh to learn, and I've learned an awful lot and appreciate all your time.

Um but I came with one question.

Noble's Pond in North Dover is surrounded by farmland.

And I think a lot of Noble Pond people here, they came tonight to um understand is the farmland uh liable to ever have a data center on it.

Can somebody answer that for me?

We stated the only property liable to uh take a data center as a right gold property, and because of the rail, we don't think it's going there.

What about the zoning?

There's no other property in the county eligible.

What about rezoning efforts from data center owners?

Is that a possibility down the road?

It's always a possibility, but um if you look at our history, rezoning from agricultural to industrial is really, really rare.

And it has to be for a good reason, such as they're bringing in 500 jobs.

It's very rare, especially in your case, and I don't want to say specifically Noble's Pine, because there's a lot of areas throughout the county that are in the same position where you have land around a subdivision that was put in by developer in AR zones.

Very rare for land outside there to be rezoned industrial for any reason.

So very rare.

Okay, thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Sir My name is Christopher Gardsley, uh resident of Townsend, Delaware.

You swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give us the truth.

Yes.

My name is Christopher Beardsley, speaking on LC 2606, requiring a public hearing designated for largest for the largest facilities and against navigating against data centers.

Over the course of the past several years, AI and the physical infrastructure has prodded everywhere, much without the consent or the awareness of those having to bear the most burden to losing the clean air, land, water.

Outside interests have started pouring into the state to propagate the idea that AI data centers are inevitable, putting a hand on the scale and engaging in anti democratic practices.

Requiring a public hearing of the largest facilities maintains the weight of the people's voice.

I support LC 2606 with the amendments as discussed today.

And the county is right to set the data center rules before data centers arrives.

Irresponsible development has swiftly overtaken the places people have been born here, raised here, and moved here.

I would adamantly ask that the levy court do everything in its power to keep AI data centers out of Delaware in addition to the guardrails it considers tonight.

Let's be clear.

No one asked for this.

No one asked for data centers.

We've asked for clean air, clean water, good schools, good roads, better public transportation, reduced energy prices.

What the influx of data centers and our leaders' acquiescence and capitulation to those funding it showed us is that they believe we don't deserve any of those things.

AI data centers are only here to profit off of our lives, our land, our well-being.

Please act urgently and do everything in your power to keep AI data centers out of Kent County.

Hi, my name is Greg Layton.

I live in Miller Grove.

Sir, sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do affirm.

I've been listening all evening, didn't actually plan to speak because I don't like writing them up myself.

But as a former Dover High School English teacher and journalist in this county, I just want to emphasize the meanings of some words.

Moratorium, some folks use that word and they made sure to use the word temporary before it.

And I understand they were using temporary properly, but it's a little bit redundant because a moratorium is temporary.

It's not permanent.

I know Mr.

Sweeney, or Commissioner Sweeney talked about uh codes being written in pencil, and yes, our U.S.

Constitution and State Constitution both call for amendments, and I know that the county does as well.

But a pencil is a little bit more certain than a hope.

And when I heard people talking about sites where uh data centers could locate, I heard terms like not likely to, not liable to.

They probably wouldn't want to.

At the same time, folks were telling me that they were gonna sue to get there.

So I'd rather have something a little bit more certain than uh we're gonna wait a little bit and uh hope.

Put it in pencil at least.

Think about it further, then put it in pen.

But uh as much as I respect most of you, all of you, and the folks in this room, I'm not gonna rely on a hunch.

I'm not gonna rely on a hope.

I want the council or the commission, the levy court.

Sorry, I keep forgetting which jurisdiction I'm in, but I want the levy court to take a stand for the people and protect us.

And if you need to revise it later, please do tighten it.

But I support this amendment.

I wrote I wrote to all of you and recommended five fixes.

I've heard most of them addressed tonight, and uh I'm ready to go.

I don't need to wait.

Have a good evening.

Hello.

My name is Joy Woodruff, and I live in Fox Hall, Kent County.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

Um I just want to go on the record to let you guys know that I like it banned.

I am not afraid of AI.

I use it every day for work.

Um it's fun, but I don't want to live with it in in my neighborhood.

I don't I used to complain about the smell of cows.

I think I would rather have that than the humming of a data center.

Um I care about my friends and my family and their health and their well-being.

I care about clean water, and I care about the air and my property.

And I don't want it to be devalued or to be thought less of just because I don't pay into the you know for to be a data center myself.

So I would like you guys to take into account my feelings and pretty much everybody here, I'm sure.

Um we don't want data centers here.

And I'm for all ban.

I understand the moratorium thing.

And um, but I do I do understand that you need to put something on the books to keep to keep it, you know, legit, but 500 feet is is nothing.

So do the 500 feet at least.

Thank you.

That's all I have in the case.

Hello, my name is John Stark.

And I do live in Kent County.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

Um I'm not so much here for the ordinance.

I'm here for more of the levy court.

Um, only because I've been in business a long time.

Uh not so much in Sussex or in Newcastle County, but in Sussex.

And of course, Delaware law is all about levy court.

That's where it starts at, and then we move up.

Um, Sussex County, I'm very familiar with because I used to go down there all the time for getting permits approved.

And all they do in Sussex County is usually do that at night.

So that's the only time you really hear them, other than that, they're doing it through the day.

So I want to give a shout out to all of the levy court commissioners and everybody that's in this room that is able to come here at night to do this.

Because it's about the only county that allows you to do that.

Thank you.

Oh, scared.

Hi.

Um, I'm Mary Ellen Bowers.

I live at Noble's Pond.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

And don't be scared.

So nervous.

Um I moved here a year and a half ago from Sullivan County, New York.

And I lived on a mountain.

I'm gonna cry.

Uh we're well known for national nationally for fly fishing, um, hunting, and I oh, and for 1969 Woodstock.

Um I came here, I sold my house and came here because I heard Delaware was so beautiful and had such nice people.

And um I did research for the data centers when they were gonna put it in Chester, New York.

I wanted to know about them.

I apologize.

I only learned about this a few hours ago.

I really don't know enough to speak.

But um I know about data centers, and Governor Hochel uh made a law that no data centers can be built in New York for a year to give them time to research it, to you know, not to rush into things.

So I just wanted to say that if the data center goes in, um, I heard it's near Noble's Pond, maybe.

Um, my house will go for sale immediately, and it probably won't sell because of the data center, but I will leave Delaware.

I didn't come here give up the nature and all of that to come to a state that's gonna put a data center near me.

And um I don't know if you are the ones that are gonna vote for it.

I like I said, I'm not prepared to talk.

It doesn't stop me.

But they they'll tell you.

But um I want you to consider.

I don't know where you live, I don't know how close you'll be to the data center, but if you're gonna vote yes, I want you to want think like how would you feel if it goes near your home?

I I and like I said, I just learned about this a few hours ago.

And uh thank you for letting me talk.

Ma'am.

Ma'am, I I just wanted to try to help make sure we understand things a little bit.

First and foremost, I think most of the commissioners sitting up here were born and raised right here in Kent County.

Uh, can't speak for all of them, but I think most of us were.

So we we have a vested interest in Kent County.

We want to make sure that what we're doing is vital and making sure we make the right decisions.

But the one thing that kind of caught my attention was you made the statement about voting for data centers.

Um that is complete opposite of really what we're doing.

We're we're trying to vote for an ordinance to protect you from data centers.

So I just wanted to make sure everybody understood what our play was here.

We're trying to do the best that we can do so that we can close some of the other loopholes in what that we've heard tonight.

So just so that everybody knows we're not voting for data centers, we're voting for an ordinance to protect Kent County.

I just learned a couple hours ago, I heard and I just wanted to be on the find out night nine.

Hello, my name is Sean Samuel Mo, resident of Camden.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony are about to give us the truth?

I do.

Sean, what is your last name?

Samuel.

Thank you.

Um I just wanted to urge you guys to, you know, adopt a moratorium on the dentist data center development.

I understand that it's not a ban, it's a pause, and it's an opportunity to ensure that we can make an informed decision before permanently changing the future of our county.

This decision should not be rushed before Kent County amends its zoning code to allow data centers.

We should commission a comprehensive independent study examining the environmental infrastructure and community impact impacts of these facilities.

Those findings should be released publicly so the people of Kent County can understand the risks and benefits and participate in an informed discussion about the future of our county.

We have a responsibility to protect the environment that makes Kent County unique.

Our forests, wetlands, waterways, farmland, and wildlife are not simply vacant land waiting to be developed.

They are part of our community.

They cannot attend these meetings, they cannot vote, and they cannot speak for themselves.

That responsibility falls on you guys.

Not every industry that comes to Kent County is an industry that belongs in Kent County.

Responsible leadership is not measured by how quickly we approve development.

But by the wiz by but by whether we have the wisdom to pause, ask just difficult questions, and protect the people and natural resources entrusted to our care.

I urge you to place a moratorium on data center development until the facts are known.

The public is informed, and Kent County can make a decision based on evidence and not urgency.

Thank you.

Hello, my name's Piper Champagne, and I'm a resident of Hartley, Delaware.

You swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth.

I swear.

Um good evening.

Ma'am, could ma'am, could I get your name again over here?

Oh.

Piper Champany.

Spell the last name.

C H A M P I NY.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good evening again.

Um I'm a resident of the 6th district.

I'm represented by Commissioner Paul Hertz, and I'm here today to voice my strong opposition to data centers ever entering the state of Delaware, let alone Kent County.

Tonight I joined many others in asking you all to consider to protect our wildlife, our forests, our farmland, and the communities that elected you the positions that you currently hold.

Um because my time is limited.

I can't walk through the extensive research on the environmental and quality of life impacts associated with data centers.

However, I encourage all of you and the public to review that research before making any decision on regulations.

Period.

The levy court states that it is committed to serving the public and ensuring that the best possible decisions are made for the enhancement of Kent County residents.

I don't know how inviting data centers by introducing regulations is for and respects that commitment.

Mr.

Sutzgiver's prediction illustrates the scale of the future envisioned by the people pushing for these technologies.

We cannot allow Delaware to become a stepping stone toward that future.

To Kent County residents, these commissioners are elected to represent us.

This November, Commissioners Hall, Hertz, and Pepper will all appear on the ballot, pay attention on how they vote, and pay attention on how they move with regard to LC2606 and decide whether that vote reflects the future you want for our county.

Commissioner Hertz, as my representative, I ask you to think about the future you want for your grandchildren and about your legacy that you will leave behind for them.

Will they be proud of it or will they have to suffer through it?

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

My name is George Jones, and I am from Delver, Delaware.

You swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Nothing but it.

I just want to start by saying I heard a lot of talk about how the data centers would bring a lot of economic growth to Delaware.

I just want everyone on the board to consider what will it bring economically to Delaware.

Um as a me personally, I love to take walks, nature walks.

Um I've been here my whole life, born and raised Kent General Hospital.

Um I'm 26 years old, and you know, I'm a frequent runner walker, and I love to enjoy the wildlife and the nature that our my lovely state brings, you know, the has, you know.

And my biggest concern when I heard about the data center was the acid rain.

What is it going to do for us?

It's going to it's going to basically affect our drinking water, not only ours, but the animals as well.

Um, you know, bird population is decreasing.

I don't know if any of you guys know that, but it has significantly since I was a child since you were a child, and we have just started to get them back up.

Please don't let them decrease again.

And the data centers will definitely um contribute to the you know decline.

Thank you.

Sir, can you state your name for us?

Good evening.

My name is Francis George.

I'm from Fox Hall Development and Chezwell.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes, sir, I am.

The reason we're here tonight, we have a letter.

258 people live in our development mobile home park.

We have to come up with 22.5 million dollars in 30 days, or the owners will be selling to a data center, and they will be, will be, will be resubmitting the paperwork to redevelop the park from a mobile home park to a whatever you need to put up the building.

So I'm here by my half of a few fellas here.

We're trying to save our park.

Most of the poet park people are from 25 up to 90 years old.

So I'm here for them.

I'm fighting for them.

God, I hope not.

So if you people can stop Pat Davis and his sister from selling this park and getting the paperwork done to block it, please help us.

Sir, sir, where we restate where you're from.

I'm from Fox Point, Cheswell, Delaware.

But I live in Dover Delaware address.

We have 200 and like say 200.

There's a few vacant right now, so I'm saying 257 homes.

So they're got that we have 30 days to come up with that number, or it will be sold, as we've been told, to a developer for the data center.

So please take a half of us and these people that live here.

Like we stated, your property ain't zoned industrial, so there's no way they could build data center.

The only possible property is Roykolt.

So whatever we say is misinformation.

It's not it's not industrial.

We're just praying that they don't reinstruct it to be in industrial park.

Well, that would be us.

Well, that's why I'm here, buddy.

I'm here to ask you all to please stay with us.

Please stay with us.

God, I'm God, I'm asking you, please help these young people and old people.

That's all we have.

There's no way that I could walk through that park and come up with 22.5 million out of that park because most of us are living from day to day.

Sir, our question, Fox Point, isn't that in Cheswell municipality?

It's in Cheswell, but we have a Dover address because of the mailbox post office is so small.

Our mail comes from Dover up to Chesville.

I understand that, but you're aren't you in the municipality of Cheswold?

Aren't you in town limits?

I'm looking for the town limit sign.

They've all been removed but one.

And that's out by school lane and come on, fellas.

Yeah, but part of the reason.

I think for your commissioners, because I have a house in Cheswell.

Okay.

Um so what happened is the legislator took double pond out of Chesville.

Right.

When they did that, you lost four councilmen on Cheswell because four of them live in double pond.

They can no longer serve.

So Chezwell now is down to two, and they're sending letters out to say, hey, what do you want us to do?

Believe me, if I was going to stay in Chesville, you know, I'm here for the park.

The people to park, the ones that wanted me to come out and speak tonight.

I'm not much of a speaker.

I'll tell you that outright.

But what I'm doing, I'm doing it for the old folks.

The ones that can't drive down here and get in up here and say, hey, help me people.

Yeah, but you're in town limits of Cheswell.

Where's the town limits, sir?

Do you know?

I mean, I've been trying to find a sign.

I've even go to the town office, and they say, well, uh, well, I think the town else could tell you, but I know it goes out past the state building.

Um, what's that trailer park on the right hand left-hand side going downtown?

That's us.

Well, that's us.

That's Ceswell.

Yeah, sir.

Sir, I would suggest tomorrow that you pay a visit to the town hall in Cheswell and ask to speak to Sarah Cahall.

Yep.

I believe uh she can tell you, but I'm almost 100 percent certain you are you're in a municipality, which we do not govern.

I'm I'm praying, honey.

Please I'm not praying.

Thank you all for your time.

Understood.

And uh a good turnout for tonight.

Thank you again.

Okay.

At this point, um, we will ask, is there anyone here who opposes LC 2606 data center?

Are you ready?

I'm Mike Humphrey, a heritage in area.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony are about to give us a change?

I do.

Thank you.

Sir, can you hold one minute, please for the quick message.

Uh, we're going to continue with uh folks here that oppose ordinance LC 2606.

But for those of you that are online, please be patient.

We will get to you and uh ask to hear from those who um support LC 2606 and those that are against it.

Thank you.

Go ahead, sir.

Um I as I said, I live in a heritage area.

I don't live in Heritage, but I live in a heritage area.

Um da three, I'd like to have three specific uh changes to it.

And they are one, I think you need to require local labor, some of uh local labor.

The there have been two big developments in Harrington in the last several years.

One was the library and one was solar park.

Both of them were built with out-of-state labor.

There was no local labor involved.

In fact, the library was built totally by an out-of-state government or a out-of-state company.

So I think the ordinance should require a percentage of local uh labor involved in it.

I I would I would table the the ordinance until that is included, is what I would do if I were you.

The second thing is I think that it needs to be an environmental impact statement made.

And that was be the company that proposes a data center should involve a total impact statement, and they should answer several questions specifically.

One is where they get the power.

Electrical power.

Where is what is the noise requirement?

And what what are they saying their noise abatement processes is?

And the third is water.

How do they get water?

Where do they get it?

How much is used?

How they're going to mitigate that issue.

So those questions I think need to be answered in the environmental impact statement that they make.

Then the third thing that I would serve in this ordinance is a public hearing process.

Right now I don't see it.

And there needs to be a hearing process by which a person applying, a company applying for uh data center access should have a public hearing after they've done environmental statement.

And that would be that would give the the uh people affected an opportunity to speak their mind.

And I think that's the Democratic process.

Uh until those three things are involved, I'm opposed to the ordinance as it stands.

Any questions?

Okay.

Hello.

My name is James Christman.

I live next to the Eddie Evans farm, and that's actually in Noble's Pond.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give us the truth?

It is.

Thank you.

Yes.

Okay.

So you've heard a lot tonight.

I just want to affirm that I believe a ban is necessary.

I don't think this should pass.

I don't think it's ready.

I think there's lots of risk in passing it, and we heard that tonight.

That doesn't make sense to be proactive for something that's going to cause greater damage.

I think passing it is gonna open it up to greater damage, and you've heard all the reasons why data centers can cause damage.

I don't think you should act on this.

So I'm I'm gonna request that you don't pass it, that it you do pass a ban.

That can be changed, I think, eventually, because I think there's great risk.

I actually don't think Delaware as a state should have them.

I think they're they're a major environmental uh danger, and I think they shouldn't shouldn't exist in this state.

Thank you.

If it pleases you all, my name is Zachary Papin.

I'm a resident of Dyke Brant Dyke Branch Road, also uh of the same road that Linda Lewis, I think it was earlier tonight.

Found new neighbors.

Great.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do indeed.

So I get about three minutes for a guitar solo here.

For what it's worth, I am a local music teacher and my attention is turned towards education when it comes to data centers.

My knowledge is that one, students are using it more and more.

That's a problem.

I am opposed to the data centers.

I think it's obvious then that I should be in favor of the ordinance.

Well, I'm not in favor of the ordinance.

Why?

Mostly because I have a semantic argument.

I'm sorry.

Uh for what it's worth, the it limited industrial and general industrial zoning districts are where we're trying to set the uh data center classification.

And as I look at our Delaware zone, our Kent County zoning laws, I see that specifically limited industrial is meant for the zones that are medium, light industrial that may or may not be placed next to residential.

I thought that a little odd, especially since we do have the general industrial zone that says it's for objectionable uh potentially objectionable industry.

I don't think anybody would object to the fact that this is an objectionable action.

The idea that bringing a data center is objectionable.

Well, it's supported not just by the people in this room, but by data.

There's plenty of uh oh, gallup polls and other surveys taken.

Some March poll last uh said something that like 71% of respondents were opposed to data centers.

Now, this was back in March.

It has not gotten better.

No one is more in favor of uh data centers now than they were back then.

So my particular proposal is not to do anything rash other than turn down this ordinance and remove the language that allows for limited industrial.

I recognize that that's now even further restricting so that we might be taking something else off the map that again might lead us open to legal challenge.

I'm not sure how that works, but for my personal awareness, this only makes sense under general industrial, not limited industrial.

Thank you.

Sir, give you a name and address for the record, please.

Uh, Chris Generic, uh Nobles Pond resident.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes, I do.

Chris, what was your last name?

Generic with a J, J-E-N-E-R-I-C-K.

Thank you.

Uh this is really a clarification question.

Uh it concerns the water.

Uh the way I understand it, the the approval of the water drawdowns would be requested by the data center by the local utility, which would of course I think in most cases be Middlesex or Tidewater.

Now, tide water and middlesex are for pro for profit companies.

So it's in their best interest to blindly say, holy mackerel, I get to sell 30,000 gallons of water a minute.

Uh uh sounds good to me, and they would just rubber stamp an approval.

Uh what's the guardrail on on your point of selling tidewater?

You you have to do a better search or better study rather than just blindly approve something that would line the pockets of the shareholders for Middlesex.

Does uh it's a hot question.

I don't know if any of it here is capable of answering that, but you see the potential for you know, not not really looking at the approval process is concerning the long-term uh degradation of the water supply in the community rather than quick-turn profits.

And then once the water runs out, they go, well, we're gonna have to drill more wells, we need more rate increases to drill more wells, and then of course pass that all on to the the people that are paying middle six uh utility bills.

So just uh something to consider.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ezra Bennett.

I live in Kent County.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth?

Yes, I do.

Hello.

I will try not to take uh too much of everybody's uh valuable time.

My name is Ezra Bennett.

Less than one week ago, I turned 17.

I have been a resident of Kent County in my entire life.

I go to school in Kent County, I work in Kent County, and I certainly contribute to the local economy.

I have my entire life ahead of me.

And I would like to remind every one of you in this room that the decisions made today will affect me and the many others like me for our entire future.

As previously stated many times before, data centers are particularly harmful to the environment.

The environment, the environment I will grow up and live my life in.

I think it has been made explicitly clear that these data centers are extremely unpopular.

So I urge you to do the right thing, make the right decision by the people, and think about the future.

Save the children.

Don't let a data center in the Kent County.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Uh my name is uh Jeff Allen.

I'm a 40-year resident of Kent County and currently live in Noble's Pond.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony is a good thing?

I affirm that my testimony will be uh honest to the best of my knowledge.

First of all, I appreciate the patience that every Commissioner has shown tonight in listening to people say how they hate data centers when the question at hand is do they support an ordinance or do not support an ordinance?

And we have heard an hour and a half of people rambling about how bad data centers are.

I would support the legislation, but I don't because I think the setbacks are way too small.

And if we doubled the setbacks, we've we've already said, I've heard numerous times, we're going to amend whatever we approve if you approve, and it sounds like it's going to get tabled or approved tonight or at some point, but why not approve it at a more restrictive level than a less restrictive level and work backwards?

To to put a 300-foot barrier or 400-foot barrier does not protect the people that live in land that is currently zoned, agricultural residential that gets a large pile of money, and an individual claiming the rights to have their property developed that might happen to be along Route 13.

So I oppose the legislation as uh presented.

I would fully support it if the uh setbacks were doubled.

That's all I have to say.

And I appreciate your patience for all what you have listened through tonight.

Thank you very much.

Good evening.

My name is Jerome Hudson.

And I have a question, sir.

Sir, before you get started, I'm over here.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth?

I swear.

My question is, with 22.5 million dollars in 30 days.

If that is not met, what happens next?

Do we do we get help relocating?

That is my question.

Sir, are you referring uh to Fox Point?

Yes, excuse me.

I'm sorry.

Yes, Fox Point.

Sir, if you're referring to Fox Point, it's in the municipality of Cheswold.

Kent County Levy Court is not part of any of that decision, sir.

Excuse me.

I I I didn't understand that.

Your question is if 22.5 million dollars is the price that Fox Point has been offered.

Correct.

Your concern is what happens.

Because Fox Point is in the town of Cheswold, Levy Court does not have any say over who that gentleman sells his property to.

We don't have any control.

Oh, okay.

So so when everybody is in awe as to what happens next after tonight's meeting?

We have no control over that location.

Okay, thank you.

I'm sorry, but thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Molly Rayleigh Hall, or Mary Rayleigh Hall, Molly's a nickname.

I'm a resident of Dover, outside city limits in Planters Woods.

My commissioner is Jeff Hall.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

I thank the commissioners and the staff for all the work you've put into this, and even the economic development coordinator for all that they've done to try to look from their point of view what might be good.

I do not support the ordinance as written presently.

I told a friend I was going to try to come here tonight.

Sorry, a little worse.

And she said, why not ask the question?

Why does Kent County need data centers?

And I keep hearing terms like it's unnecessary evil.

We have to be proactive.

If nothing, there would be no guardrails.

Jeff heard you say that.

I do want to say something.

I've lived here since April of 1989.

In response to an ad in the Washington Post for a full-time job with benefits with the state.

I too have a vested interest in Kent County.

I know and love people who have been born and raised here.

Okay, so I have it all too close to my heart.

But I've lived to other places, and I can tell you about the experiences other places have had.

Okay.

If not, then you're really creating a path forward.

The question I have is anybody looked at the latest General Assembly legislation, not just what Representative Buxton said, but there is a raft of bills that were passed.

And they tried to address concerns people had about data centers.

And yet it's down to this level about what specifically site-wise.

I have a lot of concern about the buffer.

My question is about the acoustic barrier.

Did I hear that right?

Because as one who wrote a uh position description for a noise analyst before I retired for somebody to take my place, you're, I think the buffer has got to be much greater, all the concern about low-level noise.

And where did you get your jurisdictions?

Because it's Northern Virginia, so many people are fleeing the data center corridors because of quality of life.

So, you know, a noise barrier with vegetative barrier, that's nice, but we're not solar and wind energy.

This is a data center, if that's the comparable.

Also, are you acquainted with the proposed data centers in Southern Maryland, where I'm from originally?

Are you acquainted with Calvert County, Maryland?

Or anything about them?

I suggest you might look up to see what they've gone through and how it has really brought people together from all persuasions to oppose what was a you know a clear and present proposal.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Ann Borkman and live in Kent County.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes, I do.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

I didn't get your name.

Ann Borkman.

Yes.

So it sounds like there's only one property that would be zoned right now for a data center, but it also was recommended that that wouldn't be a good property because of the rail.

Um it seems like it would be then a good move based on public sentiment that everyone has here today to just ban them completely in Kent County, and we can set a precedent also within the state with our leadership and with the municipalities.

Just now there's um coming out more and more information about how disruptive these data centers can be for local communities, both for water and land.

Umise, as people have said.

Um there was a rancher in Texas who talked about how his animals lost 30 percent of their body weight, and then they weren't able to breed properly.

Um, also in the states of Michigan and Georgia, we've seen problems with the groundwater where chemicals have been found that were never found there before, and it's affecting groundweather water as well.

And um just in terms of the what it's doing to electrical grids and costs that were never anticipated before.

So I think it would be best to have a band.

Second best would be a moratorium where people could do more studies because this is a new phenomenon, and we're just learning about impacts to the environment and to the people that live in the communities where these data centers are.

We're a small state, and we have 43% of Delaware is actually with agriculture.

So I think we really have to have environmental studies and open public hearings whenever a new data center is proposed.

Thank you.

Hi.

My name is Nancy Schenkine.

I live in Noble's Pond as well.

I moved here.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes.

I moved here seven years ago for I am a transplant from New Jersey now.

Many of us who come from North Jersey will tell you that we have lived through all kinds of industrialization.

Mostly bad.

Years ago, there was a push towards clean industry, which never really happened.

We know data centers are not clean industry.

And I think if you asked a lot of people in New Jersey and New York, if they really want data centers either, they'll tell you no, because we've already lived through enough.

I've lived for seven years in this beautiful state where I've learned how much everybody really cares about the land, the animals, the farms, things I just never was exposed to before.

And if in truth we're such a small state that we only have this actual spot for one data center, I agree.

Why can't we stand as a shining example and say, no, we don't think so?

Thank you.

Um we're gonna cut this public hearing off at 1030 because we still have one, two, three, four other items that we have to do public hearings on.

So I'm gonna turn it over to Mr.

Kennedy now, and we will hear from those who are in favor of the ordinance LC2606.

So for our guests joining us online, if you would like to speak in favor of LC2606, please indicate by raising the electronic hand.

We will go to those who are joining us by telephone first.

Um and you can raise your electronic hand by pressing star three.

Okay, for everyone else online that would like to speak in favor of LC2606, please indicate by raising electronic hand using the icon at the bottom of your screen.

Okay, um Reverend Dorlen, if you can uh unmute your line, give us your name and address, and be sworn in by our attorney.

Yes, good evening.

I'm Doralina Salmons Hackett.

I'm a resident of Noble Pond.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I affirm.

I've listened to everything that's been said tonight.

I'm a three-year resident of Noble's Pond.

I lived 20 years in the in the state of New Jersey and got asthma living in that state.

I spent 13 years living in Maryland and was subjected to all kinds of things.

I moved here because of the nice surroundings and they the um the reputation that Delaware had for being such a clean state.

And I really opposed um having this data center, especially if it's gonna move at Eddie's farm next to us, a couple hundred feet away from my house.

I didn't move here to have a data center up in my neighborhood, and I really I really don't we have bad enough problems now with uh electricity when there's um when it's real hot outside, the electricity goes off, when it's storming, the electricity goes off, this data center will have our electricity going off.

We have problems with water as it is, there's not enough water, we have a drought, this data center will dry up all the water that we have.

I'm vehemently opposed to having this data having a data center in the state of Delaware, especially in Kent County and anywhere near me.

Pardon here.

We're asking those in favor of ordinance LC 2606 for data centers.

Do you support this ordinance?

No.

Okay.

Is those who speak in favor of this ordinance?

Thank you.

I thought you said raise your hand if you're against the ordinance and we raised our hand and then you called on me.

But uh Mr.

Kennedy, once again, those on the line, if you're in favor of ordinance LC 2606, uh please raise your hand to be brought in.

That's correct.

Once again, if you're online uh and you're joining us via a computer or mobile device, if you would like to speak in favor of this ordinance, please indicate by raising your electronic hand.

Okay, if you're joining us online and you're you're on a telephone line, if you would like to speak in opposition to this ordinance, please indicate by raising electronic hand, which you can do by pressing star three.

Okay.

Um so I'm gonna send a unmute request to you, call the user 19.

If you can unmute your line by pressing star six and give us your name and address and be sworn by our attorney.

Do you swear or excuse me?

Excuse me.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I swear that the testimony that I give is the truth.

Where is her name?

Go ahead.

Bernetta Sleeper Kearns.

Go ahead.

Did you hear me?

Okay.

I am a one-year resident of Noble Ponds, and I vehemently oppose data centers for several reasons.

One, um, because of the environmental concerns.

I'm from a very small city called Chester, Pennsylvania, where I've been part of a group where we have been fighting environmental racism against uh incinerators in our community.

Um data centers pose the same in our overall environment.

I am opposed to them.

However, in regards to ordinance LC, if that is the direction that is decided upon as a client specialist for several major corporations, I would suggest that there would be specific language of the incorporated into that ordinance that will specify.

I oppose.

Okay.

Well, right now we're asking for people who are in favor of this ordinance to speak.

Okay.

You may not have realized that you did anyone opposed to the backs.

Oh, hold on.

Ma'am, you may you ma'am, you may continue.

Um we don't see any other hands raised at this time uh for those in opposition.

So, ma'am, you can go ahead with your testimony in opposition to LC2606.

Okay, I did hear that the I was to speak in regards to opposition to L C again.

I oppose data centers in a whole for the reasons that I specified.

However, if the majority makes a decision to place an ordinance which has a former compliance.

Technicals connecting to a network.

Okay.

Okay, I'm yeah, so what we're gonna do, ma'am, is um we're gonna um kind of put your line on mute for a minute.

Um maybe you're having some technical difficulties and we'll go to uh the next person, um Callie Champigne.

If you can unmute your line, give us your name and address.

Well, I just want to make sure that we're talking about opposed.

Right?

That's correct, ma'am.

We're we're making uh opposition.

Now, ma'am, did you speak earlier in the in the building?

Uh my sister did.

Okay, gotcha.

So if you can give us your name and address and have our attorney swear you in, please.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Callie Champany, and I'm from Hartley, Delaware.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

I swear.

Okay.

I'm just here to say that we don't need data centers here in Kent County, and all of these fears saying if we did nothing, there would be no guardrails for our protection.

However, to counteract that point, why not just ban them entirely?

Guardrails can be bent.

A solid ban, a wall of protection would be more beneficial than a simple guardrail.

And at the end of the day, nobody I know and myself wants data centers in Kent County or protections against them.

We want a ban.

And from what I've seen, limiting data centers to specific zones at the end of the day, does nothing.

What stops a company from coming in and buying up farmland for millions of dollars and then paying all of you to rezone and allow the data center to be built?

Trust me, they have enough money to do it and they will.

I've seen it in Michigan and Texas, and especially in Utah, and residents of Kent County, especially Hartley, do not have the resources to fight back.

Not only this, I want to speak about how they have been consistently known to disrupt the life cycle of important bugs and animals, birds, bats, raccoons, foxes, beetles, and if that wasn't enough, they also suck up thousands of gallons of water, as well as the noise they emit is a horrific constant buzzing causing near psychosis in residents who have been living near them.

Choose to ban for the future residents of Delaware, your children and your grandchildren, because at the end of the day, you guys are not going to have to deal with this.

Okay.

Um I see no additional hands raised online in opposition.

Dr.

Dorelina, did you have any additional testimony that you wanted to give in opposition?

I know you started in opposition.

Did you have any further testimony in opposition you'd like to make at this time?

Yes, they said I'd have to repeat it.

You do not have to repeat it, but we're gonna give you the opportunity to um to say something additional if you would like.

Well, I I agree with what Miss Callie just said.

I think she speaks uh very well, and I appreciate the future generation coming up and speaking in and thinking against having data centers in our county.

Thank you.

Okay, uh Denise online.

If you can unmute your line and give us your name and address and be sworn by an attorney.

Denise Long in Kent County.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes.

I I am I'm totally against the data centers.

My mom lives in Felton and uh has breathing issues already.

And this is gonna be something that we look so hard to try to find a place.

We would be able to settle, make it our last place.

And there's now saying that there's a possibility of felting and I would end up having to take that house and myself would I would end up having the same issues.

It is not Zelaware is such a small state, and the utility costs are gonna get passed on to the uh the all the the people in Delaware.

We don't need it.

We don't we could let other people that have far bigger areas take it.

But why should we not put the ban where the sm where it was such a small state?

We don't want to take away from the farmers.

Like was said earlier in Texas.

I saw that same video.

Cows are being born, still born.

We are agricultural out here.

There's a solar panel things going down that we're taking away farmland.

We really should put a ban on it.

And as you've seen from everybody who has spoken today, the opposition is so strong.

So for everybody out there, or all the people at the panel, you have to think about how it's going to affect every resident health-wise, financially.

And when it's built, oh yeah, it'll help the economy.

Once it's built, it's run, it runs itself.

So it doesn't help Delaware.

All it does is hinder the pollution, the agriculture, the fire, the and everything else.

It's just not feasible.

We need to think about imposing a ban on any AR center in such a small state, especially that was such a big producer of chicken, soy, and everything else.

And now we're gonna pollute our air and damage our animals and the harms, the elderly and everybody else and children.

We really need to think about you are supposed to be supporting our people and being there for the people.

The resolution has too many loopholes and too many ways it could be changed later.

That really we don't want anything that could be changed.

You said it could be a pencil.

Well, pencil, that's easily changed.

We need a ban.

And just you have to be strong with it.

And that's really what my my thing is.

I know some people talk, give them the floor.

I said my piece, it should be a ban.

We're too tiny a state for such a big thing.

And the noise ordinance, it's just not acceptable.

There is nothing this state can possibly benefit from an AI center.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um we have uh caller number 10.

I'm gonna send you an unmute line.

If you can um give us your name, the name and address and be sworn by our attorney.

Hello, my name is Cheryl Baylor.

I I live in Kent County.

I'm not used to public speaking.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to provide is the truth?

Yes, I do.

Go ahead.

Um I love this place.

I love small town USA.

Um I think it should be protected.

We are losing that.

Um the written word is very tricky.

Um people that are have the lawyers and the money, they can figure out how to reword our words and use it against us.

That's why I'm kind of cautious about the ordinance.

I've heard a lot of great ideas about um people talking about you know, making sure that well water isn't disturbed and environment and the farmland and our way of life.

Um I I'm not really sure if the ordinance would even help.

Um, but I think we do have to pause.

I think we should have a more moratorium and really make sure that these great ideas get put into the ordinance before it is voted on.

Because like I've heard before, um, we were we we've had people say, and I and I believe what they're telling me, you know, saying um that once you do put the ordinance into um on the paper that it's harder to go back and fix it to put an amendment.

I mean, like when would you do this?

When would that happen?

Where it's the guarantee that it would get put back in to make sure that the well water is protected and and the um I'm trying to think what that was called.

Um the buying one I wrote it down.

Um, but just protect that when I wouldn't mind, sorry.

That's what you're supposed to the noise, um, the noise ordinance, um, how close it is to uh residential areas um to limit the um the time when they can have noise.

Preserve um the land.

Um see and to also make sure that it's put into um the ordinance that you wouldn't be able to build in the only place that they could build, which is by the railroad to be put this down solid so that it can't be bent.

Um that's all I really have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And so uh so we'll go back to caller uh number 19.

I'm gonna send you another unmute request to see if your mind has cleared up.

Can you hear me better?

It's storming in my area.

Yeah, that's what we kind of figured.

So um we can hear you a little bit better now.

So if you could um go ahead and give us your name and address again and uh and be sworn by our attorney.

She's already been sworn.

I'm in Bernetta Sweeper Kerns.

I live in Noble Side.

Yes, if you could just go ahead and finish your comment from before, you've already been sworn.

Okay.

I totally oppose data centers for all of the reasons that have been previously noted.

Concerns with our water, our environment, and the impact that it would have on the animals and our community.

As however, and I know that sometimes we can't put a stop on legislation if LC2-06 was to have to be put in place.

There are certain things that I would recommend as a former singer compliance specialist.

There needs to be a sorry, ma'am.

Um we had you for there for a while, but then you just dropped out.

Um that about concludes our um everyone who is online um who wanted to speak in opposition or in favor.

Thank you, Mr.

Kennedy.

Uh thank you all for who came out to participate tonight.

It's really great.

We certainly need your feedback.

Back to you, Commissioner Hall.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um before I make a motion, I just want to say for the folks online and the folks in the audience.

Um heard a lot of great feedback for us to consider.

And uh overall, I would say the sentiment is no data centers.

All right.

The best first step in doing that is passing this ordinance.

All right.

This ordinance does not allow us to ban anything.

It doesn't allow us to create a moratorium.

All of that would require much more time, much more legal review, and if we don't pass this tonight, then tomorrow somebody could submit an application, and they would go by the old rules.

So this is a guardrail, and so um I make a motion to amend Kent County Code, Volume 2, Chapter 205, zoning as amended by revising Article 5, permitted uses, Section 205-53, permitted use table, and section 205-59, industrial uses and Article 6 conditions of approval, Section 205-72, industrial uses to add data center as a permitted use with conditions in the IL and IG zoning districts to find the use and establish conditions for that use.

Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hertz, second by Commissioner Sweeney.

Any questions on the motion?

Oh, I'm sorry, I I stand corrected.

Commissioner Hall, second by Commissioner Sweeney.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel.

Based on Commissioner Hall's comments, um, there was 27 people in favor of this ordinance tonight and 14 against in a democratic process.

I always go with my constituents.

And move this fourth next week for more amendments.

After we get something on the books to cover us.

I vote is yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes, based on the staff and RPC recommendations.

Mr.

Hertz?

I would like to thank everybody for coming out and giving us their opinion, but uh I vote yes based on uh staff recommendations.

Mr.

Pepper.

Before I vote, uh I just want to make clear to the people that are on the phone who may not completely understand what we're doing here tonight.

We are not voting on data centers.

We are voting on this ordinance to control data centers.

So with that being said, I vote in favor of this ordinance.

Mr.

Scott Yes, uh I also based on facts provided and the simple fact of putting something in place to give some sort of protection, even if it may be short-term until other avenues can be addressed.

The biggest thing is getting some kind of protection for the residents today.

So with that, I will be voting yes as well.

Mr.

Sweeney.

But we're being proactive, which no other county, no other city, especially in Kent County, has done yet.

And that's trying to regulate data centers when they do try to come in to where we can make sure that they minimize their impact on every person that lives around them.

Um there was a lot of misinformation shared tonight, and uh it would be my hope that those of you who are still left in the audience who are interested, please do your research.

Research what data centers are, research how you use them on a regular basis, and realize that at some point, at some point you're gonna need a data center because you have the technology or your emails failing, or your phone calls are failing, or you can't get to your doctor's appointments, something.

But just understand that we're trying to make sure that they are regulated, not saying yes, data centers come on in.

We're saying you can come in, but you're gonna follow these rules.

And those rules are there to protect you.

So my vote's yes.

Ms.

Maston?

Yes, for all reasons stated.

Madam President roll call reveal seven years.

Next public hearing, uh ordinance up 2610.

Uh Commissioner Hertz.

I'll turn it over to Sarah.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh the next ordinance before you is a rezoning or an amendment to our zoning ordinance.

Um the site itself.

Um the area of petition is one acre.

The site is located on the south side of Hemontone Road, east of Farmington Road, just north of Farmington.

It's outside the growth zone.

The area is currently zoned AR agricultural residential.

The proposal is to rezone one acre of the larger farm to BN neighborhood business to legalize an existing uh flea market antique store business that's been that's been created there.

Um it actually comes with no recommendation from the planning commission.

We had an even number of commissioners that night, and there was a motion made to deny it, and that failed with a 3-3 vote.

Um then a motion was made to approve it, which again failed with a 3-3 vote.

Uh so it comes to you with no recommendation.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Questions for Ms.

Commissioner Hertz?

Yeah, so uh obviously they got a building permit through you guys.

Um they got an ag permit through us, yes.

An ag permit.

Yes.

And an ag permits for ag use.

Correct.

And then am I correct in saying after the building was built, they used it as a commercial use?

Yes.

So they but did they ever say when they got the building permit that they wanted commercial?

They only not to my knowledge.

And I believe they signed the affidavit we asked for when someone requests an ag permit guaranteeing or certifying it's going to be used for agricultural purposes.

So basically this is ask for permission.

That appears to be the situation we're in.

Any other questions for Ms.

Keeper?

Sarah would Commissioner Vice President Scott.

So what would they would need to go back through the process and apply for the proper structure and et cetera?

If if it is successfully rezoned tonight, then yes, there they actually, there's a site plan process they'll have to go through, and they'll have to go through a process to certify the building meets the commercial building code.

So the rezoning effectively starts the process of getting everything compliant.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Sweeney.

Thank you.

So, sir, it's just that little green spot right there, right?

There is not much around there.

No.

There was no public opposition to this.

Any letters from anybody saying that they were opposed to it?

None.

No.

And and from what I read in the testimony that was given at the RPC, it's basically a straight-up small antique store.

There's a lot of vendors.

I understand there's a lot of seniors who sell some wares there that they use to supplement their income.

It's not like they're putting in a 15,000 square foot store, right?

From your understanding.

I do not recall the size of the building off the top of my head.

Okay.

Yeah.

But it's a substantial commercial enterprise.

Thanks.

Any other Commissioner Angel?

Ms.

Kiefer, it's nonconforming.

Do we have anything that covers nonconforming buildings?

It's not a legal nonconforming use.

It was simply, it got a permit to be an ag building, but is used for commercial purposes.

So it's simply noncompliant.

It's not legal nonconforming.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions before we open public hearing?

Thank you, Ms.

Keeper.

Thank you.

This point we will open the point we'll open the public hearing for ordinance LC 26-10 for those in the audience who approve ordinance LC2610.

Please come forward.

Sir, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes, I do.

Are you the owner of the property?

Yes, I am.

Okay.

We're going to allow you to speak a little bit longer.

Okay.

Thank you.

So what you see here in the uh yellow outline is not the entire farm.

The 30 acres in front of that green dot is also part of the farm.

The farm is 125 acres in total.

So my wife and I decided to pull this project after the community solar project we had fell through.

It was approved by the Levy Court, but DPL intentionally withholded the interconnection permit for over four years with no response or recourse.

The solar project would have brought $90,000 per year in on that 30-acre field that I just said above that green dot.

And prevented future DPL criminal trespass events, which there are many that I can name.

The farm must be managed that way for three reasons.

Farm rent is low.

Basically 65% if I rented out that all the clear ground on that farm, over 65% of it would be taken by tax, school tax, county tax, or whatnot.

Small grain inputs with corn and soybeans on that amount of ground, I would go bankrupt.

I would sustain it, I have to sustain it by working off the farm.

The farm is being taxed into oblivion, if you really want to know.

And the total tax on the farm in 2010 was 548 dollars.

The tax in 2021 was $2,048.

The tax in 2025 was $3,763 and 20 cents.

That's a steep incline.

I hate to see what it is five years from now.

The farm store project was built on a building on the farm to sell antiques and crafts as a means to draw people to the farm.

While we would get income from antiques and crafts, we would also get increased income from selling farm goods through that store, which is basically called agro tourism, which is legal under agriculture.

And the greater sales of farm products integrated into the antique craft store include uh large brown cage-free eggs, honey, straw, firewood.

It was planned after the building to do raised mound strawberry beds behind the building with this topsoil that was taken off from the cement floor from digging out for the foundation of the building.

And other uh pumpkins, mom's gourds, and other vegetables or flowers and such like that.

But as you can see, that part of that project's been pushed back because I'm out of commission for I don't know, 10 more weeks or so before I can put weight on it.

Um the building in the back part of the building was a lean to, and we were going to use that to store some of the antique farm equipment that we have on the farm, such as a wooden Van Brunt grain drill, which is a precursor to the John Deere Grain drill.

The one I got is probably built around 1890 ish, and it's in excellent condition.

A 1944 McCormick W9 tractor, an 1870s high top vegetable tomato wagon, and an original Union Civil Union Army Civil War wagon, among some other antiques that has been passed down through my family.

These items could be viewed by anyone in the antiques business, customers with permission or appointment.

The main building, like I said, is an antique craft store with some of those crafts being made on the farm that my wife does, and other spots are rented out to vendors, and most of them are elderly.

It is not a normal pole barn, as you may think.

The pole barn aesthetics was just to blend into the farm surroundings.

More appropriately, it was our goal that we are continually fixing up this farm.

The red and black color scheme was to differentiate it from the rest of the farm buildings, which will be green and white.

The total cost of that building was over $600,000.

That is not your normal farm pole building or ag building.

And without getting into too much detail, I'll tell you the roof is designed for 54 pounds per square foot snowload.

The wind load design on that building is for 130 mile an hour plus, that's Cat 3 hurricane strength.

It was designed to meet all fire codes, aisle, uh emergency exits, distances, emergency lighting, emergency exit signs, fire extinguishers, etc.

It was designed to meet all energy efficiency standards, fully insulated and sealed.

The lighting was designed at 42-foot candle at the floor by using LED energy efficient lighting.

HVAC meets all ashray standards, energy efficiency standards at 23 CER.

It was designed with a dedicated 225 amp electrical service, which it pulls off the farm's main 1200 amp electrical feed, using all copper wire and square DQO series electrical devices, the kind that are normally used in industry.

The electrical has been fully inspected and approved.

The parking lot was designed to be permeable to capture a roof runoff.

The parking lot has a number, a proper number of handicapped parking spaces in front of the main door.

The entrance was existing to the farm and is 50 foot wide off of Hammondtown Road.

And for example, two-lane entrance in high traffic areas is normally only 18 to 24 foot wide.

And like I said, within the store, there are 58 antique and craft vendors.

Most of these vendors elderly and rely on a well-designed venue like this for supplemental income to Social Security.

Aside from the monetary gains, it gives the vendors meaningful and joyful activity, which improves the quality of life for those vendors.

To my knowledge, there's not another venue like this on the eastern shore.

We have been told constantly by customers that this store is one of a kind, truly amazing and invest class.

It should be well known by now since it's been all the radio to Kent and Sussex County or the fastest growing counties in the country.

It was referenced in the last comprehensive plan that the aging population brings about specific economic and service concerns, which I ignore my small part to help out by designing a project like I did.

In 2018, the Kent County comprehensive report lists the biggest threat to Kent County as a lack of strength and economic base and the loss of farmland.

This project stabilizes and diversifies this farm's income stream off of one acre, as well as strengthens the county's economic base, providing income and drawing shoppers in from surrounding states.

We've had shoppers from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia.

As far out as California, people on vacation traveling to the beach.

This 125-acre farm sits between Harrington and Farmington, a quarter mile or less off Route 13 and Hammondtown Road, well suited for this type of project.

We direct all these customers that stop into the store to visit other local stores in Harrington and surrounding area, thereby boosting other stores' sales, greatly helping Harrington and surrounding area economics.

While helping other businesses, we are also active in the community, providing both our time and money and sponsorships for several organizations.

It is my opinion that Kent County Levy Court should recognize a family farm as a family business, not a hobby, not a waste, not a large track of land, and definitely not open space for industrial projects.

The method in which we are running this farm should be allowed at my soldier's discretion as owner under the current AR zoning.

As any other outcome would be exerting county control over private property rights, it is not, and I will begrudgingly accept, if not, I will begrudgingly accept the BN zoning designation, which is what this meeting is for.

However, I find it interesting that the county allows home-based businesses as touted in the economic plan under AR, even on farm preservation tracks, but won't let a farm-based agritourism business be used to boost diversified sales to operate under AR on an actual operating farm.

I know specifically one farmhouse that has been converted to an antique craft store on Route 14 that is in farmland preservation zoning definition.

Agri tourism, which I say is the commercial enterprise that links agricultural production or processing with tourism, inviting visitors to the farm or other agricultural operation, entertainment, education, or direct purchasing.

I also find it interesting that limited commercial use uses are listed under AR.

Whereas in Kent County, limited commercial uses refer to the zoning designation that allows certain non-residential activities, but restrictions on scale, intensity, and type of business compared to full commercial zoning.

Under Delaware Code 4902, the Kent County's adopted zoning ordinance, limited commercial use is a zoning category that permits light to medium commercial activity that does not dominate the property or surrounding area.

It can include small retail service offices, professional, light manufacturing or assembly, certain foods, hospitality.

However, it excludes heavy industry, large-scale retail chains, or uses that would significantly alter the character of the neighborhood.

The use I'm doing does not significantly alter the character of the neighborhood.

It is a farm, it will always be a farm.

In the staff report for that was presented to the Regional Planning Commission.

Staff recommendations denial for the zoning change.

The denial is stated because BN zoning does not conform to the 2018 comprehensive plan.

My farm has been designated industrial use to adjacent IG zoning and rail corridor access.

They state there is no compatibility between the uses of the property as classified in the surrounding land uses, so as to promote health, safety, and welfare of present and future residents of the county.

I have prevent presented to you tonight information to the contrary, and very successfully, I believe, that I feel that the project does promote the health, safety, and welfare present and future uses in residents.

It seems to me that there's altered motives by some in government that want my land saved for industrial use for some massive industrial project that hasn't materialized yet that's going to use rail corridor access.

For some massive industrial project that hasn't materialized yet that's going to use rail corridor access.

It is my strong legally backed opinion that those government employees have no say in whatsoever what I do on my land, as I am the owner of that land.

I truly believe this entire endeavor is unwarranted and the proper zoning is already in place as much as I disdain zoning to begin with.

But as previously stated, I will begrudgingly accept the BN zoning change.

And I expect no other government interference and ruining running my family farm as I see fit within the legal concept of peaceful enjoyment of property.

That's it.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else here who would like to do that?

Yeah, go ahead.

Commissioner Hertz.

Um good evening.

Um first I'll address the taxes.

Um you went from 24 to 25 from 2,000, roughly something, up to 3,000.

Now, wasn't that because you have a cell tower and we started uh assessing the property on cell towers?

That's why you had to jump in taxes.

It is not a cell tower.

Sir, it's a tower that has an internet company on it.

And it has a emergency painter service on it.

I don't get the rent itself.

Use your mic, Mr.

Taylor, use your mic.

Please.

Sorry, I forgot.

Um it is not a cell tower, never has been a cell tower.

The tower has uh ready call communications on it, which is an emergency pager service for the county, and it also has a um brought BridgeMax internet company on the county.

Did the county assess it and put a value on it where you had to pay extra taxes because of it?

As being a cell tower, as being income of three thousand or greater for every cell tower, every cell signal you have on the tower.

And the income that I get off that tower is roughly enough $420 a month, which is barely enough paid electric and keep the lights changed on the tower.

But my point was that's what caused your taxes to jump a thousand dollars.

Yes, that was a thousand dollar jump in taxes, correct.

All right.

Um you started off after that, after telling us about your taxes about the building.

And listening to all the things you did to the building, sound like it's a commercial building.

It was built commercial.

It was built to the standard that I built all the buildings to on the farm.

Every building that I've built on that farm or I've taken over from my grandfather is not built to what you call your minimum code of ag agriculture.

We build buildings to be there for 100 or 200 years down the road, not not to fall down with the next 80 mile an hour wind we get or have the roof ripped off.

So I guess my next question when you built that building, was the intent for it to be an antique store like you have it now?

The intent was for it to be agriculture, which is uh what I said agribusiness, which is the antique store, plus the sales of the farm stuff through the antique store.

But were you up front when you applied for the building uh permit that you were going to run an antique store?

No, I told them it was agriculture, and I view this as agriculture.

So you told them ag and then you slip the antiques in after the slipped the read code and agribusiness is a part of agriculture.

It's not slipping anything in.

Let me ask you this.

Prior to you building that building, did you run this same kind of build b business in downtown Harrington?

Yes, my wife did, yes.

Out of Darren Simpson's place over to the old southern states.

That's correct.

So you built this new building to move that business out there, yet when you applied, you applied with the ag permit versus a business.

No, to move that business out there and incorporate it with the farm.

That was the intent.

And did you tell our planning commission that's what you were your intent?

Or did you tell them it was aging?

They asked me if it was going to be ag building.

I said yes.

That is still under agriculture.

Well, apparently it's not because if it was, you wouldn't be rezoning.

And here's my point.

Um, if you had come in here and did it the right way and asked for the rezoning before you built this six hundred thousand dollar building, things might be different.

But at some point, if we have rules and regulations, we can't let people break our rules of regulations and build something under one faction, and then after it's built come in here, oh, I want to change it to business commercial.

I'm not in for that.

I'm not wanting to change it to business commercial.

I still think it should be under agriculture.

That's my belief.

Well, you should have checked it before you built.

Apparently, you put ag in there and you did it said nothing about the antique business, and you knew you knew that you were moving that business out of Harrington out to there.

That was your intent.

And you just tried to sidestep it by saying, hey, I'm just putting ag out there, built this massive building.

Because I rode by it a couple weeks before you opened it.

I looked at Bill and I said, Man, that's I even called the planning guys and they said, hey, it's just an ag building.

I said, with them doors on it, it looks commercial to me.

So it's kind of like you built it and then we'll ask for forgiveness later.

And that's the way I'm looking at it.

Okay, you can look at it however you want.

I built it as what I thought would be under agriculture, was allowed on a farm for me to run that business to be successful on that farm.

Now that building is done.

The rest of it is not done.

Yeah, but you're selling other stuff out of that building that's other than ag.

And we are not ag.

We rented out spots for vendors to sell stuff for commercial use instead of a strictly ag use.

And you built that.

You led us to believe you were building it as an ag building, and now you're trying to get rezoned for commercial.

You're asking you built it and now you're asking for forgiveness.

No, I'm getting reserved for commercial because you're making me rezon it for commercial.

That's why.

No, I'm not up here begging for nothing.

That's all I got.

Can we go ahead and move on?

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Have you unlocked?

Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of ordinance L C 2610?

Please come forward.

Good evening, Melissa Clark, C-L-A-R-K-E.

And where where's your address?

Uh lifelong resident in Kent County.

Grew up in Felton, Harrington area.

Um I just wanted to put a plug in for a second.

I'm sorry.

You swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth.

I affirm.

Thank you.

I just wanted to talk a little bit uh about Joe and his farm.

I actually didn't know them until a few years ago, but um I do know a little bit about farming.

My grandparents had a farm outside of Harrington for many, many years.

Um farmers have had to change the way they do business.

You know, it used to be you could have use crop rotation.

You can't do that anymore.

Mr.

Taylor, senior has been on that farm for 80 years.

So this is a third generation now on that farm, might be fourth.

And it's not easy.

You know, uh uh I wasn't gonna come speak, but then when I found out last meeting that didn't get passed, I thought, you know what?

Somebody needs to stand up for the little guy.

But um, you know, agritment and agritourism has been become very important in the last 10 to 15 years.

Look at Pfeiffers, lob lolly.

I know that family very well.

Um the Warren started that farm in the 60s or 70s with Christmas trees.

They couldn't sustain it just on that.

The next generation had to come up.

Now they're doing weddings out there, entertainment.

It's it's a mecca.

You know, um, I just feel like these people are creating destinations because they aren't uh I don't want to say not allowed, but uh because of the cost of fuel, equipment, you know, a mid-size combine is $500,000.

If you have a large-size combine, it's between $800,000 and a million two hundred thousand dollars.

I don't know about you, but that's one piece of equipment for their business.

Um so it's very expensive.

And I do take exception with the fact, and I wanted to mention it tonight because they were decent enough not to, but a county representative not here, um, took aerial photos of their working farm and said that they needed to clean up some of the farm equipment.

He just listed tonight what the equipment was.

It's things that have been in their generation for years and years and years.

And guess what?

If you have to spend a million, two hundred thousand dollars on combine, you're gonna have to have parts from something else because not many people can afford that.

So they've had to step out of the box and do something differently.

And I actually met them because I am a vendor at Old Vintage Fines.

I was one of the very first at the original store in town, and they were owned by prior management.

Chrissy and Joe stepped in after a few years.

The bus that building was horrible that we were in.

It was there was no heating and air conditioning in the back.

There was no insulation.

It was not fair to the vendors.

So Joe and Chrissy um decided they would take their farm and use that and do things like you pick strawberries just like Pfeiffers does.

Um, you know, different things they could do.

Mums, pumpkins, Mother's Day flowers in the spring, and incorporate the vendors that we had there.

And with that said, I would say when the management changed over, they are so involved in that community.

They both have positions on baseball.

Oh, vintage lines sponsors a baseball team.

Are we done?

Okay.

I just wanted to say one more quick, and this is a little plug, but you know, I don't see people out there with jerseys that say DR Horton or Ryan Holmes, those people get in and out of this community.

Let's back some of the ones that are here all the time and have been here their entire life.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else here who would like to speak in favor of ordinance LC26-10?

Hello and good evening once more.

My name is Zachary Papin.

Uh I'm a current resident of uh Dyke Branch Road.

You were sworn earlier, but we're going to do it again, just a different hearing.

You swear or affirm that the testimony is about to give us the truth.

I do.

So many in this room might recognize that last name.

Uh Papin Farms is uh where I come from, where I've grown up.

Uh it was mentioned earlier, lob lolly acres.

I grew up on Turkey Point Road, Lob Lolly Acres, very important to me.

There are a couple things that I want to say.

First, I am in support of the gentleman back here.

I am in support of you.

You're right, Paul Hertz.

I think that the rules are pretty simple, straightforward.

Tell us what you're doing, then actually go do it.

There's a problem.

In my head, the only thing I can think of when I've ever been to any of these farms, whether it be papins, Pfeiffers, Blah Bollyacres, or the Whitmans, whoever else it was.

There was always a place to get commercial things done.

And it might not have been all ag.

You're contesting the point that the idea is that there are these vendors and there's it's primarily for commercial.

It was set up to be commercial.

Well pardon my breathing.

Setting up uh a place of business needs standards.

And so building the place with commercial standards is not a problem because we all built our buildings with commercial standards in the past.

If you're asking what's going on there and how is it being used, and that's the reason that we have to rezone, so be it.

I think that there's uh plenty of argument in your favor that this should be not allowed as a rezoning or forced to rezone in the first place.

I don't agree with you that it's supposed to be agribusiness.

I don't agree that uh uh I agro-tourism and all this is the only way to go about things, but if you already had an established business, I do agree that you should have been more forthcoming to Levy Court that, hey, this is what we intend to use this property for.

Those permits do matter, we do need the rules to be enforced.

But who is against a small space there for antiques.

What are we missing?

What I I want to understand from the council, uh excuse me, the the the court, what is the problem with letting this establishment stay as it is, because I'm not aware.

All right, this is my viewpoint, my viewpoint only.

These other commissioners might approve it tonight, and it is what it is.

Here's my point.

If we let this go, then every person in this room should say, well, shoot, I'll go apply for this permit, build this, and then I'll go in there and ask them to change it to what I really want.

If you let this go, you set a precedence that everybody else can wrong permit their building, build the building, and then come in here and get forbid uh forgiveness.

If we're gonna do that, we need to abolish all of our rules, and us as commissioners might as well retire and just turn everything over to the state.

We put rules in place and they're made to to follow.

And when you don't follow them, you can't come in here after the fact and get rewarded, in my opinion.

That's just my opinion, and that's why I am the way I am.

I hear your point on this, and for the most part I agree.

You're making the argument that rules do matter, and my goodness, Mr.

Papin.

I'm sorry, you're out of time.

That was my fault for asking a question then.

Take care.

Hi.

My name's Dennis Norwood.

I'm a resident of Farmington, Delaware.

Sir.

Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth?

Yes.

So basically I live about two miles from this uh location.

I didn't come here for this purpose, but they're here.

I'm here.

I'm gonna give a plug if I need to.

Um I visited the location.

I think it's a very well appointed and a well-constructed um facility.

Farmers have enough trouble without selling their properties to developers.

He went around to try and find a way to uh offset his costs by using uh a solar farm, and then was left hanging for four years with no way to generate any kind of supplement income for his farming.

I think that there are extenuating sorts circumstances here that show that he did try due diligence in finding alternative ways to uh augment his income to keep his farm up and going.

And I believe that uh he's created a really good facility.

Uh there's a lot of vendors there.

There's a lot of, as he said, older people and uh uh not so older people, but uh they do provide agricultural products, and there's a lot of memorabilia there that is agricultural uh in nature that is sold.

So I think that uh there should be circumstances where you give some leniency, especially in our struggling farming communities that are out there who are trying to uh make ends meet and continue the process of farming.

It's only a small little section of that farm that he's using for this for this would be no more than a uh produce stand that might be down on the corner right up the street from him.

So those are those are my comments.

I think you guys should consider giving him the approval and and allowing him to continue to prosper his his farming uh capacity.

Thanks.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of ordinance LC26-10?

Please come forward.

Mr.

Kennedy?

If there's anyone joining us online that would like to speak in favor of LC2610, please indicate by raising electronic hand or pressing start three if you're joining us by phone.

See no hands raised online, Madam President.

Thank you.

Is there anyone here who opposes ordinance LC 26-10?

Please come forward.

Similarly, if you're online and would like to speak in opposition to LC2610, please indicate by raising electronic hand or pressing start three if you join us by phone.

Still no hands raised online, Madam President.

Thank you.

Back to you, Commissioner Hertz.

Thank you, Madam President.

I move that levy court deny ordinance LC 26-10 amending the zoning map from AR agriculture residential to low density residential to BN neighborhood business located outside the Grove Zone Overlay District.

This is based on exhibit A staff recommendation report dated July 2nd, 2026, and exhibit B, public hearing testimony dated July 2nd, 2026, and the findings of the fact that there was no mistake in the zoning map.

B.

Most of the surrounding properties are zoned AR, and the character of the area is primarily agriculture and single family residential.

The character of the area has not changed to such an extent that the zoning map should be changed.

D, the existing non-residential uh zoning in the area continues to be farmed and is vacant.

And E, the proposed BN zoning does not conform to the 2018 comprehensive plan, neither map 7B nor 7C identifies the area for future neighborhood commercial development.

We have a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Hertz, second by Commissioner Hall.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel.

I made a promise.

When I became a commissioner that I would do anything farmer farming, because they are a food source.

Instead of planting a house, I want to make sure they kept planning food.

Agro tourism is alive.

Not as much as it used to be, tourism is now number one.

But agritourism still has our state funds.

Splitting hairs on whether it's commercial or ag and I understand commercial excuse me, Commissioner Hertz's thought process about having rules.

But I also want to make sure we can do the right thing too to make sure that we keep farmers farming.

And since there was no opposition to this, I'm gonna not vote for I'm gonna vote for in favor of letting him have it.

Well, you're gonna vote.

Hold on, then you would vote.

I'm gonna vote no to the to no then to the motion.

Thank you.

Mr.

Hall?

All right.

Hall right um before I vote I just want to make a statement that this is spot zoning um it's not in our growth zone we created a growth zone for a very specific reason this is outside the growth zone and it's just one small green square on the screen but I've sat through enough public hearings where we spot zoned it spot zoned here and there and here and there and then someone comes in and says well look look what you did you you've approved all these things in a in a very small area so surely you can approve mine too and so we either have a growth zone or we don't have a growth zone and so um that's why I seconded the motion and stand by it per staff um advice so do you you vote in favor of the motion just affirmatively I did I didn't hear it yes Mr.

Hertz I'm voting yes for all the reasons stated uh I stated um I'm not against farmers and I if this has done been done the right way I'd have been probably for it but um you have to draw a line in the sand and we have rules and regulations and they broke the rules of regulations and if we promote this then we're going to promote everybody in the county to do the same thing and we'll never be able to say no.

So we might as well just throw the rules out.

So my vote is yes for my motion Mr.

Pepper I vote no mostly based on the same thing Commissioner Angel said.