Delaware

NCCo Council set to vote Tuesday on amended data center rules

Published

4 weeks ago

November 16, 2025

NCCo Council set to vote Tuesday on amended data center rules

Why Should Delaware Care?
Residents have voiced concerns about energy and environmental impacts of a massive data center project planned for Delaware City. But business leaders and unions feel new regulations would risk stifling what could become a major new industry in the state.

Earlier this month, several New Castle County councilmembers denounced an ordinance to regulate the data-center industry because it would have retroactively imposed new rules on a controversial plan to build a massive facility near Delaware City.

On Friday, the sponsor of the proposal, Councilman Dave Carter, eliminated the retroactivity clause from the proposal in an effort to win over his skeptical colleagues. Two have since signaled that they may now support the new rules.

Still, it remains unclear whether Carter’s ordinance has enough yes votes to become law. The New Castle County Council is scheduled to vote on the measure during its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The sweeping legislation includes new rules that would require data centers to have buffer zones around them, and to use energy-efficient backup generators, among other regulations.

Get Involved: The New Castle County Council will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Louis L. Redding City/County Building, 800 N. French Street in Wilmington. Residents can attend and comment in-person or online.

The public reaction to Carter’s ordinance has similarly been split.

When proposed last summer, the 6-million-square-foot, Delaware City data center plan sparked a wave of opposition. Many residents feared it would harm the environment and place too much energy demand on an already stressed electricity grid.

During a county planning meeting last month, those opponents called Carter’s proposed regulations common-sense guardrails for a booming industry that is spreading in Delaware

But, last month, the developer of the data center – Starwood Digital Ventures – won the endorsement from a critical voting block when it signed an agreement to use union labor in the project’s construction.

Such then, members of building trades unions have come out in full force to oppose the Carter’s regulations, which they say could stop the industry from coming to Delaware entirely.

Several members of the Delaware Building Trades attended a New Castle County Council meeting in November to oppose a proposal to regulate the data center industry. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY KARL BAKER

The differing perspectives led to a tense County Council meeting earlier this month, which included council members jeering and reprimanding one another in front of a packed crowd of people.

By the end of the meeting, it was clear Carter didn’t have enough support for his ordinance.

County Councilman Penrose Hollins, who had expressed concerns during that meeting, now tells Spotlight Delaware that “once the retroactivity is moved out, I’m going to support it.”

Councilwoman Valerie George similarly said, “If it doesn’t have any retroactivity, absolutely I would consider voting for it.”

Asked to clarify what she meant by “consider voting for it,” George said she had not yet seen Carter’s amended ordinance, and she wanted to check if there were any other retroactivity clauses before committing to vote for it.

The remaining members of the New Castle County Council did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

What do the regulations say?

Under Carter’s proposed regulations, a data center in New Castle County could be located 500 feet from residences if a developer can prove that there are sufficient noise mitigation measures at the facility. If not, the buffer expands to 1,000 feet. .

Data center developers would also need energy efficiency certifications for generators used for emergency power supply. Additionally, the proposed rules would ban cooling processes that use large amounts of water, among other regulations.

Delaware Building Trades Vice President James Ascione told Spotlight Delaware he thinks the regulations are “really heavy handed,” and could discourage developers from building data centers in Delaware.

“We don’t want to say we welcome business, then when business comes here, we reactively regulate them,” Ascione said.

Environmentalists counter that any buildout of data centers in Delaware must be done sustainably in conjunction with energy conservation.

“This ordinance isn’t about stopping data centers, it’s about common sense,” Sierra Club Delaware Chapter President Dustyn Thompson said during the council meeting earlier this month. “We can have economic development, we can have jobs, and we can protect the people.”

The Sierra Club recently purchased $3,000 worth of Facebook advertisements encouraging residents to support Carter’s regulations. Thompson said the Sierra Club ads were funded by donations.

Starwood has also posted Facebook ads about what it says are the benefits that its plan — dubbed Project Washington — would bring to the state.

“Tired of tax increases? Support Project Washington!” one of the advertisements said, referencing recent property tax spikes that occurred in several school districts across New Castle County.

While Carter’s amended ordinance would not apply to the Delaware City data center, there is still a way the council could impose these rules on the project.

Starwood wants to build the data center across two properties. One is zoned for industrial use. One is not. The company has filed a rezoning request for the latter property.

When County Council decides whether to approve that request, it can require Starwood to follow the same regulations set forth in the ordinance as a condition for that approval, Carter said.

But, he clarified, if Starwood decided to build a smaller data center only on the property zoned for industrial use, it would not need to follow these regulations.

Asked last month if his company might move forward on only the industrial property, Starwood CEO Anthony Balestrieri said, “We haven’t considered that.”

Delaware

Search Warrants in Dover Lead to Arrests for Drug and Gun Offenses – Delaware State Police – State of Delaware

Published

6 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Search Warrants in Dover Lead to Arrests for Drug and Gun Offenses – Delaware State Police – State of Delaware

Date Posted: Saturday, December 13th, 2025

The Delaware State Police have arrested 39-year-old Neal Barnes, 52-year-old Anthony James, and 51-year-old Kevin Walker, all from Dover, Delaware, for felony drug and gun charges following three search warrants in Dover.

On December 11, 2025, members of the Kent County Drug Unit executed search warrants at three residences on the 60, 70, and 100 blocks of Vanessa Drive in Dover. The search warrants were obtained following an investigation of Neal Barnes, Anthony James, and Kevin Walker for the distribution of illegal narcotics from their residences. During the search warrants, all three suspects were detained inside their respective homes without incident, and a child was present in Walker’s residence.

During a search of Barnes’ residence, detectives found the following items:

Approximately 2.76 grams of cocaine
Approximately 99.76 grams of crack cocaine
9mm handgun and ammunition
.38 caliber handgun and ammunition
Digital scales
Drug paraphernalia

During a search of James’ residence, detectives found the following items:

Approximately 19.88 grams of crack cocaine
Approximately 52.59 grams of cocaine
Drug paraphernalia
$2,472 in suspected drug proceeds

During a search of Walker’s residence, detectives found the following items:

Approximately .69 grams of heroin
Approximately .35 grams of methamphetamine
Approximately 11.77 grams of crack cocaine
Approximately 31 ecstasy pills
Approximately 14 acetaminophen and oxycodone hydrochloride pills
Approximately 21 buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual films

Barnes was arrested and taken to Troop 3, where he was charged with the crimes listed below, arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 2, and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on a $57,000 cash bond.

Neal Barnes

Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Tier 3 (Felony)
Possession of a Controlled Substance, Tier 3 (Felony)
Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance (Felony)
Possession of a Firearm/Destructive Weapon if Previously Convicted of a Violent Felony (Felony) – 3 counts
Possession of a Controlled or Counterfeit Substance except Human Growth Hormone without a Prescription
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

James was arrested and taken to Troop 3, where he was charged with the crimes listed below, arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 2, and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on a $146,000 cash bond.

Anthony James

Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Tier 3 (Felony)
Possession of a Controlled Substance, Tier 3 (Felony)
Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Tier 2 (Felony)
Possession of a Controlled Substance, Tier 2 (Felony)
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

Walker was arrested and taken to Troop 3, where he was charged with the crimes listed below, arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 2, and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on a $39,500 secured bond.

Kevin walker

Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Tier 2 (Felony) – 2 counts
Possession of a Controlled Substance, Tier 2 (Felony) – 2 counts
Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance (Felony) – 2 counts
Possession of a Controlled or Counterfeit Substance except Human Growth Hormone without a Prescription – 5 counts
Endangering the Welfare of a Child by Committing a Drug Offense with a Child in the Dwelling

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Disclaimer: Any individual charged in this release is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Delaware

PennDOT, hardware stores prepare for first snow of season in Delaware Valley

Published

18 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

PennDOT, hardware stores prepare for first snow of season in Delaware Valley

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Crews and customers across the Delaware Valley are gearing up for the region’s first accumulating snowfall of the season, expected late Saturday into Sunday morning.

PennDOT says it has more than 100,000 tons of salt ready and plans to deploy over 400 trucks across the region for this event.

Road crews began brining operations Friday, which will continue through the weekend with plowing on Sunday.

READ MORE | Accuweather Alert: Light snow to blanket the region Saturday night into Sunday morning

“Maybe 1 to 3, maybe a little bit more depending on how the storm tracks,” said Brad Rudolph of PennDOT.

He added that timing is key with the snow beginning to fall on Saturday night, while many may be out and about, and with thousands expected to travel to Lincoln Financial Field Sunday for the Eagles game against the Raiders.

Preps underway for first snow of the season in Delaware Valley

“People are going to travel, they’re going to need to take it slow. We’re going to push back snow from travel lanes, we’ll make the roads passable. They may not be completely clear of snow and ice, something to consider,” Rudolph said. “We expect this storm to push out relatively early Sunday, well before that Eagles game, but we still might have some cleaning up to do. We’ll be working long after this snow is done.”

At Stanley’s Hardware in Roxborough, workers spent Friday unpacking boxes and moving thousands of pounds of salt and other supplies to fill commercial and individual orders.

“Our aisle is filled right now. We have tons of skids of rock salt, ice melter, shovels,” said Joe Jaconski of Stanley’s Hardware.

Customers were already stocking up.

“We have food, we have shovels, just had to get some salt just to make sure we’re keeping the sidewalks nice and safe for everyone,” said Matt Skomsky of Roxborough.

Customers were steady at Stanley’s Friday, and business is expected to pick up through the weekend, but managers say don’t wait to get ready.

“I recommend just being ahead of it. Try to beat the storm because when the storm comes, it gets very busy in here-the lines wrapped around,” Jaconski said.

PennDOT urges drivers to keep their distance from plow trucks and check the forecast before heading out.

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Delaware

Done Deal: 695 Delaware Avenue – Buffalo Rising

Published

2 days ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Done Deal: 695 Delaware Avenue – Buffalo Rising

Ellicott Development has expanded it local property portfolio. Ellicott’s 4628 Group Inc. purchased 695 Delaware Avenue on Wednesday for $1.025 million. Fred Kaplan Living Trust was the seller. The 8,454 sq.ft., three-story barn-like structure with mansard roofed addition is occupied by media production and marketing firm Crosswater Digital Media. It was the home of WKBW radio for a number of years. The property totals 0.4 acres in size with a large parking lot fronting Delaware Avenue.

The property is bookended by the Westbrook Apartments and Wilcox House apartment buildings, both ten-story structures. It sits across the street from 700 Delaware, the former Computer Task Group Building Ellicott purchased in 2018 and is now occupied by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.