3 data center projects in Unincorporated New Castle County
Who decides here: the New Castle County Council decides on zoning for land outside city and town limits.
In Unincorporated New Castle County
Project Washington data center campus near Delaware City
New Castle County
580 acres
🕒 July 2026: Starwood quietly withdrew its Superior Court appeal, two days after lawmakers passed new…
ProposedWhite Clay Center data center plan near Newark
New Castle County
44 acres
🕒 Sept 2026: Shelbourne filed plans to turn half of one existing building into a Christina School Dis…
Status unclearSt. Georges Business Park (possible data center, Frightland land)
New Castle County
🕒 Nov 2025: New early plans grew the buildings to about 3.2 million sq ft and dropped the word 'logi…
Local votes and rules
🤝 Agreement with the company
County Councilman Tim Sheldon says he made a handshake deal with the developer's lawyer to pause the White Clay Center data center plan near Newark. The deal is not binding and the county is not part of it. In return, the county is expected to approve an early site plan that keeps the land under the old rules, so a data center there would not have to follow the 2026 county data center law. In September 2026 the owner filed plans to put a school program in half of one building, but its lawyer says it still wants the data center plan approved.
📜 Data center rules
County Council voted 12-0 (one member absent) for the county's first data center rules (Substitute 3 to Ordinance 25-101). County Executive Marcus Henry signed it on March 18, 2026. Big data centers may only go in industrial zones and must stay 1,000 feet from homes, or 500 feet if they can meet noise limits. Open-loop cooling is banned unless reclaimed water is used. Owners must clean up the site if they close. The rules are not retroactive, so projects already filed, like Project Washington and the White Clay Center plan near Newark, do not have to follow them.
What you can do
- Get told first.
We'll email you if anything changes in Unincorporated New Castle County. - Go to county meetings.
Anyone can speak. Big projects usually need a public hearing. - Ask questions in writing.
Use our checklist.
🔔 Get told first
⚡ Your electric company
Delmarva Power (company).
Big data centers need a lot of power. Who pays for new power lines depends on state rules. See the rules in Delaware.
🙋 Open tasks here
- Will Starwood file a new, changed plan for this land?
- How much water would the campus have used per day?
- Who would have been the tenant (end user) of the campus?
- How much power and water would the data center use?
- Will New Castle County approve the exploratory plan, and do the new county data center rules apply to it?
- Will the St. Georges Business Park buildings be data centers?
- Does the Coastal Zone Act apply to this project?
- Do the new New Castle County data center rules apply to this project?