Zoning › State preemptions › Delaware

Delaware Coastal Zone Act — Heavy Industry Prohibition (DE)

Tracked preemption from the Delaware overlay bundle.

Overview

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Effective
1971-06-28
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:DE
Other Delaware preemptions
Delaware 25 Del. C. Chapter 70 — Manufactured Housing Act (Tenure, Not Siting)Delaware 9 Del. C. Chapter 49 — Sussex County ZoningDelaware 9 Del. C. Chapter 69 — Kent County ZoningDelaware 9 Del. C. Chapter 26 — New Castle County ZoningDelaware 22 Del. C. Chapter 8 — Municipal Home Rule Act (Wilmington)Delaware 22 Del. C. Chapter 3 — Municipal Zoning Enabling Act

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

AND
  • city.in_coastal_zone == True
  • project.use_category ∈ {heavy_industrial, bulk_product_transfer}

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
base_districts[*].allowed_usesremoveheavy_industrialNew heavy-industry uses prohibited inside the Coastal Zone (§7003)
base_districts[*].allowed_usesremovebulk_product_transferNew bulk product transfer facilities banned other than the 14 grandfathered sites
review_typeoverridednrec_coastal_zone_conversion_permitConversion of grandfathered sites permitted only under DNREC Coastal Zone Conversion Permit (2017 amendments) with offset + cleanup obligations

Citation

Authority source
7 Del. C. §7001 et seq. (Coastal Zone Act, 1971); 2017 Coastal Zone Conversion Permit Act amendments; 7 DE Admin. Code 101
§ 7 Del. C. Ch. 70 §§7001–7014 + DNREC Coastal Zone Regulations
https://delcode.delaware.gov/title7/c070/index.html

Research notes

Hard preemption against new heavy industry and bulk product transfer facilities inside the Coastal Zone boundary (roughly the Delaware River/Bay/Atlantic frontage from PA line south through Sussex). Residential, commercial, and light industrial uses are NOT preempted by CZA — local zoning still controls those. 14 grandfathered industrial sites in the Wilmington–Delaware City corridor may continue and (since 2017) convert under DNREC permit. CZ boundary is published as authoritative GIS by DNREC; the statutory metes-and-bounds at §7002 is harder to automate. Federal conflict check enabled because federally permitted port and petrochemical operations sometimes raise preemption-of-state-preemption questions.