PROPOSED ZONING ORDINANCE - 

Revised Draft (Introduction for April 2023 Hearings)

Hearing Dates:

RPC Public Hearing - April 6, 2023

RPC Business Meeting - April 13, 2023

Levy Court Public Hearing - April 25, 2023

Presentation outlining changes from previous draft can be found here.

Draft for Public Hearings (Original Draft from December 2022)

We conducted two outreach sessions for this ordinance on October 12th.  You can view the presentation shown at that meeting at this link.

NEW 9/10/20 - The Building Code for Kent County has been updated so that certain fences and accessory structures no longer require building permits.  Although these structures do not require permits, they still must meet all applicable zoning laws.  We've created two informational documents to help illustrate what regulations must still be met.  Please see the details in the following links:

Accessory Structure FAQ

Fence FAQ

In addtion, the requirements for agricultural buildings has changed.  See the below link for information on these strucutres.

Agricultural Buildings FAQ

If your restaurant wishes to expand to an outdoor seating area, we now have an approval form for review and submittal to show compliance with the Governor's revised State of Emergency Order.  You can download or print the form at the following link:

Expanded Outdoor Seating Area Request Form

What does your Planning Office do?

The staff of the Planning Office reviews and processes a variety of Land Use applications. In addition to preparing variance applications to be heard by the Board Of Adjustment, the Planning staff also reviews site plan and subdivision plan applications to be heard by the Regional Planning Commission, and rezoning and conditional use applications which are heard by both the Regional Planning Commission and the Levy Court. Many of these applications require a formal plan prepared by a registered land surveyor, engineer or architect licensed in the State of Delaware, which is then reviewed by the staff for compliance with the Kent County Zoning & Subdivision Code Ordinances.

This is the first office to contact regarding zoning information and building setback requirements.

Thinking about opening or expanding a business?  Here is a quick primer on what you'll need to consider:  Planning Dept. - Business Guide