Delaware General Assembly

House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce 5/21/26

Committee Hearing takes place within twelve legislative days.

5/21/26

Bush

Reps. Snyder-Hall, Michael Smith, Hilovsky
Sen. Walsh, Hoffner

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9, TITLE 17, TITLE 22, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LAND USE.

This Act is to be known as the Reforming Opportunities and Accelerated Development for Delaware Act (“ROAD-DE Act”). This Act will make significant changes to Delaware’s land use permitting process by building on Governor Meyer’s Executive Order No. 18, which created the Permitting Accelerator to reform policies, processes, and procedures that have accumulated over decades and are holding back jobs, housing, and other critical infrastructure statewide. In 2019, a study of Delaware’s permitting process was undertaken. The study concluded that Delaware’s permitting process was significantly longer and more challenging than those of surrounding states in the region. In 2025, this State began digitizing permitting processes. During the initial stages of that effort, more than 52 hours of interviews with 57 stakeholders were conducted across state agencies, local governments, developers, and technical experts. Those interviews revealed that statewide delays are not driven by isolated performance issues. Rather, they stem from structural misalignment, sequential review processes, incentive distortions, and capacity constraints that compound across agencies. Delaware’s permitting process can stretch beyond 24 months, placing this State at a distinct economic development disadvantage when it comes to attracting and growing businesses. In the region, Delaware’s competitors, including Maryland and Pennsylvania, can achieve substantially faster permit approvals, making them more attractive locations for economic development and affordable housing. The 2019 and 2025 studies resulted in recommendations that the permitting process be streamlined and modified to improve accountability and eliminate redundancies within various government agencies, particularly within the Delaware Department of Transportation (“DelDOT”). To implement these recommendations, this Act does all of the following: (1) Section 1 of this Act requires DelDOT to base the threshold for determining if a traffic impact study is required on peak-hour trips, not vehicle trips per day, and set the minimum peak hour trips threshold at 500 peak-hour trips for residential developments and 500 peak-hour trips, excluding pass-by trips, for all other development types. (2) Sections 2, 4, 6, and 8 of this Act require the counties and municipalities to base their threshold for determining if a traffic impact study is required on the same requirements as required for DelDOT in Section 1 of this Act. (3) Sections 3, 5, 7, and 8 of this Act require the counties and municipalities to establish residential density requirements of at least 4 dwelling units per acre, unless the Delaware State Housing Authority, by regulation, establishes a density requirement of more than 4 dwelling units per acre. (4) Section 9 of this Act requires DelDOT to deploy, operate, and maintain technological systems for the automated monitoring, analysis, and management of transportation infrastructure and traffic operations. (5) Section 10 of this Act provides that engineering studies or traffic investigations conducted by DelDOT may include automated or continuous data collection systems, remote sensing technologies, digital imaging, algorithmic analysis of traffic patterns, and other technological methods used to evaluate roadway safety, traffic operations, and infrastructure conditions. (6) Section 11 of this Act requires DelDOT to establish and collect transportation impact fees throughout this State and to use the moneys collected to fund off-site improvements to bring existing transportation infrastructure up to current State standards. Additionally, this Section requires DelDOT to use the moneys collected in the county in which the transportation impact fee was collected unless the county or the municipalities within the county fail to adopt the traffic impact study and residential density requirements under Sections 2 through 8 of this Act. Finally, this Section requires DelDOT to assess and collect a surcharge in the amount of 1% of the required transportation impact fee for the benefit of open space preservation, farmland preservation, and coastal restoration. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter, whether directly, by amendment to a specific municipality’s charter, or, as in this Act, indirectly, by a general law. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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