Land use · Data as of October 24, 2026
Sussex County land-use docket
What the county planning and zoning docket is, how many items it carried by month and type, and how many list each town's name.
Explainer
What the docket is
Sussex County posts its planning and zoning cases on a public docket. Cases include variances and special use exceptions heard by the Board of Adjustment, and conditional uses, changes of zone, subdivisions, site plans and ordinances handled by the Planning and Zoning Commission and County Council. The county record is the official version of every case.
Incorporated towns run their own planning and zoning inside their limits. The area in a county docket item is a place name from the county record; it does not show whether the land is inside town limits.
Sussex County public docket · Sussex County Planning and Zoning
Countywide
Items by application type
| Application type | 2025 | 2026 to date |
|---|---|---|
| Change of zone | 19 | 8 |
| Conditional use | 78 | 35 |
| Major subdivision | 17 | 10 |
| Minor subdivision | 79 | 68 |
| Ordinance | fewer than 5 | 7 |
| Site plan | 63 | 44 |
| Special use exception | 15 | 12 |
| Variance | 96 | 73 |
| Variance / special use exception | 15 | 5 |
| Administrative approval | 0 | fewer than 5 |
| Type not stated | fewer than 5 | 0 |
Countywide
Items by month
| Month | Items |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | 17 |
| February 2025 | 46 |
| March 2025 | 28 |
| April 2025 | 48 |
| May 2025 | 39 |
| June 2025 | 27 |
| July 2025 | 28 |
| August 2025 | 25 |
| September 2025 | 39 |
| October 2025 | 40 |
| November 2025 | 25 |
| December 2025 | 24 |
| January 2026 | 16 |
| February 2026 | 34 |
| March 2026 | 44 |
| April 2026 | 34 |
| May 2026 | 34 |
| June 2026 | 32 |
| July 2026 | 48 |
| August 2026 | 15 |
| September 2026 | 6 |
By town name
Items that list each town as the area
These counts come from the 610-item compiled case record. 33 items list a place that is not one of the 25 towns. Each town page shows its counts by type.
| Town | Items |
|---|---|
| Bethany Beach | 11 |
| Bethel | 0 |
| Blades | 0 |
| Bridgeville | 30 |
| Dagsboro | 19 |
| Delmar | 14 |
| Dewey Beach | 0 |
| Ellendale | 21 |
| Fenwick Island | fewer than 5 |
| Frankford | 38 |
| Georgetown | 53 |
| Greenwood | 23 |
| Henlopen Acres | 0 |
| Laurel | 25 |
| Lewes | 55 |
| Milford | 21 |
| Millsboro | 56 |
| Millville | 0 |
| Milton | 43 |
| Ocean View | 19 |
| Rehoboth Beach | 60 |
| Seaford | 50 |
| Selbyville | 38 |
| Slaughter Beach | 0 |
| South Bethany | 0 |
Method
What we show and leave out
This page shows counts only. It does not list case numbers, applicant names, owners, addresses or project names. Counts of 1 to 4 are shown as fewer than 5.
Data: SussexCounty.ai planning docket statistics (CC BY 4.0), compiled from the Sussex County public docket.
SussexCounty.ai is a data product of The Conscient Group LLC, the Ledger's parent company.