The Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control, an Agency of the State of Delaware, Below V…

Summary

The Court affirmed the judgment invalidating portions of DNREC’s Pollution Control Strategy Regulations for the Inland Bays. It held that the regulations’ mandatory buffer zones and related requirements constituted zoning, directly conflicted with Sussex County’s zoning ordinance, and exceeded DNREC’s statutory authority. Because zoning authority had been delegated to Sussex County, DNREC’s general pollution-control authority did not authorize it to impose the challenged land-use restrictions.