NewzIn a unanimous vote, the 11-member Montgomery County Council approved an 18-month moratorium on the development of data centers in the county. Related stories Could extreme heat, data center demand prompt brownouts across DC region? Data center frustrations cause upheaval in Maryland county primaries Stafford Co.
defers data center project on property with historic cemetery The move comes after Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich instituted a six-month moratorium in an executive order in June. Council member Evan Glass, who supported forming a task force to study the issue, said he continues to believe that should have been done at the county level, but said before voting in favor of the moratorium, “We have to get this right, and what we’re doing today is one step towards that.” Council member Will Jawando, who had pushed for a two-year moratorium, said during the 18-month pause, “We’re not just going to be twiddling our thumbs.” Jawando said the council would take a look at a number of issues, “noise, water usage, the Potomac River, one that I’ve been pushing really hard on and I’ll mention every time, tax rates.” The council also approved a zoning text amendment that lays out the definition of what constitutes a data center. “The fact that we had already data centers existing in Montgomery County, but had no definition of a data center in our code, was a big problem,” council member Dawn Luedtke told her colleagues.
She also said that she felt it was important to acknowledge that there are currently data centers in the county because, “We are not going to do things that shut existing data centers down.” In approving the moratorium Tuesday, Council President Natali Fani-González said, “We need more information, especially from the state.” Fani-González was referring to a study on the potential impact of data centers being conducted by the Department of the Environment, the Maryland Energy Administration and the University of Maryland School of Business. The Department of Legislative Services will submit the final report to Gov. Wes Moore and the General Assembly by Sept.
The passage of the bill, which goes into effect when signed into law, was called “disappointing” in a statement from Atmosphere CEO Chuck McBride. Atmosphere has been working through the county’s planning process to place a data center in Dickerson in the county’s agricultural rese… Volusia County is considering a six-month pause on new AI data centers as leaders weigh the impacts on water, electricity and neighborhoods.
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