Calvert County Proposes Moratorium on Data Center Site Plans
Calvert County commissioners are holding a public hearing on a proposed six-month moratorium on data center site plan approvals. This comes shortly after Amazon Web Services withdrew its application for a large data center campus in Lusby. The county aims to use this pause to update zoning ordinances and study regulations for the rapidly growing industry.
Calvert County commissioners have scheduled an August 18 public hearing for a proposed six-month moratorium on data center site plan approvals. The hearing, to be held in Prince Frederick, follows the recent withdrawal by Amazon Web Services (AWS) of its application for a significant data center campus in Lusby.
The proposed ordinance aims to give county officials time to implement updated zoning text amendments, establish heavy industrial use conditions, and complete necessary studies before finalizing regulations for the data center industry. The AWS "Calvert Technology Center" project had envisioned eight buildings spanning 2,000 acres near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, with an estimated 500 megawatts of power demand, before its withdrawal on August 4.
Ethan Cox, a candidate for Calvert County Commissioner, welcomed AWS's decision but stressed that underlying issues remain unresolved. He advocated for restoring the site's original farm-and-forest zoning, banning non-disclosure agreements with developers—referencing an NDA signed by Commissioner Earl "Buddy" Hance with Rowan Green Data LLC (later Rowan Digital Infrastructure)—and prohibiting hyperscale data centers in the county altogether. Commissioners have also independently moved to tighten oversight by requiring future data center proposals to adhere to updated zoning text amendments.