Harford County scraps data center moratorium; looks at ban
The Harford County Council unanimously voted to consider a bill by County Executive Bob Cassilly to permanently ban data centers as emergency legislation. This action led to the withdrawal of an earlier bill that proposed a 180-day moratorium on data center approvals. The ban is a response to earlier efforts to establish temporary development pauses.
The Harford County Council recently voted to advance County Executive Bob Cassilly's bill (Bill No. 26-011) to permanently ban data centers, treating it as emergency legislation. This move effectively superseded and led to the withdrawal of a previous bill (Bill No. 26-005) that sought to impose a 180-day moratorium on new data center approvals.
Cassilly introduced the permanent ban legislation on May 8, directly in response to the council's consideration of the temporary moratorium. Proponents of the moratorium had intended to use the pause to develop specific zoning classifications and other regulatory guidelines for future data center proposals within the county.