Montgomery County Councilmembers signal support for 18-month data center moratorium

Montgomery County Councilmembers are moving towards enacting an 18-month moratorium on data center development, signaling broad support during a recent Economic Development Committee meeting. The council members agreed to merge two competing bills, originally proposing six-month and two-year pauses, into a single 18-month timeline to create a clear path for regulating the industry.

Council President Natali Fani-González highlighted that the 18-month period aims to achieve consensus among the 11 council members and align with a proposed zoning text amendment (ZTA). The full council is scheduled to vote on both the moratorium and the ZTA, which seeks to limit where data centers can be developed in the county, including a potential countywide prohibition on "hyperscale" data centers.

This legislative push follows an executive order signed in June by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D), which barred the county's permitting department from processing new data center applications for six months. This order came amid increased public awareness and concern over a planned data center campus in Dickerson, developed by Atmosphere Data Centers, which is now appealing a zoning interpretation based on Elrich's executive order.

Councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Will Jawando (D-At-large), who introduced the original moratorium bills, expressed support for the merged 18-month timeline. They noted the need for more time to address community concerns regarding environmental impacts, water and energy consumption, noise, and the potential development of a data center tax rate similar to Loudoun County, Virginia.