Howard County Council passes temporary pause on new data center development
The Howard County Council has passed a two-year temporary pause on new data center development to study their impacts and update outdated regulations. This action follows similar steps taken by other counties in Maryland, with a task force set to investigate data centers' effects on location, noise, energy, and water usage.
The Howard County Council has approved a bill, CB31 as amended, to implement a temporary pause on new data center developments until November 2027. This decision aims to allow the county to study the impacts of data centers and update its regulations, which Councilmember Christiana Rigby, the bill's sponsor, noted were last significantly revised in 1993.
During this two-year period, a task force will be appointed to examine the potential effects data centers have on Howard County, focusing on aspects such as location, noise, energy consumption, and water usage. The findings from this study will then be used to inform and update the county's code. Council members acknowledged some pushback but emphasized that other surrounding counties in Maryland are taking similar measures.
Howard County is not alone in addressing data center growth; officials in Prince George's County, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City have initiated similar actions. In Harford County, a debate is intensifying over a proposed data center ban, which many residents support. However, the owner of the Mountain Branch Golf Course, who intends to build a data center on his property, advocates for strict county regulations rather than an outright ban, with a public hearing on the proposed ban scheduled for June 9th.