(7/2025) I hope you’re enjoying the summer so far, and that you have maybe had a chance to have some ice cream at one of dairy farm stores in Frederick County. It’s fun to drive to all of them, take in the gorgeous scenery, and try different flavors. No need to try and pick a favorite!
I continue to hear from County residents inquiring about data centers and how they will be regulated. I have a new update to share this month. In May, the County Council passed legislation to update design and siting criteria, and it was signed by the County Executive. There are now stronger regulations that address air pollution, noise and vibration reporting, light pollution, and viewshed protection. These regulations apply to the data center buildings themselves.
To address where they will be located, and where they will be prohibited, the County Executive has proposed a Critical Digital Infrastructure Overlay. That is a zoning designation that will confine data center development to a specific area to prevent the kind of data center sprawl that we have seen in Loudoun County and ideally prevent data center sprawl all over Frederick County.
If you’ve had a chance to get down to the Adamstown area, you have seen that data center development is underway at the Quantum Frederick campus which is located on the old East Alcoa site. That’s the area where the CDI Overlay is proposed. On June 17th, the bill to establish this overlay was introduced to the County Council. The bill will now go through the usual legislative process with several opportunities for public feedback.
At the May workshop for this bill, the County Executive’s office outlined the next steps in the process which include a zoning text amendment, a comprehensive plan amendment which has not been introduced, and a zoning map amendment to add the overlay to the other County maps. This map has also not been published. The Council also learned the criteria that will be used by the Department of Planning and Permitting to select parcels that are being proposed for the overlay. They include proximity to industrial lands and the growth area boundary, and parcel size.
These recommendations will then be presented to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission will then review the proposed CDI Overlay proposal, and they can make recommendations to the County Council. There is opportunity to provide public comment at their meeting on Wednesday, July 9th, and again when The County Council holds a public hearing on Tuesday, July 17th at 7 p.m.
An important component this bill is a cap on land designated for data center development. The proposed limit is 1% of total County land as an upper limit. That’s about 4,200 acres. My understanding is that does not mean the overlay will necessarily include 1% of County land. I’m not convinced that we need to be devoting that much land to data centers, and I’m waiting to see the proposed map. The proposed overlay will include the East Alcoa site, which is 2200 acres.
The clear reality is that we need to do something to further define where data centers can be located in Frederick County. Current law permits a data center to be built on any land that is zoned industrial. With no zoning changes, right now that’s about 5,000 acres that are eligible.
We need to continue to define where we want data center development, and what value it brings to Frederick County. The revenue can help us address the many needs that we have in our growing county, like providing senior services and updating the Career and Technology Center. However, development must be balanced in a way that preserves priorities such as agricultural preservation and protection of our scenic views.
Wishing you a safe and Happy Independence Day!
