Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said he would consider implementing a moratorium on data center development in the county after several residents requested one during a Tuesday night forum in Rockville.  

The forum at the Isiah “Ike” Leggett Executive Office Building followed the introduction of a zoning text amendment in January by County Council President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) and councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2) and Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At-large) to restrict data centers to industrially zoned areas of the county.  

The forum drew around 100 people to the executive office building auditorium, while more than 300 tuned in online. 

Elrich, Fani-González, Balcombe and Sayles all attended the forum, as did councilmembers Will Jawando and Evan Glass (both D-At-large). Glass has separately introduced his own bill to create a task force to study potential data centers in Montgomery County and make policy recommendations to the council. 

Data centers — a type of facility used to store computer servers and other information technology equipment — are not widespread in the county. So far, only one “hyperscale” data center — a kind of facility that consumes many megawatts of power and gallons of water — has been proposed at the site of the decommissioned Dickerson Power Plant.  

The site on Martinsburg Road is owned by the Florida-based company Terra Energy, according to planning documents. The complex, with final plans pending, would be developed by the California-based company Atmosphere Data Centers. 

Atmosphere’s webpage on the project says the complex would have a power capacity of 300 megawatts. It would be built on 170 acres.   

Dozens of residents who spoke at Tuesday’s forum expressed concerns about the potential health and environmental impacts of data centers. Many said they would like to see restrictions on how much electricity the facilities are allowed to draw from the regional electric grid, citing rising energy prices. 

Mikey Stotz, an owner and operator of Bluffing Goat Farm in Poolesville, said energy is already one of the fastest rising costs for his business, which is just a few miles away from the site of the proposed Dickerson data center. 

“Introducing that level of demand in an already constrained system without adding supply alongside it guarantees volatility,” Stotz said. “Dairy operates on razor-thin margins already. When energy prices become unstable, it can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.” 

Beth Landry, the central Maryland coordinator for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said the group supports using on-site clean energy generation as a solution for the vast electricity needs of data centers.  

Landry also said the county could consider having data centers enter into power purchase agreements in which the facilities would buy power from a third-party provider of renewable energy.  

A list of legislative and policy recommendations developed by Elrich ahead of Tuesday’s forum includes a similar “Bring Your Own Generation (BYOG)” requirement to what the Chesapeake Climate Action Network suggested. The list also says data centers should be required to “maximize clean energy”. 

“It’s essential that we not only maximize but require clean energy for data centers,” Landry said, so that the facilities do not compromise county and state climate goals. 

Kevin Walton, a member of the Climate Coalition of Montgomery County, was among the speakers Tuesday night who said the county should consider following Frederick and Prince George’s counties in implementing a moratorium on new data center approvals and permits until industry-specific regulations can be adopted. He said such a moratorium should impact data centers that are in progress, as well as those that are “coming down the road.”

During his weekly virtual media briefing Wednesday, Elrich said he would be inclined to support a moratorium on new data center permits and approvals, but that he would not be able to implement one without the support of the council. He framed a moratorium as beneficial for would-be data center developers. 

“The sole purpose is to not approve anything during the time that people are drawing up guidelines,” Elrich said. “You don’t want to be in a position where somebody goes through a process here – goes all the way through, gets all the approvals – and then somebody says ‘you can’t do this because we’ve just changed the regulations.’ ” 

Elrich said it will be difficult for the council to get comprehensive data center regulations on the books within the next few months, especially while members are deliberating this spring over the county budget for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1. He said a four-to-six-month moratorium would give them “plenty of time” to consider data center policies with community input. 

Asked on Tuesday about the concept of a moratorium, Balcombe – whose district includes the Dickerson site – was noncommittal. 

“I’d have to think long and hard about that,” Balcombe told Bethesda Today. “The issue for me is the Dickerson data center has been in the works for three years.” 

The council is scheduled to hold public hearings on both bills regarding data centers at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 24. No vote is expected on that day. 

The Montgomery County Planning Board is scheduled to hold a hearing 1 p.m. Thursday on the proposed data center zoning text amendment. Public testimony will be accepted, according to the board’s agenda.