A Montgomery County Council committee is recommending that the Maryland county put action on data centers on hold for 18 months.
The three-member Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to suggest the moratorium to the full council.
Later Wednesday, the council’s Planning, Housing and Parks Committee voted to adopt definitions of data centers, specifying that a large data center would be a facility with energy demand of at least 25 megawatts.
The votes come ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of the full 11-member council where both issues will be considered.
The county is currently under a six-month data center moratorium created by an executive order from Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.
“These are important issues for our county’s future and we need to get the policy right before any permits are finalized. I look forward to seeing progress on this front,” Elrich said.
Earlier this month, the Prince George’s County Council passed a two-year moratorium on hyperscale data center development.
Council member Will Jawando, who had proposed a two-year moratorium on data centers, said he supports the 18-month proposal, and will withdraw his bill calling for the longer pause on the controversial facilities.
Jawando, who sits on the Planning, Housing and Parks Committee, has suggested examining how data centers could be taxed in Montgomery County.
“I was talking with our colleagues in Loudoun County, who just last year got authority to change the property tax rate from the state legislature to charge a 4% tax rate on data centers,” Jawando said.
“Right now, as I’ve mentioned, a data center would pay the same property tax rate as your single-family home, which is not appropriate.”
Council member Evan Glass, who sits on the Economic Development Committee, had previously proposed forming a task force to study the potential impacts of data centers on the county and asked the committee to consider the move as part of its work.
“I know firsthand that all of us have been engaged and have been texted and tweeted and emailed and phone called and Facebooked, but that is not a public conversation,” Glass said.
Council President Natali Fani-Gonz谩lez, who chairs the committee, rejected the proposal.
“When the time is right, there will be a public hearing, there will be work sessions as the process moves forward.”
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