Sugarloaf Alliance

Veto the Overlay Map!

 

County Council Voted to Expand the Data Center Overlay Zone

 

In October 2025, the Frederick County Planning Commission recommended that location of hyper scale data centers be limited to already-approved acreage at the Eastalco site in Adamstown. Nonetheless, on 12/23 the Frederick County Council went ahead with their Yuletide gift to the industry, nearly doubling the proposed area where CDI (critical digital infrastructure, meaning data centers and their support infrastructure) will be allowed in the county. Read the Frederick News-Post coverage here and here. Watch the meeting video on FCGTV here.

 

In order to move forward with the expansion, the Council had to amend the Planning Commission's recommendation that the Overlay Zone be limited to already-approved acreage at Eastalco. Two days before Christmas, despite overwhelming public opposition and with no opportunity for public comment on the amended ordinance, 5 of the 7 Council Members voted for the expansion (McKay and Donald voted "no"). Sugarloaf Alliance continues to point out that there has been no objective cost-benefit analysis done to understand the impact of the already-approved sites (never mind twice as many), and the county has yet to articulate to the public what the impacts of the data centers' power and water usage will be.

 

Help Get the Overlay Map Decision on the Ballot! 

Sugarloaf Alliance supports the effort, already underway, to challenge the County Council's Overlay Zone map decision by bringing the question directly to county voters.

 

Following the Council's decision (described above), the "Frederick County Data Center Referendum Committee" formed quickly in order to put a Referendum Petition before the voters of Frederick County. A successful referendum would effectively veto the map approved by the County Council on 12/23. In order to add more data centers, the county's process for defining an Overlay Zone location for data centers would have to begin again.

 

Sugarloaf Alliance has offered many reasons to oppose the Overlay expansion approved by the Council. Read here and here.

 

In order to bring the issue to referendum, approximately 15,000 registered voters must sign the petition - within 59 days - in support of a public referendum. It sounds daunting, but we can do this!

 

Fundamentally, this is about a corrupted public decision-making process,

which affects everyone in Frederick County.

 

• Organizations already are signing up to spread the word. Could your organization(s) help get the word out, through your mailing list and social media and at your table at conferences and public events?

   

• Individuals are signing up to collect signatures. Could you share this information with family, friends, and neighbors? Could you invite them to sign the petition? Might you be willing to volunteer at information tables set up at various events and locations?

   

As a first step, the Referendum Committee needs to collect volunteer contact information, volunteer interests, and availability for training. Please fill out this Google form at your earliest opportunity - here's the link:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hV4O9HasDvyqNdzk9fmr7Fb44zSU2UY9DwzayItIrX0/edit

 

As noted in the Google form, all volunteers must attend an online training session. The first one is scheduled on January 17 and more will be scheduled throughout the rest of January and February. Training will take approximately one hour, and given the short time frame for collecting signatures, please plan to attend the first training for which you are available.  

 

The training will cover an explanation of the effort underway, the rules and procedures for signature collection, how to return completed petitions, and the processes the committee will be using to manage and track the effort.  

 

For more information, please contact fc.dc.referendum@gmail.com.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!