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Where Will Data Centers Be Located?

CDI Overlay Zone MAP Hearing

Frederick County Planning Commission 

Wednesday, 10/15, 9:30am

Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church St., Frederick

 

Should Frederick County limit hyperscale data center construction to the existing Eastalco site, or should they allow expansion at this time, as depicted in this proposed map? On Wednesday, 10/15, the Frederick County Planning Commission will hear comments from the public, and - according to their agenda - they will vote on their recommendation to the County Council at the same meeting.

 

Focus for the October 15th Meeting 

 

Sugarloaf Alliance encourages you to comment - in person if you can - and by email (see below). The topic is data center location. This is NOT a decision about the merits of data centers or whether to have data centers in the County; that decision was made a couple of years ago. This meeting is ONLY about EXPANDING the zone designated for data centers. 

 

Sugarloaf Alliance opposes expansion of the Eastalco Growth area. Here are reasons we believe that expansion would be a radical change in the nature of Adamstown, Buckeystown, Point of Rocks, and rural southern Frederick County overall.

 

1) The argument that there will be positive net benefit to the county and or that it's worth the huge changes this industry will bring to the character of the region is not supported by any objective fiscal analysis of data center development or expansion.

 a) How much will an increased Eastalco Growth Area cost Frederick
county taxpayers? 

 b) What is the NET revenue from this huge increase in industrial activity?  

 c) We're hearing in the media that electric bills will soar because of data centers, and we expect the value of homes in the Eastalco area to drop - how will that affect the financial impact on the county of adding more data centers? 

 

2) The Plan calls for the elimination of almost 1000 acres of farmland.  

All of this prime agricultural soil is in either the County Priority Preservation Area or the State Rural Legacy area, or BOTH. The Data Centers Work Group recommended against this, and current County regulations say no data centers in Priority Preservation or Rural Legacy areas. How can this even be under discussion?

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3) Both the county and the state appear unable to effectively monitor and regulate environmental violations from the current construction.  

Since start of data center construction, more than 100 major environmental violations have been cited. The Eastalco complex has been given “Stop Work” orders and there are two ongoing Maryland Attorney General’s Office investigations. In view of these violations, does the Planning Commission think it's environmentally prudent to expand the CDI Overlay by another 1000 acres?

 

4) Based on other data center complexes, the data centers that are already approved in the existing Eastalco Data Center Complex might be expected to use the same amount of electricity as TWO Baltimore Cities.  

a) Real numbers regarding the power demands and impacts on Frederick County apparently are still unknown for the current Eastalco data center area. How is it a good idea to double the size of the data center zone without that information? What's the rush?

b) Maryland is a power importer. Where is the power for the additional data centers going to come from? More power lines like MPRP will be needed to bring in the energy for this huge data center zone.    

​

5) Frederick County’s climate successes will be undone. 

For backup power, data centers use diesel generators the size of freight train engines. The current Eastalco data center area will need over 1000 of these diesel generators. Expanding the data center Growth Area will require even more generators. Further, all the gains that the county and the citizens have achieved in the last 15+ years will be wiped out by the additional greenhouse gas emissions generated by the additional electric grid power used by the data centers.

 

 

Here is the presentation that will be made to the Planning Commission by staff:

https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16044

 

And here is the proposed CDI Plan:

https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16043

 

Send your email comments to: 

PlanningCommission@FrederickCountyMD.gov

CouncilMembers@FrederickCountyMD.gov

CountyExecutive@frederickcountymd.gov

 

Write one email and send it to all three addresses!

 

Those of you active on social media, please share! Remind people about the meeting and share your story.  

 

It really does take the village to get things done. This process is a long one and it’s still NOT OVER.  

4/22/25

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

Oppose the Knapp/Young Data Center Legislation

Now before the County Council

 

On 5/6, the Frederick County Council will begin consideration of the Knapp/Young bill for regulating data centers in Frederick County. Sugarloaf Alliance opposes this bill, which neglects recommendations painstakingly developed by the county executive-appointed Data Centers Workgroup (DCWG). Notably, on 4/9, the Frederick County Planning Commission voted against recommending the Knapp/Young bill. [Thanks to all of you who sent them emails in opposition!]

 

Sugarloaf Alliance favors the proposed McKay/Donald Data Center legislation, which won't be considered until after a vote is taken on the Knapp/Young bill. The McKay/Donald bill substantively addresses most of the recommendations of the Data Centers Workgroup (DCWG).

 

We need to show County Council members that the community opposes the Knapp/Young legislation. The text of the petition appears below. Please sign it, comment if you choose, and share.

 

NOTE: Change.org will invite you to donate in order to boost visibility of the petition. Just to be clear, that money goes to support change.org, not to us. As always, visit Sugarloaf-Alliance.org to donate in support of preservation and smarter growth advocacy in our community.

 

Here is the petition text:

 

"The Frederick County Council is considering “how to develop a model for critical data infrastructure that leverages the benefits data centers can provide while protecting the environment and Frederick County’s quality of life” (Frederick County Data Centers Workgroup page).  This spring, the County Council will consider two very different bills addressing data center siting requirements: The McKay/Donald bill and the Knapp/Young bill. 

 

"We, the undersigned, oppose the weaker Knapp/Young bill under consideration. The Frederick County Planning Commission also recommended against this bill as submitted.  Among other things the Knapp/Young legislation weakens noise standards and diesel generator operating limits from Workgroup recommendations. Moreover, the bill would allow “by right” data center siting as a permitted industrial zone use as long as a site plan application meets the general criteria. Because a developer would have “by right” privileges, site-specific issues of interest to the community would not be applicable and public process would be more limited. The bill lacks the floating zone recommended by the Data Center Workgroup and Planning Commission. 

 

"We support the stronger McKay/Donald bill for the following reasons:

  • The bill features tougher data center siting criteria and requires each data center application to be reviewed by the County Council, a process with more opportunity for public input.

  • The bill includes many of the Data Centers Workgroup recommendations. The County Executive appointed an eleven-member Workgroup representing “industry, agriculture, technology, environment, labor and more.” For over seven months the Workgroup met with subject matter experts, regional officials, and individuals living and working side by side with data centers. The Workgroup’s report makes excellent recommendations and was approved unanimously. 

  • One recommendation is especially important to Frederick County residents: the addition of a floating zone to county CDI code. The CDI floating zone would require each data center siting application to be reviewed by the County Council in a multi-step public process. The Frederick County Planning Commission also recommended the floating zone approach. 

  • The data center industry is extraordinarily resource-intensive – in its demand for acreage, in its demand for massive amounts of water and in its demand for power (and connecting power lines). If “by right” siting is allowed, many data centers could be built, limited only by the amount of industrial acreage available. 

 

"We believe that data center siting should be subject to a County Council approval process, so we urge Council Members to approve the CDI Floating Zone as proposed by the Data Center Workgroup and Council Members McKay and Donald."

 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

Thank you!

4/22/25

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

Oppose the Knapp/Young Data Center Legislation

Now before the County Council

 

On 5/6, the Frederick County Council will begin consideration of the Knapp/Young bill for regulating data centers in Frederick County. Sugarloaf Alliance opposes this bill, which neglects recommendations painstakingly developed by the county executive-appointed Data Centers Workgroup (DCWG). Notably, on 4/9, the Frederick County Planning Commission voted against recommending the Knapp/Young bill. [Thanks to all of you who sent them emails in opposition!]

 

Sugarloaf Alliance favors the proposed McKay/Donald Data Center legislation, which won't be considered until after a vote is taken on the Knapp/Young bill. The McKay/Donald bill substantively addresses most of the recommendations of the Data Centers Workgroup (DCWG).

 

We need to show County Council members that the community opposes the Knapp/Young legislation. The text of the petition appears below. Please sign it, comment if you choose, and share.

 

NOTE: Change.org will invite you to donate in order to boost visibility of the petition. Just to be clear, that money goes to support change.org, not to us. As always, visit Sugarloaf-Alliance.org to donate in support of preservation and smarter growth advocacy in our community.

 

Here is the petition text:

 

"The Frederick County Council is considering “how to develop a model for critical data infrastructure that leverages the benefits data centers can provide while protecting the environment and Frederick County’s quality of life” (Frederick County Data Centers Workgroup page).  This spring, the County Council will consider two very different bills addressing data center siting requirements: The McKay/Donald bill and the Knapp/Young bill. 

 

"We, the undersigned, oppose the weaker Knapp/Young bill under consideration. The Frederick County Planning Commission also recommended against this bill as submitted.  Among other things the Knapp/Young legislation weakens noise standards and diesel generator operating limits from Workgroup recommendations. Moreover, the bill would allow “by right” data center siting as a permitted industrial zone use as long as a site plan application meets the general criteria. Because a developer would have “by right” privileges, site-specific issues of interest to the community would not be applicable and public process would be more limited. The bill lacks the floating zone recommended by the Data Center Workgroup and Planning Commission. 

 

"We support the stronger McKay/Donald bill for the following reasons:

  • The bill features tougher data center siting criteria and requires each data center application to be reviewed by the County Council, a process with more opportunity for public input.

  • The bill includes many of the Data Centers Workgroup recommendations. The County Executive appointed an eleven-member Workgroup representing “industry, agriculture, technology, environment, labor and more.” For over seven months the Workgroup met with subject matter experts, regional officials, and individuals living and working side by side with data centers. The Workgroup’s report makes excellent recommendations and was approved unanimously. 

  • One recommendation is especially important to Frederick County residents: the addition of a floating zone to county CDI code. The CDI floating zone would require each data center siting application to be reviewed by the County Council in a multi-step public process. The Frederick County Planning Commission also recommended the floating zone approach. 

  • The data center industry is extraordinarily resource-intensive – in its demand for acreage, in its demand for massive amounts of water and in its demand for power (and connecting power lines). If “by right” siting is allowed, many data centers could be built, limited only by the amount of industrial acreage available. 

 

"We believe that data center siting should be subject to a County Council approval process, so we urge Council Members to approve the CDI Floating Zone as proposed by the Data Center Workgroup and Council Members McKay and Donald."

 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

Thank you!

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