Sugarloaf Alliance
Preservation * Smarter Growth * Transparency in Government
Development near Sugarloaf (west of I-270 and north to the Monocacy River) should remain protected and free from commercial and industrial development. Check one
Strongly agree
A Green Infrastructure Plan should be completed and adopted before approving major new industrial rezonings. Check one.
Neutral
If elected, do you pledge to never sign an NDA with a data center developer or other developer, nor to be bound by an NDA signed by another county official with a data center developer or any other developer? Check one.
Yes
County legislation should be developed to prohibit County Council members, the County Executive, and county staff from signing any NDA that restricts their ability to inform the public, deliberate openly, or carry out their public duties. Check one.
Strongly agree
Frederick County should fund a thorough, independent cost-benefit analysis of data center impacts, specifically on Frederick County, regardless of any analysis that may be conducted by the State of Maryland on State level impacts. Check one.
Strongly agree
How many data centers should be built in Frederick County? Check the answer closest to your position.
4 (allow only the data centers currently under construction in Adamstown)
What new county data center legislation would you endorse? Check all you support.
Increased distances to residences and public uses, Stricter noise limits, Stricter water use limits, Stricter design, height, and screening limits, Efficiency and power consumption limits, Full disclosure of electricity consumption, water consumption, height and footprint, backup generation capacity, noise and lighting impacts, and infrastructure needs and requirements of proposed data centers., An independent, third-party regularly monitoring data center operation (e.g. noise, water consumption) that reports its results publicly, including additional testing triggered by resident complaints or changes in operations., Mandatory corrective actions within a defined timeframe, with meaningful penalties or operational restrictions if compliance is not achieved (if post-construction monitoring shows a data center exceeds approved limits)., A moratorium on new data centers
What are your thoughts concerning environmental issues, preservation, development, transparency in government, and data centers in Frederick County? Describe any priorities, tradeoffs, or concerns that guide your thinking.
Regarding environmental concerns and issues, my overarching goal and guiding principle is to balance our society’s and our state’s desire for a clean, healthy environment and our need to ensure a sustainable future with our need for a healthy, stable, growing economy, and to effectuate that balance with as light a bureaucratic touch as possible. Preservation of our land is important, especially in Frederick where we’ve seen so much overgrowth in the last decade. As a member of the House Government, Labor, & Elections Committee, transparency in government is an issue we discuss regularly and take seriously. Data centers will have to be built somewhere in the United States but I believe that they need to be built in appropriate locations that do not threaten our wetlands, woodlands, and agriculture.