Sugarloaf Alliance
Preservation * Smarter Growth * Transparency in Government
Petition to Prohibit Data Centers in the Sugarloaf Plan Area
Here’s the text of the petition:
The Sugarloaf Rural Heritage Overlay Zoning District ("the Overlay District") again is before the Frederick County Council. County records released recently (by court order) and Council Member comments make it clear that data center development in the foothills of Sugarloaf Mountain continues to be a threat.
We, the undersigned, call on the Frederick County Council to amend and pass the Sugarloaf Rural Heritage Overlay Zoning District amendment to the Sugarloaf Plan in order to prevent data center development in the Sugarloaf region. Specifically, we ask the County Council to:
amend the Plan and Overlay text to add Critical Digital Infrastructure (data centers) to the list of prohibited uses within the Overlay boundary;
retain the Overlay boundary as recommended twice by the Planning Commission, thereby limiting development on the west side of I-270; and
pass this amended Overlay District without further delay.
The county map below, released to Sugarloaf Alliance by court order, illustrates the problem. In this draft plan, outlined parcels #3 and #4 overlap the Sugarloaf Plan boundary (outlined in green). As we have said many times, data centers are massive industrial buildings totally inconsistent with the historical and rural character of the area and destructive to the sensitive natural environment here. (For example, see the conceptual plan for the 474 acre Thurston Road cut-out, area #4.)
The County Council will hold a hearing on Tuesday, 12/12 and could opt to amend Sugarloaf Plan language. Please join us in asking for an amendment to add Critical Digital Infrastructure (data centers) to the list of prohibited uses within the Overlay boundary. Click here to sign the petition and leave comments.
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