The Frederick County Council introduced a bill on Tuesday that would limit the land available for data centers, but residents question whether the consequences will be worth it.
The bill would limit data centers to 1% of Frederick’s total land mass. Further restrictions would require data centers to build on a 4,200 acre plot north of Adam’s Town.
Frederick currently has a site dedicated to data centers, known as Quantum Frederick (QF). The bill would almost double the amount of space available to data centers when QF’s campus isn’t even full yet.
Betty Law, an electric engineer and Frederick resident, is concerned new data centers will require power that Frederick doesn’t have yet. “Maryland is a desert for power,” Law said. “We import 40% of our power from out of state.”
While the lines have not yet been officially drawn, land within the proposed 4,200 acre plot is under preservation. The bill outlines that preserved lands cannot be built upon, but includes methods to rezone those areas.
Under the new bill, for every acre of farmland a developer would want to build on, they would be expected to pay for five additional acres to be put into preservation.
Victoria Venable, Frederick County’s Director of Government Relations, says this could be a valuable source of income to support Frederick’s preservation efforts. “As we are considering land use changes, we leverage that moment in time to invest resources into those extremely successful agricultural preservation programs.”
Law is concerned the county does not yet understand the full impacts of this bill and asks the council to slow down. “What we’re asking for is to hold the line at the current topography and see how this evolves,” Law said. “Have we got the power and have we got the water and will the data center companies come?”
A public hearing for the bill will be held on July 15 at Winchester Hall.
