Frederick County’s seven member council found its vote split on Tuesday as it accepted only four out of the eleven amendments for a bill meant to limit data centers.

The bill, which was brought before the council in May, would limit data center construction to less than 1% of the county’s total landmass, no more than 4,200 acres.

Data centers would also be restricted to a central location north of Adamstown at the old Alcoa Eastalco Works. This plot would include Frederick’s current data center campus, Quantum Frederick, which encompasses 2,100 acres.

In June, Jessica Fitzwater, Frederick County’s Executive Officer, announced an executive order freezing the consideration of any new data centers until September, to allow the bill time to go through the legislative process.

The seven rejected amendments were proposed by Council Members Steve McKay and Jerry Donald, who said the bill didn’t do enough to protect residents. Opposing council members were concerned the amendments would make the process too difficult once data center applications were actually in front of them.

Land Preservation

The bill sets out to prevent urban sprawl by barring developers from building on land already within preservation. Though, it also includes a method to take land out of its preserved status, by rezoning it for industrial use.

McKay says the wording is deceptive. He argues it appears to make a definitive statement before providing a loophole. “You take that on its face, and it would appear to tell you it’s not going to go in those areas,” McKay explained. “Except…if this council approves, the parcels can be removed from those preservation areas.”

McKay’s amendments would have removed that language from the bill, but fellow Council Member Renee Knapp was worried a decision like that may be premature. “We are boxing ourselves in before we’ve had any feedback from the state,” Knapp explained. “We’ll be taking away ability…[to] ask ‘why was this one included,’ and, ‘why was this one excluded?’”

Knapp explained that none of the land within the possible 4,200 acre zone is in preservation yet and wanted to wait until she could look at the maps involved before making a decision.

Farmland

The bill includes a requirement that for every acre of land a developer might build on, they would be required to put an additional five acres of land into preservation at their expense.

McKay’s amendments would see this removed from the bill, citing concerns over possible legal trouble. “It implicates any future piecemeal rezoning with the payment of this [agriculture] preservation fee,” McKay explained. “When those two things are coupled, that’s called contract zoning, and it’s illegal in Maryland.”

Contract zoning is when a property owner enters into an economic agreement with a governing body in regard to zoning decisions.

Fellow Council Member M.C. Keegan-Ayer voiced her dissent by pointing out the land requirement was actually optional. “If the developers don't want to abide by that request that’s in the bill, fine,” Keegan-Ayer explained. “It shouldn’t really impact what the council’s doing, because we’re supposed to be looking at these parcels according to other criteria that’s actually in the bill.”

Residential Areas

The bill increases the minimum distance that a data center can be constructed near a residential area from 200ft to 500ft. It also requires the county to consider impacts to schools, medical centers and residential areas.

McKay says there’s a flaw in the wording of the bill, as it only protects residentially zoned areas. He says his amendment would have protected landowners with homes on farmland. “We could have allowed the planning commission the authority to make adjustments to the set back for those situations where its adjoining schools, churches and daycares,” McKay said.

Council President Brad Young questioned McKay, as he was concerned the amendments could have an unintended consequence, “Would it be possible to sub-parcel off a piece that was there, and end up with a warehouse within 100 feet of their residence,” President Young asked.

President Young explained that without the current provision, a company may be able to buy a sliver of land to act as a barrier between their data center and a residential area. This could result in a loophole with data centers even closer to homes than before.

The bill has not completed the legislative process, and a final definitive map for the -at-most- 4,200 acre plot has not yet been drawn.

A vote on the full bill will be held in the coming weeks.

This story has been corrected to reflect that none of the land in proposed development zone is in preservation yet.