In her February 3 article Sapna Bansil reports on the unanimous Baltimore County Council decision to put a moratorium on development of data centers in the county. She quotes councilman Pat Young’s rationale for the freeze when he said,
“A year and a half ago, when someone said data center, what we thought in our minds did not include what we found out now: the impact on infrastructure, the impact on water, the impact on power.”
Bansil also mentions that the council considered a shorter moratorium in order to stimulate the local economy, an amendment which failed 5-2. The county is now considering a bill for their next vote on February 17th which would repeal the 2024 county regulation for the zoning of data centers, effectively limiting their installation to the areas of the county which are most vulnerable due to existing burdens and services.
For more information about Bill no. 3-26, check out our blogpost.