On January 5th, 2026 Baltimore County Councilman Pat Young proposed Bill 3-26 which would put a one-year freeze on data center construction in Baltimore County in response to residents’ concerns over a proposed 42-acre, 150-megawatt data center in Woodlawn.
According to John Lee’s article in WYPR,
The Catonsville Democrat’s legislation, which he introduced Monday night, would not allow any building permits to be issued for data centers until January 1, 2027. No applications for permits would be accepted either.
Lee references that “Young said he’s been hearing from residents who fear the potential negative impact of a data center ‘if we don’t do anything and just allow open, wanton building of data centers because there’s space and it’s zoned appropriately.'” Young continued saying,
“Taking that step back and taking that pause, having that informed discussion about the impact of data centers holistically is what’s necessary and needed.”
At the meeting, Lee also quoted Makeda Scott who is a candidate for county council. She pointed out that under current county law, data centers can only be built east of Pulaski Highway or south of Liberty Road. She said,
“Whether intentional or not, this effectively steers a high-impact industrial use towards communities that are disproportionately Black and Brown.”
The maps above display the Environmental Justice Score and Overburdened and Underserved labels from the Maryland Department of the Environment’s MDEnviroscreen tool. The areas zoned for data center construction (below the red lines) are predominately overburdened, underserved, and score higher than a 50% on the Environmental Justice Score.
In Natalie Jone’s article in The Baltimore Sun, Jones quotes Councilman Young saying,
“Too often we are reactive to these kinds of things. I think this is a way of being proactive and make sure that if we’re going to allow data centers in Baltimore County, that it’s done thoughtfully and we’re taking in consideration the impact on infrastructure needs and what that impact is on the communities nearby.”
For more information about current data center locations, check out this interactive mapping tool.
For more information about the MDEnviroscreen mapping tool, check out our blogpost.
Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® has reached out to Councilman Young’s office to offer our support of Bill 3-26 in analyzing the proposed data center impacts, especially as they affect water quality.