Montgomery County, MD Council Passes 18-Month Data Center Ban

Montgomery County, Maryland’s council voted unanimously on July 28 to pass an 18-month moratorium on data center permits, one of the largest jurisdictions bordering the Northern Virginia data center corridor to freeze new development outright.

Why it matters

This is a national siting story, not a local zoning footnote. Montgomery County sits directly across the Potomac from the densest data center market on the planet, and its council just told every hyperscaler and colocation developer that entitlement risk, not power capacity, is the binding constraint here. Expedited Bill 19-26 covers applications filed before the vote as well as after it, and it reaches projects already pending regulatory review or approved but not yet permitted. There is no carve-out for anything already in the pipeline. Council member Will Jawando cited noise, water usage and the Potomac River; Council President Kate Fani-González said the county needs more information from the state before writing permanent rules. The vote follows County Executive Marc Elrich’s June executive order, which had already imposed a six-month administrative pause.

The numbers

The council passed Bill 19-26 and a companion measure, Zoning Text Amendment 26-01, both unanimously, 11 members voting yes. ZTA 26-01, led by Fani-González, Vice President Marilyn Balcombe and Council member Laurie-Anne Sayles, defines hyperscale data centers and prohibits that use countywide for the duration of the study period. The freeze runs 18 months from the bill’s effective date. The final bill was a compromise between a six-month version proposed by Council member Evan Glass and a two-year version from Jawando and Council member Kristin Mink. Council member Luedtke said existing, already-operating data centers are not affected.

What’s next

At least one project is already stalled: Atmosphere’s Dickerson data center, which was moving through the county’s planning process, with the company saying “it does not look like we can proceed at this moment.” Developers holding or scouting Montgomery County sites now have an 18-month planning horizon during which no county permit will issue, which pushes near-term siting decisions toward neighboring Maryland counties, Virginia jurisdictions outside the moratorium, and other mid-Atlantic markets. Watch whether the county’s study process produces permanent zoning rules before the 18 months run out, and whether the vote pushes more counties in the region toward similar pauses.