Final vote expected on proposed 18-month data center moratorium, zoning bill
Plus: County Council to hear briefing on solid waste disposal options
By
Ceoli JacobyJuly 28, 2026 10:20 a.m.
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Two proposals related to data centers — one to define the facilities within Montgomery County’s zoning code and another to halt their development for an 18-month period — are expected to receive a final vote from the County Council on Tuesday.
The council will also hear a briefing from Department of Environmental Protection officials about solid waste disposal options as County Executive Marc Elrich (D) continues his push to end trash incineration in Dickerson.
The council meets at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stella Werner Council Office Building in Rockville for its regular weekly business meeting. Here’s what to expect:
Data center proposals
Two council committees last week reviewed proposals aimed at regulating data centers in the county. Now, both proposals are expected to receive a final vote from the full council on Tuesday afternoon.
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The council’s Economic Development Committee on Wednesday voted to advance a bill that will halt data center development in the county for 18 months.
Previously, the council had been considering two competing proposals from Councilmembers Will Jawando and Evan Glass (both D-At-large), who called for a two-year and a six-month pause, respectively. Glass and Jawando were present at the Economic Development Committee work session and expressed their support for merging their bills.
A six-month hold on the acceptance, processing or consideration of new data center permits is already in place, per a June executive order from Elrich.
However, the developer of a planned data center campus in Dickerson is now appealing a zoning interpretation based on that order, prompting the council to take legislative action.
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Also on Wednesday, the council’s Planning, Housing and Parks Committee voted to advance a proposed zoning text amendment (ZTA) to define “large load” data centers within the county’s zoning code. Currently, a data center can fall under the cable communications facility category for land use but has never been defined in the county zoning code.
The proposal would define large load data centers as a “building or group of buildings, which has or is projected to have an aggregate monthly electricity demand of at least 25 megawatts (MW), used to house computer or network systems, computer storage equipment or computer servers to store, manage, process, and transmit digital data.”
In addition to defining a large-load data center, the ZTA also prohibits the facilities from being located anywhere within the county at this time, according to a council staff report.
If adopted, the amended ZTA would remain in place as the council continues to work on a framework that “will comprehensively address all the complex issues” related to data center development in the county, a July 15 letter from the proposal’s sponsors said. A simple majority is required to pass the measure.
Solid waste disposal briefing
On Tuesday morning, the council will hear a briefing from Department of Environmental Protection officials about the county’s long-term plan for solid waste disposal — the latest step in a yearslong debate over trash incineration.
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The Dickerson incinerator, also called the Resource Recovery Facility, has been in operation since 1995. County officials say approximately 600,000 tons of the county’s waste is processed and converted into energy there each year.
Elrich has long pushed for the facility’s closure, citing concerns about the environmental impacts of incineration and calling for a shift toward advanced waste processing, which uses technologies such as cameras and sensors to identify and sort out materials such as metals that can be sold for a profit.
Elrich’s proposed county operating budget for fiscal year 2027 included $43.9 million for a six-month waste-hauling and disposal contract with the goal of ceasing incineration in the county by the end of 2026.
Council President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) rejected Elrich’s approach — leading her colleagues in adopting a county operating budget that maintained funding levels for incinerator operations through June 2027.
“I think the county executive has neglected to offer a real plan on how to close the incinerator, and to offer solutions that are based on our values — on equity, on environmental justice and so forth,” Fani-González said during a March media briefing on the operating budget process.
No vote is expected as part of Tuesday’s briefing, according to a council staff report. Instead, the briefing will serve as a jumping-off point for planned work sessions in September. Responses to a request for proposals to build an advanced waste processing facility in the county are due Sept. 14.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine