MoCo Councilmembers signal support for 18-month data center moratorium
Councilmembers to review zoning text amendment aimed at limiting where facilities can be developed later Wednesday
By
Elia GriffinJuly 22, 2026 12:11 p.m.
Share
Facebook X ReddIt Email Print Copy URL
Eighteen months appears to be the sweet spot for a moratorium on data center development in the county, with several Montgomery County Councilmembers signaling their support during a meeting of the Economic Development Committee Wednesday morning.
The meeting centered on two competing data center moratorium bills that have been before the council since May; councilmembers agreed to merge the bills and set an 18-month moratorium timeline. Doing so creates a clearer path for the council as it continues to weigh how to handle and regulate the data center industry in the county.
“That was a happy number,” said Council President Natali Fani-González, who chairs the committee. She said the new timeline will help reach a consensus among the 11 other councilmembers.
On Tuesday, the full council is expected to vote on the moratorium bill and a zoning text amendment that aims to limit where data centers can be developed in the county. Fani-González said it is important that the zoning text amendment and the moratorium bill are “in sync” before the council votes.
- Advertisement -
The 18-month moratorium comes on the heels of Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) signing an executive order in June barring the county’s permitting department from accepting, processing or considering permit applications for new data centers.
During a June 12 press conference, Elrich said the order was “not a judgement about any specific proposal,” though calls for a moratorium followed increased public awareness of the plan to build a campus of data center buildings at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Dickerson.
The developer of the Dickerson data center campus, Atmosphere Data Centers, is now appealing a zoning interpretation based on Elrich’s six-month moratorium executive order.
Last Wednesday, Fani-González, Council Vice President Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2) and Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At-Large) released a letter explaining a “multi-pronged” approach to moving forward with the competing data center bills and the moratorium executive order.
Sponsored
AI Contracts: What Every Business Owner Needs to Know
Featured Now
“While we appreciate the County Executive’s recent executive order that imposes a six-month moratorium, we believe this moratorium should also be enacted through Council legislation,” the councilmembers said in the July 15 letter.
One of the competing bills, introduced by Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) on May 6, proposed a six-month moratorium. The second bill, introduced about a week later by Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large), proposed a pause on the permitting of data center projects for two years.
Glass and Jawando were present at the work session and expressed their support for merging their bills, resulting in an 18-month moratorium on data center development.
Glass, a member of the Economic Development Committee, said Wednesday that when he introduced his legislation, he had heard from community members asking for a six-month delay on data center development.
“I thought that was appropriate at the time. Clearly, things have changed,” Glass said. “Sentiment and questions have increased. And I appreciate the consensus for where we are now.”
- Advertisement -
Jawando said that he likes the “math” of combining his and Glass’s moratorium timelines into one. He added that the 18-month timeline still gives the county enough time to work through issues brought up by community members surrounding data centers.
“There’s been work done, but there’s more to do, and we need to do it in an organized way,” Jawando said. “This is one of those issues where you dig into something, and you think you have an answer, and then another shoot of questions comes off of it.”
Some of the work Jawando envisions in the next 18 months revolves around potentially developing a tax rate for data centers in the county, similar to a move by Loudoun County in Virginia to set a 4% tax rate on the facilities. He also said the county will have more time to work on issues related to the environmental concerns surrounding data centers related to water use and consumption and noise.
Jawando noted that he intends to withdraw his two-year moratorium bill at Tuesday’s full council meeting.
Balcombe (D-Dist. 2) and Sayles (D-At-Large), who both sit on the Economic Development Committee, also expressed their support for the 18-month moratorium timeline at the committee meeting.
Balcombe said the new timeline is a “good compromise” for her.
“We’ve been working hard for the past seven months to get this right … and as we tackled some of the most complex issues, particularly water and energy, it was clear that we didn’t have the answer,” Balcombe said. “And so, although I think six months is not enough, two years felt too long.”
Zoning Text Amendment
The council is also considering a zoning text amendment aimed at limiting where data centers can be built and better defining data centers, specifically prohibiting hyperscale data centers countywide.
Later Wednesday afternoon, the council’s Planning Housing and Parks (PHP) Committee will review the zoning text amendment, which is also referred to as a ZTA. Fani-González, Balcombe and Sayles introduced the data center ZTA in January.
During the afternoon meeting, the sponsors plan to introduce an overriding amendment that will define “hyperscale” data centers and prohibit that use countywide, according to the July 15 letter. In addition, PHP Committee discussion will also focus on the definition of data center, which is currently defined as a cable communications facility, Fani-González said Wednesday morning during the Economic Development Committee meeting.
“I think this is a defining moment,” Jawando said during the economic committee session. “For our country and our county. I’m glad that we’re able to push forward and look forward to PHP later this afternoon, where we’ll align these bills and then continue the hard work of trying to get this right.”
Bethesda Today reporter Ceoli Jacoby contributed to this story.
Digital Partners
Originally published at Bethesdamagazine