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Committee member urges explicit ban on data centers in St. Mary's County zoning rewrite
Summary
A board member said the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance does not currently list data centers as an allowed use and urged lawmakers to add language in the CZO to prohibit them; they noted the same ordinance language had allowed a cannabis facility.
A member of the St. Mary's County board urged that the upcoming rewrite of the county's Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance explicitly bar data centers, saying the existing ordinance does not list them as an allowed use.
"Data centers are not in allowed use in Saint Mary's County," the board member said, and suggested the board should "specifically put no data centers into our CZO" as part of the rewrite. They framed the change as a local choice to avoid increased electrical demand and other impacts associated with data center development.
The speaker also noted that the same paragraph of the current ordinance had been used to authorize a cannabis facility in the county, calling the outcome "ironic" and saying the rewrite offers a chance to clarify allowed and disallowed uses.
The remarks were framed as a policy preference rather than a formal proposal and no motion or ordinance amendment was introduced during the meeting. The board member said they would continue to oppose data centers in the county whether or not they remain on the board next year.
The meeting did not include staff analysis, cost estimates or a formal legal citation for the zoning language; those details were "not specified" in the remarks.
