Chesapeake Beach council seeks planning recommendation to bar data centers after residents’ objections

Public comment at a Chesapeake Beach Town Council meeting Tuesday focused on proposed land-use entries that would allow large data centers in parts of Calvert County, prompting the council to ask its planning and zoning commission to recommend prohibiting them locally.

Andrea Smith, who said she lives at 4010 13th Street, told the council she and other residents "fully support switching from permitting data centers to not permitting them 100%." Smith told the council she believes the county process has lost community trust and that the town’s land-use table currently lacks a definition or rationale for allowing hyperscale data centers.

A council member responded that the town has already engaged the town attorney and the planning and zoning administrator and that staff will request an official recommendation to change the land-use table entry from permitted to not permitted (P→NP), with the goal of bringing draft legal language to the July meeting for council consideration.

Dr. Janette Weisaki, who identified herself as a member of the county environmental commission but said she was speaking as a resident, described the council’s step as “a great relief” and said the town’s action could set a precedent for the rest of the county.

The council’s motion asked planning and zoning to return a formal recommendation deleting the existing row for data centers (row 57 in the working draft), and to propose language to classify data centers as expressly prohibited in all zones. The council passed the referral and directed staff to schedule the item for the July agenda.

What happens next: planning and zoning will prepare recommended ordinance language and standards for the council’s review. The council’s referral does not itself amend the code; it asks staff and the commission to draft a recommended ordinance amendment for future formal action.