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Draft ordinance allows data centers as conditional use in I-2 district with setbacks, design and noise requirements
Summary
The November draft designates data centers as a conditional use in a new Heavy Industrial (I-2) district concentrated in southern Calvert County and adds specific conditions including 200-foot property setbacks, 400-foot setbacks from residential lots/permits, façade treatments, noise compliance, and a required public meeting in the election district.
At the Nov. 20 hearing staff described the new I-2 Heavy Industrial district and read specific conditions for data centers included in the November 2024 draft. Will Hager said I-2 is concentrated in three southern-county areas—an LNG plant parcel, properties near the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant, and the Appeal Landfill/Solomons wastewater treatment plant—and is intended for certain energy, light industrial, and data center uses.
Staff read the draft data-center conditions into the record: "The data center shall be set back 200 feet from all property lines and 400 feet from any lot or parcel with a residential building or active residential building permit except for adjacent properties under common ownership." Staff also noted façade treatment requirements, noise must comply with chapter 80 of the Calvert County code, and applicants must hold at least one public meeting in the election district prior to planning commission consideration.
