Frederick City Council members are set to vote Thursday on an ordinance that would immediately freeze all consideration of data center legislation for two years once the mayor signs it. The proposal would bar city officials, employees, boards and commissions from accepting, processing or approving any application to amend the Land Management Code to allow critical digital infrastructure facilities in any zoning district across the city.
According to The Frederick News-Post, the council is set to vote Thursday. A public work session is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday in the City Hall boardroom. If the ordinance passes, it will be forwarded to the mayor for signature and immediate implementation. The moratorium would not just apply going forward — a City of Frederick meeting document spells out that the pause applies to all such applications, whether submitted before or after the ordinance's effective date. The same document states plainly that for two years after the ordinance takes effect, the city will not accept, process or approve any application seeking to amend the Land Management Code to allow critical digital infrastructure facilities in any zoning district.
Why City Hall Says the Pause Is Necessary
The draft ordinance argues the current Land Management Code does not even list critical digital infrastructure facilities or materially similar uses, meaning these facilities are effectively prohibited under existing rules. The current zoning code does not allow data center construction permits, which is part of why the industry has been pushing for amendments in the first place. The ordinance was introduced by Council Member Derek Shackelford.
The ordinance also requires a comprehensive study of data center impacts before the city pursues further legislation, calling for a review of potential environmental, infrastructure, economic and community impacts of critical data infrastructure, along with a comparison of regulatory frameworks used in other jurisdictions, per the same meeting document. Residents who attended an ordinance workshop reportedly raised concerns about the two-year length of the pause, per the News-Post's reporting. The council would retain the authority to repeal or extend the moratorium at any time, and the draft states the freeze would expire upon whichever comes first: zoning amendments addressing critical data infrastructure impacts, expiration of the two-year term, or council repeal.
An Unanswered Question Looms Over a Pending Amendment
City officials did not respond to questions from the News-Post about how the moratorium might affect a text amendment from developer Trammell Crow that is currently under Planning Commission review. That silence extended to city spokesperson Jennifer Heller, City Attorney Rachel Gray and Shackelford himself, all of whom reportedly did not respond to the newspaper's inquiries on the matter. The Planning Commission is reviewing the amendment.
Trammell Crow has requested a text amendment that would allow data centers in light and heavy industrial zoning districts by right, which would remove special permitting and discretionary review for data center projects meeting the proposed zoning rules. The review has focused on context-specific evaluation and conformity with the comprehensive plan.
Two of the four qualifying properties were developed, and Trammell Crow intended to use the others. Future properties would need to be rezoned or annexed by the City Council. Planning staff have instead suggested a floating zone that would require council zoning approval for each individual data center proposal, arguing it would provide context-specific evaluation and development conditions reflecting a site's unique characteristics. Trammell Crow did not consider the floating-zone addition necessary.
Part of a Wider Maryland Reckoning
Frederick's debate is unfolding against a backdrop of fast-moving data center politics across Maryland. Maryland Matters reported that 13 counties had enacted temporary data center moratoriums as of its report, with counties awaiting a state study on data center impacts due to Governor Wes Moore and the General Assembly by Sept. 1. Harford County became the first in the state to completely ban the facilities, while Montgomery County voted to extend its own pause from six months to 18 months, according to the outlet.
Frederick County itself has been wrestling with the issue for years — county officials created a data center pause and work group back in June 2023 to recommend future development guidelines, Maryland Matters reported. Accounts of the county's current pause diverge: Maryland Matters reported that a county executive order signed July 1 paused new data center permitting or approvals until the end of the year, while The Banner described the county's latest moratorium as expiring in July 2027. The Banner also reported that the county expanded a designated data center zone from roughly 1,600 acres to 2,600 acres, including several hundred acres of farmland, and described the broader fight over data centers as having all but consumed Frederick politics.
