(5/2025) This month the Frederick County Council will vote on Bill 25-05, which would update design requirements for Critical Digital Infrastructure (CDI) facilities and Electric Substations. I introduced this bill in March, and it is co-sponsored by Council President Young. This bill expands on Bill 22-05, which was passed unanimously by the previous Council. Bill 22-05 added CDI as a new permitted use in General Industrial and Light Industrial zones, but not in other areas. This action wisely limited areas for data center development. Frederick County is continuing to lead the way regionally with regulations designed to address the community concerns of the impact of data centers, while making sure the limited number of data centers in the County can operate successfully. This industry will contribute to economic benefits like increasing our commercial real estate tax base, relieving some pressure from residential property taxes.
I’ve heard from many residents who are concerned that Bill 25-05 will somehow enable data center sprawl, and that it relaxes current regulations regarding sound and vibration. I would like to clear up any misconceptions or misunderstandings about this bill. First, this bill limits and does not expand the areas permitted for data centers. It adds Treasured Landscape Management Areas, Rural Legacy Areas, and Priority Preservation as areas where data centers cannot be located. It requires that a CDI facility must be located within 2 miles of a high-voltage electrical transmission line and within an existing Community Growth Area. This bill adds new restrictions for data center development, which is a request that County residents have made loud and clear. This was a recommendation from the County Executive’s Data Centers Workgroup.
The second concern that I’m hearing a lot about is sound, and that this bill relaxes current regulations. This is not the case. Bill 25-05 requires clarification that all components of data centers, including air handlers, generators, and other mechanical devices are subject to noise level requirements. It requires sound and vibration reporting with the site plan application, and reporting includes sound studies for adjoining data centers to measure the cumulative noise impact. After occupancy is established, CDI facilities would be required to provide periodic reporting to the County to maintain compliance. This was also a recommendation from the Data Centers Workgroup.
To address air pollution levels that could have negative impacts on the communities around data centers, this bill requires all generators to meet or exceed Tier 4 equivalent emission standards. This is a higher standard compared to some of our neighboring jurisdictions, but one that is important and achievable for the well-being of residents, and it helps us to do our part to reduce harmful carbon emissions. Additionally, to reduce the impact to the community, generator testing would be confined to certain times of the day.
To preserve the views of Frederick County that we love and to reduce visual impacts to neighboring areas, this bill would add new design requirements such as a viewshed analysis with the site development plan application, demonstrating that impacts to surrounding properties and historic sites have been minimized. To mitigate impacts from data centers on area wildlife, lighting elements with amber or yellow tints would be required, as well as the use of timers and motion detectors.
Frederick County has learned some important lessons from our neighboring jurisdictions, and we will continue to work to find the right balance of protecting our residents and the environment from data center impacts with our need to expand economic development and diversification. Technology has evolved since Bill 22-05 was passed in 2022, and even since the report from the Data Centers Workgroup was submitted to County Executive Fitzwater in early 2024. We will need to periodically reevaluate our CDI regulations. The new requirements in Bill 25-05 are the next step in this process. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out for more discussion. I can be reached at rknapp@frederickcountymd.gov.
