Montgomery County

Moratoriums and bans

1. July 28, 2026 Montgomery County: Moratorium and zoning ban. After a six-month executive pause (Executive Order 109-26, June 12), the council enacted an 18-month moratorium on data center permits (Expedited Bill 19-26) and a zoning change (ZTA 26-01) that bars data centers in every zone from Aug. 17, 2026. (Montgomery County Executive, June 12, 2026; Montgomery County Council, July 28, 2026; Montgomery County Council (District Council), July 28, 2026; Montgomery County Council, July 28, 2026)

Updates, newest first

1. July 28, 2026 Dickerson Data Center Campus · The council enacted an 18-month permit moratorium (Expedited Bill 19-26) covering pending and approved-but-unpermitted data centers, and adopted ZTA 26-01, which bars data centers from all zones from Aug. 17, 2026. (Montgomery County Council, July 28, 2026; Montgomery County Council (District Council), July 28, 2026; Montgomery County Council, July 28, 2026)
2. July 28, 2026 Montgomery County: Moratorium and zoning ban · After a six-month executive pause (Executive Order 109-26, June 12), the council enacted an 18-month moratorium on data center permits (Expedited Bill 19-26) and a zoning change (ZTA 26-01) that bars data centers in every zone from Aug. 17, 2026. (Montgomery County Executive, June 12, 2026; Montgomery County Council, July 28, 2026; Montgomery County Council (District Council), July 28, 2026; Montgomery County Council, July 28, 2026)
3. July 10, 2026 Dickerson Data Center Campus · Atmosphere appealed to the county Board of Appeals, arguing that the permitting department changed how it classifies data centers because of the executive order and wrongly stopped reviewing the project's remaining plans, as Bethesda Magazine reported from the filing; DatacenterDynamics also reported the challenge. (Bethesda Magazine, July 16, 2026; DatacenterDynamics, July 21, 2026)
4. June 12, 2026 Dickerson Data Center Campus · County Executive Marc Elrich paused data center permit processing for six months (Executive Order 109-26). (Montgomery County Executive, June 12, 2026)
5. 2026 Dickerson Data Center Campus · Atmosphere Data Centers filed a revised plan (CU 24-13AA) for five data center buildings on about 110 acres of the 750-acre property. (Atmosphere Data Centers, 2026; Montgomery County Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings, Oct. 25, 2026)
6. Aug. 2024 Dickerson Data Center Campus · County planning staff recommended approval of Terra Energy's conditional use CU202413 for data centers and a battery storage facility on the former power plant land. (Montgomery County Planning Department, Aug. 2024)

Statewide

Chapter 640 of 2020 exempts equipment bought for a qualified data center from the state sales and use tax (the operator must invest at least $5 million, or $2 million in a Tier I area, and create at least five jobs) and lets counties and towns reduce or remove property tax on data center equipment; a 2026 bill to repeal both (HB 560) was introduced. (Maryland Department of Legislative Services, 2026; Maryland General Assembly, Oct. 25, 2026) The Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act of 2024 (Chapter 411, SB 474) exempts on-site emergency backup generators at qualifying data centers from the Public Service Commission's certificate of public convenience and necessity under set conditions; it also changes how corporate income tax from certain new data centers is distributed. (Maryland General Assembly, May 9, 2024) SB 116 of 2025 (enacted over the governor's veto as Chapter 10 of the 2025 special session) requires a state study of data centers' environmental, energy and economic impacts, due Sept. 1, 2026; Frederick County said in mid-September that it had not yet been completed. (Maryland Department of Legislative Services, 2025; Maryland General Assembly, Oct. 25, 2026; Frederick County Executive, Sept. 14, 2026) The Next Generation Energy Act of 2025 required each utility to file a separate large-load rate schedule by Sept. 1, 2026 so other customers do not carry the cost of serving them; the Utility RELIEF Act (HB 1532, Chapter 353 of 2026) lowered the large-load threshold from 100 MW to 25 MW, ordered a Public Service Commission registry of large loads by July 1, 2027, and barred data centers in most Baltimore City tax increment financing districts. (Maryland Department of Legislative Services, 2026; Maryland General Assembly, Oct. 25, 2026) Maryland data centers →