The Montgomery County Council announced that its Economic Development (ECON) Committee voted unanimously to recommend an 18-month moratorium on building permits for data centers, sending Expedited Bill 19-26, as amended, to the full Council. The Council said the compromise moves the county toward the longer moratorium that Councilmembers Will Jawando and Kristin Mink proposed this spring, and answers months of advocacy by residents across the county.
On May 12, Jawando, joined by Mink, introduced Expedited Bill 24-26, a two-year moratorium on building permits for data centers. The committee’s amendments extended the pause to 18 months and removed an exemption that would have allowed the proposed Dickerson project to keep moving forward.
“This moratorium is happening because our residents organized, showed up and refused to be ignored. When Councilmember Mink and I introduced a two-year moratorium in May, we said six months was not enough time to get this right. Today the committee agreed, and I am thrilled to see consensus around a much longer pause.”
The full Council approved the moratorium unanimously on July 28. More on the data center moratorium →