As counties put a pause on data centers, experts suggest a path forward

Local governments across the country are reckoning with the role they want data centers to play in their communities. Prince George’s County is no exception.

The County Council enacted a two-year moratorium on data center development to buy more time to reach consensus on a path forward, following pauses in Montgomery, Howard, Frederick and Baltimore counties. The council is weighing residents’ concerns about data centers against the county’s need to generate revenue.

Some council members support a full ban on data centers. Others hope to pass comprehensive legislation to regulate them. But experts say it’s possible for governments to reach agreements with developers that minimize harm while also securing benefits for their communities.

“Local governments have more leverage than they might realize for any kind of development that wants to come in,” said Christopher Jordan, the program manager of AI and innovation at the National League of Cities.

Through negotiations with developers, several jurisdictions have tried to mitigate some of the environmental impacts of data centers and to secure millions of dollars for local priorities.

For example, a data center being constructed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, will have a cap on how much water it can use per day and will only be allowed to test its generators during daytime hours. And developers of data centers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are required to contribute annually to the city’s community betterment fund.

The easiest way for local governments to oversee data centers is by negotiating clear and precise requirements with developers, experts said. One way to achieve this is through community benefits agreements, which are enforceable legal contracts between developers and local governments.

“It is an agreement that helps to mitigate the adverse impacts of data center development on the community, while also redistributing its benefits to community members,” said Vincent Nolette, a fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “There’s a whole negotiation process between the community or local government and the project developer.”

The Sabin Center’s guide for community benefits agreements says it’s important for community members to reach common ground on an issue before speaking with developers. It also suggests involving technical experts and lawyers. The guide recommends that agreements avoid ambiguity and include ways to enforce and monitor compliance with the negotiated terms.

Unwelcome developments

The data center proposed for the old Landover Mall site was projected to generate $13.7 million in annual tax revenue for the county. Proponents of data centers have said the facilities could help the county’s economy, which is reeling from the closure of Six Flags America and the Washington Commanders’ looming relocation.

But for many residents, any potential economic benefit is outweighed by environmental concerns.

Taylor Frazier McCollum started a petition, now signed by more than 24,000 people, opposing the construction of a data center in Landover, arguing the project was being planned with minimal resident engagement and lacked transparency. She said a large data center would increase light and noise pollution and use too much energy and water.

“We’re losing when hyperscale data centers come online in any environment,” she said. “I just think it’s too intensive on our resources.”

Frazier McCollum said she supports a full ban on data centers in Maryland and called the moratorium a “temporary stalling tactic.”

A community benefit agreement wouldn’t ease her concerns, she said, because she doesn’t believe such an agreement would be enforced.

“If we put these agreements in place, what regulatory agencies are going to check to make sure that the noise is not at a certain level, and then if there is noise at a certain level, who’s going to fine them?” she asked. “Because a $100,000 fine to a billion-dollar company is a slap on the wrist in my opinion.”

The proposal to build a data center in Landover sparked enough opposition that the county paused the project, issued a temporary moratorium on data center development, and commissioned a task force to study the potential risks and benefits of data centers.

As backlash against data centers continues, local governments have begun to listen more seriously to community concerns and to be more open with the public about their plans. Experts have said transparency with residents is essential to establishing effective community benefits agreements.

“It’s important for elected officials to then communicate the process behind their decision-making and why they decided to go forward with these projects and what they believe the benefits are,” Jordan said.

A path forward

The Data Center Coalition, which advocates for the data center industry, has opposed moratoriums, including those proposed in Maryland.

But data center developers are more open to operating under community benefit agreements. Several have discussed the importance of developing community partnerships and working with localities to provide benefits to residents.

Microsoft, in a pledge to communities, said it would “contribute to a sustainable future, advance community prosperity and well-being, and operate responsibly as a good neighbor.”

Nolette suggested that jurisdictions can learn from Lancaster’s community benefits agreement and build upon it. Lancaster’s agreement says developers must create plans for local hiring, but other governments could pursue more specific provisions requiring developers to commit to hiring a certain percentage of local residents.

The agreement in Lancaster was negotiated by city officials and developers over several months, but many residents said the process did not include enough community input or transparency.

While the Prince George’s County Council may be hesitant to pursue data centers, some other governments across the country have embraced them. Nearby, Northern Virginia has come to be known as “Data Center Alley.”

The city of West Des Moines, Iowa, is home to five large Microsoft data centers, with one more on the way. Construction on the first of these facilities in West Des Moines was completed in 2010 — more than a decade before data centers became widely controversial.

The city doesn’t have specific community benefit agreements for data center projects, but it does have development agreements that include requirements for job counts and minimum investments.

“We are overall pretty enthusiastic proponents of what they’ve done for our community,” said Ryan Moffatt, West Des Moines’ economic development director. “It’s just an ever-increasing list of community benefits that they’ve helped us pay for.”

The data centers have helped the city lower tax rates, develop infrastructure and fund community programs. Microsoft also paid $9 million to help build a new water tower in the city, Moffatt said.

Even though Microsoft and West Des Moines don’t have a contract requiring this level of investment, Moffatt advised that other communities considering data centers should look into community benefit agreements.

“We are fortunate enough just to have a good corporate citizen by default,” he said. “Any community looking at this should be asking, ‘If this investment happens in our community, what’s in it for us?’”

Nolette suggested that local governments consider enacting ordinances requiring community benefit agreements for all data centers. This would create a framework that developers must adhere to in order to build and operate data centers.

A report from Prince George’s County’s Qualified Data Center Task Force recommends combining an ordinance that outlines specific requirements with negotiated community benefit agreements.

“By combining statutory baselines with flexible, project-specific CBAs, counties can balance developer certainty with meaningful community outcomes, ensuring that CBAs are both predictable and responsive to local needs,” according to the task force’s report, which was published in November 2025.

The council has not passed legislation based on its recommendations other than the moratorium. Council member Sydney Harrison said he hopes the two-year pause gives the body the time it needs to figure out the best path forward.

Mixed views from county leadership

Local officials agree that the county has to take action on data centers, but they aren’t on the same page about what that action should be. Council Chair Krystal Oriadha has expressed support for a full ban. On the other hand, County Executive Aisha Braveboy has said data centers can play a role in economic development if they’re planned responsibly.

Harrison, who said the county isn’t ready for data centers, suggested that the council create another task force focused on community benefits. This group would be tasked with drafting a strong memorandum of understanding that lays out the rules and expectations between the county and any developer.

“The county sets the rules,” Harrison said. “Not the data center companies.”

In addition, he said, the county needs to spend more time studying its energy efficiencies and deficiencies. The two-year work group he proposed would also focus on how the county can create energy generation in an environmentally friendly way.

“The county needs to establish something,” he said. “You can’t just bring these types of businesses in and there’s no set of rules to operate from.”

Council member Shayla Adams-Stafford, whose district includes Landover, is crafting legislation to establish a framework for data center regulations, including site selection, infrastructure capacity and zoning.

Her bill is pending review by the county’s planning department, and she said it’s focused on creating the strictest possible regulations. She wants to ensure that data centers are not allowed near schools and residential areas and that residents aren’t responsible for paying data centers’ energy costs.

“I think that any legislation that comes out of our council, or really any local government, has to be focused on protecting citizens,” she said. “That’s our No. 1 focus.”