Amid a flurry of bills considered by the Prince George’s County Council on Tuesday — the final day of this year’s legislative session — was one dealing with data centers.
It was introduced earlier this year by the county executive’s office in an effort for the cash-strapped county to quicken the approval process and begin generating tax revenue — the way local governments in Northern Virginia already do.
But after a relatively quiet path from introduction to committee hearings to the final day, several residents showed up to express concerns with the bill, amid fears that a streamlined process would mean data centers could be jammed into any neighborhood with no recourse for the residents who live there.
“It eliminates necessary public oversight and planning processes for large facilities with potential adverse environmental impacts,” said Janet Gingold, with the Prince George’s County Sierra Club, during her testimony on Tuesday. “We need systems in place that will enable careful consideration of their location and design to mitigate their adverse impacts and to ensure that they do not disproportionately harm communities that are already overburdened.”
The bill “eliminates the only remaining opportunity for the planning board and the public to scrutinize the proposal to ensure that aligns with county goals, meets local needs and includes design features to minimize that adverse impacts,” she added.
“By curtailing public oversight for significant development projects like data centers, (the bill) undermines community involvement and government accountability,” said Fort Washington resident Ron Weiss.
At one point during the hearing, economic development deputy chief administrative officer Angie Rodgers tried to ease the concerns of residents.
“We aren’t anticipating data centers to pop up on every available parcel,” she stressed. “There are maps that show where these are likely to go.”
The locations being studied closely right now include some land in the Brandywine area, not far from an existing power plant, as well as the Konterra section of Laurel. There’s also been discussions about building a data center where the old Landover Mall is along the Inner Loop of the Beltway, though certain infrastructure issues might make that cost prohibitive.
Nonetheless, some of what was said brought little solace to those who attended the hearing.
“Data centers already are imposing massive loads on the state’s … generating capacity and transmission grid,” said Greg Smith, with Sustainable Hyattsville.
Others also expressed concerns about the amount of energy needed to power the data centers, the impact it would have on electricity supplies and how that would impact the rates that local residents pay. Pollution and other environmental impacts were also brought up.
But those who supported the measure pointed to the massive budget deficit looming over the county next year, and in future years.
“We have not seen any industry that can provide taxable revenue needed for sustainable ecosystem like data centers,” said Alex Austin, with the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce.
Prince George’s County Council Vice Chair Sidney Harrison, the most vocal about the county’s budget issues, expanded on that sentiment.
“If you look at what Loudoun County has done, 42% of their local tax base is provided by data centers,” Harrison said. “Everyone in this room has a cellphone and a computer that where your data goes to — that goes to Virginia. So you’re talking about a $1.3 billion industry that helps manage their local government.”
But his colleague, council member Wala Blegay, countered that comes from having nearly 200 data centers operating throughout the county. Right now, Prince George’s County doesn’t have any.
“It’s increased revenue,” Blegay said. “But this is not a windfall of money.”
A majority of the council sided with her, agreeing that a different approach to changing zoning rules to allow for data centers was needed. The council voted to hold the bill from a final vote, so more work can be done next year.
“I believe that we will need to pass this bill eventually,” said Council Chair Jolene Ivey, who bemoaned the long process involved in approving any construction. Her example was the five years it took, according to her, just to build a storage center in her district.
“But the first step would be to deal with making sure that they can get the energy that they need without it being a burden to homeowners,” Ivey said.
She also urged the county to “do an overlay zone that includes the public in deciding where they … will go, so everyone understands. And then this bill would make the most sense, because at that point, you know where they’re going.”
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