In January 2026 the Frederick County Council approved the Critical Digital Infrastructure Overlay (CDI) Ordinance 26-01-001, encompassing approximately 2,600 acres where data centers can be located.

The League of Women Voters of Frederick County is concerned that the CDI Overlay includes approximately 800 acres of prime agricultural lands designated in the Livable Frederick Master Plan as Priority Preservation Areas. The League supported adoption (in 2019) of the Livable Frederick Master Plan, which reflects our long-standing position on the basic goals of comprehensive land use planning. According to the Livable Frederick Plan, the purpose of Priority Preservation Areas is to target land preservation efforts and build critical masses of protected lands on the highest priority properties in the Rural Reserve. We are concerned about the potential loss of farmland in these critical areas to data center development.

The Livable Frederick Plan also has strong environmental conservation elements, such as preserving biodiversity and water sources. The League is concerned about the impacts of data centers on these and other elements of the Livable Frederick Plan, as well as the increased environmental impacts of more data center capacity.

A non-partisan referendum effort has been launched by Frederick County citizens to gather sufficient county voter signatures to place the CDI Overlay Ordinance on the ballot.

If this effort is successful, a referendum would provide for broad citizen input into the future of data center development in Frederick County. We encourage LWVFC members to consider signing the petition. For information on the petition drive, see the Frederick County Data Center Referendum Committee website (https://fcdcreferendum.org/).