Three Montgomery County Council members want to ban hyperscale data centers from every zoning district in the county, and the first committee vote could come as soon as Wednesday.

Council President Natali Fani-González, Vice President Marilyn Balcombe and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles announced the legislative push in a letter to colleagues on Tuesday. Their plan: amend a pending zoning text amendment to define "hyperscale data center" as a land use and prohibit it countywide.

The trio described the approach as a "bridge between the current zoning ordinance and the future ZTA that will comprehensively address all the complex issues" around data center development, they wrote in the letter.

Two committee meetings on July 22 will set the stage. The Economic Development Committee, which Fani-González chairs, will review two competing moratorium bills: Bill 19-26, a six-month pause, and Bill 24-26, a two-year moratorium. The Planning, Housing and Parks Committee will separately take up Zoning Text Amendment 26-01, where the three sponsors plan to introduce their overriding amendment banning hyperscale facilities outright.

If the Economic Development Committee gives favorable consideration to either moratorium bill on July 22, it moves to the full council for a work session and vote on Tuesday, July 28.

Why the council is acting

The legislative push comes after developer Atmosphere Data Centers filed an appeal on Friday, July 10, challenging County Executive Marc Elrich's six-month executive order moratorium on data center permits. Atmosphere argued the county's permitting department "impermissibly changed its mind" on how it classifies data centers and that Elrich overstepped his authority because only the council can legislate under the county charter.

In their July 15 letter, the three councilmembers wrote: "While we appreciate the County Executive's recent executive order that imposes a six-month moratorium, we believe this moratorium should also be enacted through Council legislation."

What's at stake

Atmosphere has proposed a 360-megawatt campus of five data centers on 110 acres at the former Dickerson Generating Station at 21200 Martinsburg Road. No hyperscale data center currently operates in Montgomery County, according to Bethesda Magazine.

Environmental advocates have raised alarms about the project's potential to draw up to 500,000 gallons of water daily from the Potomac River for cooling. At a rally outside the council office building in Rockville on Wednesday, June 17, protesters carried signs reading "AI Won't Pay My Electric Bill" and "You Can't Drink Data."

Fani-González, Balcombe, and Sayles originally introduced ZTA 26-01 in January 2026 to restrict data centers to industrial zones and regulate noise, emissions, and distance from homes. Their new amendment goes further, proposing a complete ban on hyperscale facilities in all zones.

"Once you have a data center as big as the one in Dickerson, that will attract other companies. I'm afraid that if we don't do anything right now, they could go anywhere," Fani-González said in January when the original ZTA was introduced, as reported by Bethesda Magazine.

What's next

If a moratorium bill advances, the full council work session and vote is set for Tuesday, July 28. Residents can find meeting agendas and public testimony details on the Montgomery County Council website.