Planning staff: county placed one‑year moratorium on new data‑center applications to study impacts

Planning staff announced that Caroline County has adopted a one‑year moratorium on new data‑center applications in unincorporated areas while the county gathers information and evaluates potential regulatory responses. Olivia Vedado of Planning and Codes said the pause will allow staff to assemble technical data on electricity, water use and wastewater impacts and brief the planning commission and county commissioners before any regulatory decisions are made. "The county did put a 1 year moratorium on any new data center applications in the unincorporated areas," Vedado said, noting that the moratorium gives staff time to track rapidly changing technology and pending state action.

Staff and participants at the outreach meeting raised several specific concerns that the county plans to study: electric‑transmission impacts and who pays for upgrades, groundwater withdrawal and wastewater-treatment requirements, and the potential for technology changes that reduce cooling water needs. Staff said the state may propose legislation requiring data centers to pay for infrastructure upgrades so costs do not fall to ratepayers. The planning office set a public comment deadline for data‑center input on April 1, 2027, and said all materials are posted online and in hard copy at county libraries and the courthouse.