No data center is headed for St. Mary’s County, and a ban isn’t needed right now, two county commissioners said Oct. 6. Four weeks before Election Day, they said voters are hearing otherwise.
“There’s no data centers coming to St. Mary’s County,” Commissioner Mike Hewitt said during commissioner comments at the board’s Oct. 6 meeting. “People start putting AI out there with data centers that are coming to St. Mary’s.”
Last month, county officials said a site plan circulating on social media that appeared to show an Equinix data center campus on Three Notch Road in Mechanicsville was fake, and that no such project had been proposed.
‘Something for the next board’
Hewitt did not rule out limits in the future. “Now, they talk about, you know, we need to prohibit them. And maybe that’s true,” he said. “But that’s something for the next Board of Commissioners to come up with.”
He also took aim at an unnamed candidate. “It’s just wrong for people to outright lie or make false statements. And this is someone who wants to be a county commissioner,” Hewitt said. “It’s just not right to use deceiving ads to do that.” He did not say who he meant or which ads. He urged voters to research candidates and make sure they understand how county government and taxes work.
Commissioner President Randy Guy agreed with Hewitt that some of what voters are hearing “is just not true.” He said the county’s current zoning already makes a data center hard to build.
“A data center would be very difficult to build here right now without a lot of work being done to get it done,” Guy said. “So right now, we don’t need to put a moratorium on it.” He said he knew of no interest from anyone in building one. “No one’s asked me about putting one here.”
Guy added a caution. “Data centers don’t have to be these giant 300,000-square-foot buildings. They could be a small footprint and still be a data center,” he said. “But right now I don’t anticipate personally seeing a data center being built in St. Mary’s County.”
What the 2050 plan says
The county’s long-range plan takes up the issue indirectly. During their September work session on the draft St. Mary’s 2050 Comprehensive Plan, commissioners added a goal directing the county to make sure zoning is in place for “new and emerging industries that do not fit” existing categories, citing cannabis and data centers as examples, the Chronicle reported at the time.
A comprehensive plan sets direction but does not change zoning by itself. Hewitt said the details that decide what can be built where will come later, in a comprehensive zoning ordinance that he said would probably take another couple of years. “The comprehensive plan is like the 30,000-foot view,” he said. “That comprehensive zoning ordinance will be where the rubber meets the road on things that may go in your neighborhood.”
Written comments on the 2050 plan are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, and commissioners are scheduled to decide on the plan Oct. 20.
The data center debate is also playing out next door. In Charles County, commissioners have said they want the term “data center” defined before any ban.
