The work group, which consists of 12 members representing different stakeholder groups, is tasked with preparing a report by Dec. 1 that will inform the county's regulation of the critical digital infrastructure industry.
Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater created the work group in June.
According to Development Review and Planning Director Mike Wilkins, many county zoning ordinances including the adequate public facilities ordinance and the forest resource ordinance already apply to data centers.
Data centers are also subject to all of the usual requirements for businesses in the General Industrial and Limited Industrial zones. The work group could still recommend data center-specific alterations or additions to the county code.
Climate and Energy Manager Dawn Ashbacher presented an overview of environmental issues related to data centers for the group to consider.
Among those issues are the vast amounts of water and energy required to keep data centers online, noise from mechanical equipment and light pollution.
Laura Fritts, the executive executive director of economic and workforce development for the Office of Economic Development, also attended the meeting to brief members of the work group on the fiscal implications of data centers.
She said data centers do not typically employ a large number of people, but the downstream effects of growth in the critical digital infrastructure industry are promising.
"I always want to make sure that we're not just looking at the data centers," Fritts said. "We need to really look at the other companies that can be part of the value chain that would choose Frederick County as a great place to do business."
Fire Chief Tom Coe addressed the public safety ramifications of data centers based on his conversations with emergency personnel in Northern Virginia, where most of the country's critical digital infrastructure is housed.
Coe said that accessing data centers in an emergency situation can be difficult due to their large campuses and their clients' security concerns.
He said that, because data centers have specialized fire suppression systems and limited ventilation in order to protect their servers, even small fires can be long events and pose increased risks to firefighters.
In the coming days, members of the data centers work group will be assigned to one of three subgroups — community benefits, siting and sustainability.
While meetings of the entire work group will remain open to the public, meetings of the subgroups will be closed provided that they do not make binding decisions.
Still, some officials at the meeting stressed the need for transparency in the event that subgroups begin consulting with outside experts.
The next meeting of the data centers work group is scheduled for Aug. 30, according to Frederick County Council Member Renee Knapp. A public input portal will soon be available for county residents wishing to submit comments.
Meetings of the full work group will be streamed live on Frederick County's government TV channel.
© 2023 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
