Prince George’s council restores site plan review for data centers

By Everett Calloway

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — The Prince George’s County Council on Tuesday repealed a 2021 exemption that let data center projects skip detailed site plan review, a step that includes an in-depth staff review and a public hearing, The Diamondback reported.

The bill, CB-019-2026, passed 10-0, with District 2 Council member Wanika Fisher abstaining. Fisher had proposed an amendment requiring data center proposals to come before the council for approval before moving forward; the council approved the bill without it. The Inquisitor previewed the measure Monday.

Council members Thomas Dernoga, Krystal Oriadha, the council chair, and Wala Blegay introduced the bill in January.

Landover Mall project prompted the change

District 5 Council member Shayla Adams-Stafford said the bill is meant to ensure data center applications can no longer bypass site plan review, as the proposed $5 billion data center on the former Landover Mall site in her district did, the Diamondback reported.

“It created a process that would allow for data centers not to come before the council, it would allow them to go straight to permitting,” Oriadha said at a September meeting.

Supporters of the 2021 exemption said at the time that it would make it easier and cheaper for data centers to locate in the county.

Why the amendment failed

Adams-Stafford, Blegay and Oriadha said Fisher’s amendment would have required another public hearing, delaying the bill until at least December. “If we want to create a regulation bill around data centers, we have to follow what the task force advises us to do,” Adams-Stafford said. Fisher declined to comment to the Diamondback.

The council is under a two-year moratorium, approved in July, on reviewing new data center applications. The pause expires automatically in July 2028 if the council does not adopt zoning rules. The county formed a data center task force in April 2025.

Tuesday’s session was the council’s last legislative meeting before the Nov. 3 election. Its next scheduled meeting is Dec. 8. The Inquisitor has asked the council and County Executive Aisha Braveboy’s office whether she will sign the bill.