Montgomery County MD Council Unanimously Passes 18-Month Data Center Moratorium, 25 MW Cap Into Law

Montgomery County, Maryland’s 11-member County Council voted 11-0 on July 28, 2026 to enact an 18-month moratorium on new data center permits and pass Expedited Bill 19-26 / zoning text amendment ZTA 26-01, barring any future data center larger than 25 megawatts county-wide. The vote codifies and extends County Executive Marc Elrich’s June 2026 executive order halting permit acceptance. The trigger was Atmosphere Data Centers’ proposal for a 300 MW, 110-acre campus in Dickerson, with an undisclosed hyperscale tenant reportedly under NDA. This is the largest single-jurisdiction hyperscale moratorium enacted by unanimous vote in 2026 and the most prominent county-level action yet in the mid-Atlantic data-center-resistance wave.

The council’s July 28 final vote follows the Economic Development Committee’s July 22 unanimous recommendation (2026-07-22–montgomery-co-md-datacenter-18month-moratorium-vote) advancing the measure to the full council — this entry supersedes that one as the enacted law. Montgomery County (FIPS 24031) is one of the largest suburban counties in the mid-Atlantic; the moratorium runs through roughly January 2028, after which the county must adopt permanent rules or extend. Precedent is being watched closely by Virginia and Maryland counties under active hyperscaler pressure, including Prince George’s County’s 2-year moratorium (2026-07-06–prince-georges-county-md-2-year-datacenter-moratorium-vote).