Calvert County MD six-month data center site plan moratorium (2026)
Calvert County, MD — Board of County Commissioners Six-Month Moratorium on Data Center Site Plan Approvals (Adopted August 18, 2026; Effective August 28, 2026)
Calvert County, MD · Calvert Cnty., Md. — Six-Month Data Center Site Plan Moratorium (adopted Aug. 18, 2026; eff. Aug. 28, 2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- February 28, 2027
- Applies to
- Applicants seeking site plan approval for data center development in Calvert County; county planning and zoning staff.
- Enforced by
- Calvert County Department of Planning & Zoning / Board of County Commissioners
The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners unanimously passed a six-month moratorium on site plan approvals for data center development at its August 18, 2026 regular meeting, following a public hearing. It took effect on August 28, 2026. The politics behind the vote are unusually legible. Calvert County had been the target of an Amazon Web Services proposal for multiple data center campuses totalling about 2.4 million square feet on the grounds of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. In the June 2026 primary, three incumbent commissioners who had opposed a moratorium were defeated after fierce voter pushback over hyperscale development. AWS then abandoned the Calvert Cliffs plan in early August. The reconstituted board passed the moratorium unanimously weeks later — a reversal from an earlier attempt that had died on a tied vote. The pause targets site plan approvals specifically rather than all permitting, which is the stage at which a data center project becomes concrete in Maryland county practice.
Who is protected: Calvert County residents, through a six-month pause on data center site plan approvals while the county considers permanent regulation, in the wake of a withdrawn 2.4 million square foot proposal at Calvert Cliffs.
Legal detail
Calvert County, Md. Board of County Commissioners moratorium on site plan approvals for data center development projects, adopted unanimously at the August 18, 2026 regular meeting after a public hearing, effective August 28, 2026, six-month term. Scope is the site plan approval stage rather than the full permitting chain. Sequence worth preserving: an earlier Calvert moratorium vote FAILED on a tie; three incumbent commissioners opposed to a moratorium were defeated in the June 2026 primary amid opposition to hyperscale development; Amazon Web Services abandoned its proposal for multiple data center campuses (~2.4 million sq ft) at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in early August 2026; the board then adopted this measure unanimously. Distinct from Calvert County data-center text amendments adopted May 5, 2026, the separate zoning text amendment already indexed as proposed. Ordinance/resolution number not obtained.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Calvert County, MD |
|---|---|
| Level | County |
| Strength | Moderate |
| Enacted | August 18, 2026 |
| Citation | Calvert Cnty., Md. — Six-Month Data Center Site Plan Moratorium (adopted Aug. 18, 2026; eff. Aug. 28, 2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Data center site plan approvals are not granted during the moratorium |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · government use of AI |
| Agency page | Calvert County Commissioners Enact Six-Month Data Center Moratorium — Calvert County, MD |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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