Ridgely MD one-year data center moratorium (2026)
Ridgely, Maryland — Town Commissioners Pass a One-Year Data Center Moratorium Within Town Limits (August 2026)
Ridgely, MD · Town of Ridgely, Md. — one-year data center moratorium within town limits (August 2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- August 15, 2027
- Applies to
- Developers seeking data center approvals within Ridgely town limits during the moratorium year
- Enforced by
- Ridgely Town Commissioners
Ridgely commissioners passed a ONE-YEAR moratorium on data centers within town limits in August 2026. Ridgely is a small town in Caroline County, Maryland, and its measure is the third of three adopted in that county within about a month — the county commissioners covered unincorporated areas for one year on July 21, Federalsburg took three years in August, and Ridgely took one. Recording Ridgely separately matters for the same reason the other two do: Maryland county land-use authority does not reach incorporated towns, so a developer checking Caroline County has to check each town individually, and the county's own moratorium tells you nothing about whether a parcel inside Ridgely is covered. What is not known is as important as what is. The located source gives the term and the territory and nothing else — no vote, no date beyond 'recently', no ordinance number, and no definition or threshold for the facilities covered. The entry is recorded so the measure exists in the register and can be found, not because it is fully documented.
Who is protected: Ridgely residents in Caroline County, Maryland
Legal detail
Town of Ridgely, Md. (Caroline County) — ONE-YEAR MORATORIUM on data centers WITHIN TOWN LIMITS, passed by town commissioners and reported as recent in August 2026. TERRITORIAL SIGNIFICANCE: Maryland county land-use authority reaches UNINCORPORATED territory only, so the Caroline County Commissioners' one-year moratorium of 2026-07-21 does NOT cover Ridgely; the town had to act for itself, as did Federalsburg. THE COUNTY NOW CARRIES THREE SEPARATE INSTRUMENTS AT TWO DIFFERENT TERMS: county (one year, unincorporated, 2026-07-21), FEDERALSBURG (THREE years, August \u2014 Federalsburg MD three-year data center moratorium (2026)), RIDGELY (one year, town limits, August). See Caroline County MD, Federalsburg and Ridgely data center moratoria (2026) for the combined structure and the significance of neighbouring governments reaching terms differing by a factor of three. THIS ENTRY IS DELIBERATELY THIN AND SAYS SO: the located source supplies ONLY the term, the territory and the adopting body. NO VOTE TALLY, NO CALENDAR DATE BEYOND 'recently', NO ORDINANCE NUMBER, AND NO DEFINITION OR SIZE THRESHOLD for the covered use were obtained. It is recorded so the measure is discoverable in the register, NOT because it is adequately documented, and it must not be cited for any particular requirement. MARYLAND CONTEXT: more than half of Maryland's counties had acted on data centers by September 2026; the indexed cohort includes Worcester County MD data center + cable landing moratorium (2026), Montgomery County MD 18-month data center moratorium, Dorchester County MD one-year data center moratorium (2026), Chesapeake Beach MD townwide data center prohibition (2026), Howard County MD S.M.A.R.T. Siting Act data center moratorium (2026) and Baltimore Data Center Moratorium.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Ridgely, MD |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Moderate |
| Enacted | August 15, 2026 |
| Citation | Town of Ridgely, Md. — one-year data center moratorium within town limits (August 2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Data center approvals are paused within town limits for one year |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | Ridgely passes one-year moratorium on data centers — SoMdNews / APG |
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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