News4 has learned Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy is pausing data center development through an executive order.
The county council is set to pass a separate resolution Tuesday that will also temporarily block data center approvals.
Taylor Frazier’s petition to stop a data center from being built on the site of the old Landover Mall got more than 20,000 signatures. She’s happy Prince George’s County is moving to stop data center development — for now.
“I’m excited about the temporary pause,” she said. “I think that it shows the people have a voice. People have power.”
Braveboy’s executive order puts a temporary hold on permits and applications, and Council Member Wala Blegay’s resolution Tuesday would pause review and approval of future projects.
The moves come less than a week after hundreds of residents turned out for a data center task force meeting and protested plans for building a data center at the site of the former mall, which was torn down years ago.
“As many people as came out on Wednesday night to the Qualified Data Center Task Force meeting is something that shows we are really serious and mean business,” Frazier said.
At a community meeting in Largo Sunday, dozens of people again expressed concern about the impact data centers could have on property values, health and the environment.
“Prince George’s County is preyed upon. Prince George’s County is the home of more detrimental environmental factors than any other county in the state,” one speaker said.
The task force will make recommendations to the council on data center development by the end of November.
Some elected leaders have expressed support for data centers to bring in much-needed tax dollars, but some residents say they want the county to come up with other ways to generate revenue.
“I don’t think it’s gonna bring in that much money,” Frazier said. “When you look at the actual dollars and cents of it, it’s not a long-term solution — it’s a bandaid.”
The six-month pause will allow the task force to complete its work and the council to develop regulations to govern data center development in the county. The resolution is scheduled to be introduced Tuesday at noon.
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