Updated November 19, 2024

Note: This updated post discusses proposals for two large-scale solar projects, one in Dickerson and the other near Poolesville. See the note at the end about making your views knows to the relevant government agency.

Click here to view the recording and slides from our recent Community Zoom Forum on the Montgomery Countryside Alliance website. This forum on a proposed solar installation was held on November 14 . SCA and Montgomery Countryside Alliance work together to protect the Ag Reserve.

Background

SCA helped shape a Montgomery County zoning ordinance in 2021 that allows farmers and landowners in the Ag Reserve—working with solar developers—to place ground-based solar arrays on portions of their land if those arrays don’t take prime arable land out of agricultural use.

Under this new policy, solar arrays must meet certain requirements and be approved by county regulators. For now, the total acreage allowed for solar array placement in the Ag Reserve is 1,800 acres, which equates to about 2% of agricultural land in the county. In addition to preserving agricultural land, the rules governing the initiative protect forests and environmentally sensitive areas.

The ordinance permits up to two megawatts of energy per project. It also allows homeowners who install solar arrays (whether on their roofs or on the ground) to produce twice as much energy as they need and sell it back into the grid. Thus, if a homeowner needed 30 kilowatt-hours per day for their own needs, they could produce 60 and sell 30 back to the grid.

Report from the County

This policy and zoning change has been in effect for almost three years. In an assessment of the impact to date, published in December 2023, the County’s Planning Department took stock, highlighted some problems, and identified outcomes to date.

First, the report says two Ag Reserve solar projects are in process under the terms of the 2021 zoning change. Construction on both is scheduled to begin this year. One project plans about 13 acres in solar, the other about 8 acres.

In the words of the report: “While [these projects] demonstrate a modest start to the county’s solar program…it also demonstrates it is possible to promote solar projects on agricultural lands, aiding in reducing carbon emissions and contributing towards our larger renewable energy and solar production goals, while ensuring agriculture remains the primary use within the Agricultural Reserve.”

Second, the report notes that the Maryland state legislature passed legislation in 2022 affecting “community” solar projects, including those on farms. Recent court decisions also apply. Both are complex. The upshot is that state law could eclipse county law for solar projects that will generate more than 2 megawatts of energy—the limit established under the 2021 solar initiative for projects on farmland in the Ag Reserve. And, notably, the state law also allows such larger “community” solar projects (up to 5 megawatts) to be on arable land if the landowner prefers.

Updated August 30, 2024

The siting, construction, and operation of data centers have become contentious issues in the mid-Atlantic area. Northern Virginia is home to the highest concentration of data centers in the country (10 million square feet!), with residents increasingly concerned about the economic and environmental impact. Virginia lawmakers have recently hinted that the data center boom in that state may have run its course.

That has data center companies and developers eyeing the other side of the Potomac River. Two large-scale data center projects in Maryland—one in Montgomery County and the other in Frederick County—are now in various stages of development.

What is a data center?

Data center buildings contain tens of thousands of computers called servers that receive, store and transfer data. The internet could not function without data centers; they are “the cloud.” Data centers serve the needs of IT companies, tech-heavy industries and government—and everyone who uses the internet, smart phones, streaming services and the like. They are essential to the modern economy and modern life. A data center will also have sophisticated electrical, safety and cooling equipment. Data centers require an enormous amount of energy; they currently account for approximately 2% of all electricity use in the U.S. That’s expected to double by 2030, in large part due to the growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

Updated January 6, 2024

On December 19, 2023, the Frederick County Council voted down a once-in-a-generation proposal to strengthen conservation and agricultural zoning on 19,700 acres in the southern part of the county.

The area in question in Frederick County is contiguous with Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve.  It encompasses 3,400-acre Sugarloaf Mountain and an additional 16,300 acres to the east of the mountain all the way to I-270.  

The vote came after a three-year process, which saw the Frederick County Council approve a comprehensive land-use plan—the Sugarloaf Mountain Treasured Landscape Management Plan—for the area in the fall of 2022.  The Council struggled, however, to come to political consensus and agreement in 2022 and again in 2023 on an accompanying zoning ordinance—called an “overlay”—that would implement and enforce the plan’s land-use guidance. 

That struggle occurred despite urging by Frederick County’s own planning commission and the Maryland’s Department of the Environment to approve the overlay. 

In a nutshell, the debate pitted environmental and civic groups (including SCA) against developers, real estate interests, and business groups. The latter prevailed in a county long bent on loosely regulated growth.      

The practical upshot is that the area’s existing zoning stays in place, with no updated conservation protections for natural resources, streams, trees or natural habitat— amid the known and unknown threats posed by climate change.    

Importantly, that existing zoning largely prevents commercial and dense housing development without explicit permission from Frederick County authorities.  But the failure of the Frederick County Council to enact the overlay opens up a path for developers and landowners to apply for zoning exemptions on a case-by-case basis.