VOL. 5, NO. 6 | June 5, 2026
Frederick City and County News of Interest
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Learn more about CRG at the bottom of this newsletter.
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Newsletter Update: Kevin Sellner, a co-editor of the CRG newsletter and organization member, is stepping aside from his involvement in the group’s activities and his participation in most County and City meetings, workshops, and events. After nearly 6 years of multiple meetings each week, newsletter composition and editing, and many conversations and discussions with officials, staffs, and a huge swath of local residents, Kevin’s decided to withdraw from all CRG activities and focus on his family and their interests. He may weigh in occasionally on two issues (affordable housing, data centers) as an independent, non-affiliated resident, as well as on candidate campaigns for responsible governance but otherwise, he’s taking a well-deserved break. He extends his thanks to everyone for their help and their interest!
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County Elections
Early voting starts next Thursday, June 11 and each eligible voter should by now have the proper mail-in ballots in their hands, despite the earlier snafu. CRG obviously urges everyone to vote, but also to do your homework before making your choice.
This election may be the most critical to the future of the County and, by extension, the City. The County Council you elect will be faced with several key decisions and choices of direction that will impact the very nature of our community — whether or not it will remain " livable " and — as importantly — affordable. For many the quality of life we have enjoyed for generations is on the line, both for the present and most critically, the future.
Make sure you are comfortable with the people you elect to make these choices for you; go their websites, research each on the internet, talk to your neighbors, consider endorsements as an important factor — many have been well vetted by various respected organizations. Ignore the negative and counterproductive avalanche of mailers on one race, in particular. Finally, do not vote by reflex, do not just check a box based on name recognition — sometimes it's easily recognizable for the wrong reasons. This has been an ugly and noisy campaign season, but at the end of the day, our County's future is in your hands — choose wisely!
City: Affordable Housing
The City Council (through its committees and its own discussions) and the Mayor are moving forward with deep dives into possible options for actually providing affordable housing, as construction projects or rental assistance. The Mayor-convened Housing Task Force will soon publish its recommendations and rumor has it that there may be specifics on use of City MPDU (Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit) fees in-lieu (approximately $4.5M) and rainy day funds (more than $33M) to produce housing for our lower income residents. Should this occur, perhaps funding for a demonstration project might be explored at a religious campus as outlined in the May 19 multi-religious institution Faith and Housing Taskforce forum at the Trinity United Methodist Church on W. Patrick Street. CRG is strongly in support of the possible City commitment and will continue to urge City provisions for these housing units — both rentals and purchase!
City: Data Center Update
At the City Development Review Conference meeting on May 26, Bruce Dean and Trammell Crow representatives continued their efforts to get the City to consider a Zoning Text Amendment that would allow data centers within City limits. Again, without providing actual amounts of power and water needs, limited discussions of noise levels and boundary setbacks were the primary topics covered.
The next step is a meeting of the City Planning Commission (PC) on June 15, so it’s very important that all residents show up to voice their opinions and demand responsible construction and operations. Let’s set the bar very high, so if the City Council fails to prevent data centers in the City, any future data centers would be required to protect residents, air quality and public health, schools and senior facilities, environmental damages, and make data centers all but invisible industries in the City.
A City Council review of any PC data center amendment would follow the PC's meeting(s), presumably with one member — Ms. Nash — recused for her data center-power lobbying activities. CRG, Mobilize Frederick, and multiple residents have submitted extensive lists of construction and operation requirements any future data center would have to meet should the Council allow any data center within City limits. We hope the Council will reject data centers outright, but should some text amendment allowing data centers move forward, mandated construction and operation requirements will either dissuade data center corporation investment, or require regulations of data centers to be extremely protective of all of us, and of what makes the City so treasured by residents and visitors.
City: CiviCon — Learning from a Historically Linked City
Three planners from Baltimore presented at Hood’s student union on May 27 and provided a superb summary of lessons learned from their revitalization efforts in Baltimore, and how these lessons might apply to our future City of Frederick. Tim Keane, Ren Southard, and Klaus Philipsen gave brief presentations on aspects of planning for the state’s largest city and the most important message was that we should develop and implement a conceptual design plan for the entire City, getting away from regulation and zoning as the primary drivers for what our City will be in decades to come.
VISION matters, and input from residents on what they want their neighborhoods to be in the future is paramount. Maybe our 2030 Comprehensive Plan could shift to this future visioning option, and we then build to fulfill it? Wishful thinking — maybe…
County: Data Center Update
The legal challenge to the 23,261-resident referendum petition to limit the size of the County’s data center zone is now scheduled for mid-June. The legal challenge has been brought by wealthy data center corporations and their allies against the County’s residents and the Board of Elections, and is the epitome of a local, real-life David and Goliath story, as legal expenses will surely be well beyond most local resident means. Perhaps a GoFundMe campaign might be considered? THANK YOU to Envision Frederick County for your determined leadership in this battle!
In other news, Amazon has requested that Maryland’s Department of the Environment (MDE) allow an additional 99 diesel generators for its Adamstown data center campus, to add to its already permitted 261 generators. Considering the established threats to public health (increased health costs from $53M-$99M/yr and 3 to 5 premature deaths each year — read more here) that have recently been reported in Loudoun County from generator-emitted particulate matter (PM, PM2.5), MDE should step up and reject this request.
On May 27, a rally of referendum supporters and candidates urged stronger regulations for data centers, prior to a forum held by MDE staff, in which Amazon representatives made a presentation to attendees and then took input and questions from residents and elected officials. A raucous crowd challenged many of the industry’s claims and substantial public comment indicated huge pushback to Amazon’s MDE request.
We’ll see what MDE rules, but state law only allows MDE assessments of single applications and does not consider cumulative/aggregate emissions from the entire data center operation area — that limitation will likely prevent rejection of Amazon’s request for the extra generators. Residents — not the industry — need HELP! Check out the coverage of the May 27 meeting in the FNP here.
RISE Coalition Candidate Survey
Our friends at the RISE Coalition, along with other community organizations, conducted a survey of candidates for local, state, and national office. Depending on the office they are seeking, candidates were asked to respond to issues within their sphere of responsibility. You can find the guide here:
https://www.minorityvotersguidefrederick.org/
Upcoming Meetings and Events
City Planning Commission, June 8, City Hall, 6 PM — Brickworks, Canterbury
Candidate Forum, June 10, Grace United Church of Christ, 25 E. 2nd Street, 6 PM — Sam Newhouse, Tiffany Grant, Jess Douglas
City Planning Commission, June 15, City Hall, 2 PM — City Data Center Zoning Text Amendment
Primary elections:
June 11–18: early voting for the primary elections
June 23: primary election day
Contributors: P. Gallagher, S. Jakubczyk, K. Sellner
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VOL. 3, NO. 12 | DECEMBER 11, 2024 Frederick City and County News of Interest Please join our monthly email list by clicking here . Le...