Community Development Forums

Good morning Councilmembers. My name is David Owens, and I serve as the Planning and Development Unit Leader for the non-profit organization Fort Washington Forward. Fort Washington Forward leverages placemaking to attract resources that enhance smart and sustainable development. 

 

Fort Washington Forward opposes Bill CB-052-2024 for the following reasons. 

 

1. The bill exempts “qualified” data centers from the requirement to complete a preliminary plan of subdivision, and instead requires them only to obtain a Certificate of Adequacy. 

 

While Certificates of Adequacy do analyze the suitability of public facilities, Preliminary Plans of Subdivision are more comprehensive. Specifically, they review overall layouts, environmental impacts, lot sizes, street design, open space, and stormwater management, etc. Data centers are large scale projects, thus, they should be given more scrutiny, not less. Preliminary Plans of Subdivision should not be bypassed in this process.

 

2. The bill allows development plans to be reviewed by the Planning Director as a minor subdivision instead of a major subdivision that must go to the Planning Board.

 

Designation as a minor subdivision reduces developer responsibility to notify the public. Sign-posting is required at the subject site just 10 days prior to the date of the Planning Director’s decision. For major subdivisions it is 30 days. Additionally, developments designated as minor subdivisions do not require registered civic associations to be notified. 

 

This bill gives outsized approval authority to the Planning Director. The Planning Board should be the authority in this case. They have been installed for a reason, and we should allow them to do their job. 

 

3. The bill points to the requirement of a Pre-Application Neighborhood Meeting as proof that citizens are part of the process. This is a disingenuous statement.  

Section 24-3303 states pre-application neighborhood meetings are informal, and shall not be part of the administrative record. As currently defined, neighborhood meetings are off-the-record, and discussions that are "not part of the administrative record" are difficult to admit into legal proceedings.  

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While data centers are an understandable option being considered by many municipalities, the scrutiny their development plans receive should not be minimized. The County Executive Office emphasized the need to streamline the permitting process, however, this reflects a broader need to reduce inefficiencies in the permitting process as a whole, not just for data centers. Most importantly, this bill removes citizens from the process, and it is disappointing it has made it this far. Fort Washington Forward opposes CB-052 and is encouraging the 35,000 residents of Fort Washington to do the same.