Councilmember Calls for More Data Center Review

District 5 Councilmember Shayla Adams-Stafford Calls For Sure Footing On Data Center Questions

Councilmember Shayla Adams-Stafford

By Shayla Adams-Stafford

Shayla Adams-Stafford (D) is the Prince George’s County Councilmember for District 5.

As Council Members, our job is to create a vision for our districts and deliver that vision for our constituents. When I won my election in June 2025, I set out to do just that. I convened stakeholder and constituent meetings, started drafting legislation, and began mapping out our collective vision for District 5.

But there was just one problem, a dark spot in that vision if you will. Poised to come into the heart of District 5 was the proposed Bright Seat Tech Park Data Center. In fact, the facility, if permits are approved, proposes bringing a nearly 90-acre data center property to what was once a premier community gathering in Prince George’s County–the former Landover Mall site.

The proposal to bring a data center to the county brings with it several risks. I’ve talked with my constituents about their concerns which include raising already crippling utility costs for residents and pulling local water resources to power the center's coolant systems. Most alarming, this area of the county is poised to bring in hundreds of new apartment units within a 1-mile radius that will also draw down on those same resources.

All the while, we’ve watched under-regulated data centers disrupt communities across the country, from Kentucky, to Tennessee, to our close neighbors in Virginia. One message is clear: data centers without community input and proper regulation can bring long-lasting and far-reaching damage.

In November, 2025, the Data Center Taskforce, established by the County Council, released its recommendations. These recommendations reaffirm that Prince George’s County should not bring data centers into residential communities, especially without strong land use and zoning guardrails. Thankfully, under the leadership of County Executive Braveboy, the permitting process for data centers is being temporarily paused so that we can fully consider and adopt the necessary guardrails for any data centers coming into the County. Furthermore, in September, the County Council passed a resolution, which I co-sponsored, pausing review of Preliminary Plans of Subdivision to further encourage careful review of these policy recommendations and collection of community feedback.

The upcoming Council Session is the perfect opportunity to thoughtfully move our county forward. In upcoming legislation, I will fight to:

●  Make sure data centers are properly regulated for land use and zoning.

●  Make sure Prince George’s County does not prematurely act on data centers without appropriate guardrails.

●  Keep development application review processes for data center approvals transparent.

●  Ensure that community voices are considered at every level of review for data center projects.

●  Ensure that county regulations and legislation align with industry best practices.

Prince George’s County is open for business, but not at the cost of our residents’ ability to thrive. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Council and with the County Executive to bring the best vision for our county to fruition.