Calvert County Board of County Commissioners Special Meeting - January 28, 2026
Calvert County Board of County Commissioners Special Meeting - January 28, 2026
A virtual special meeting was held on January 28, 2026, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The agenda was amended to remove one new business item. The meeting featured a presentation on data centers from a Virginia county, followed by votes on data center siting parameters, several funding approvals, appointments, and a consent agenda. No public comments were received.
Consent Calendar
- Department of Public Safety: First Amendment to Lusby Tower Lease Agreement with CellCo Partnership (Verizon Wireless) – approved.
- Department of Parks & Recreation: Forest Service Prescribed Burning – approved.
- Department of Planning & Zoning: Recertification of Calvert County’s Agricultural Land Preservation Program – approved.
- Department of Parks & Recreation: Maryland Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Equity Mini-Grant – approved.
- Department of Communications & Media Relations: Board of County Commissioners Citations, Proclamations and Letters of Greeting Administrative Policy – approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public offered comment either in person or online.
Presentation – Data Centers in Mecklenburg County, Virginia
- Alex Gottschalk, County Administrator of Mecklenburg County, VA, presented an overview of his county’s experience with large-scale data center campuses since 2008. Key points included: data centers now comprise 40% of Mecklenburg’s total real estate valuation; the county has the lowest real estate tax rate in Virginia and has funded $300 million in school construction without raising taxes; the industry has increased local incomes by $55 million over two years; construction traffic caused road damage, but the industry paid for repairs; noise complaints have been minimal; water usage is from a lake with plant expansion paid by the industry; and the county applied a reduced personal property tax rate of $0.66 per $100 on computer equipment (versus $3.26 general rate). Commissioners asked about power sourcing, transmission upgrades, housing displacement, setbacks, and consultant use. Gottschalk recommended pre-negotiating infrastructure improvements and hiring external engineering firms for road assessments.
Discussion Items
- Motion for Data Center Siting Parameters: Commissioner Hance introduced a motion requiring future data centers to: (1) use closed-loop cooling systems, (2) be banned from drilling wells for cooling, (3) collect all roof runoff for cooling, (4) pay all associated infrastructure costs, and (5) use Tier 4 diesel generators for backup power. The motion also directed that these requirements be incorporated into a zoning text amendment and that a work session be scheduled for February 10, 2026, to discuss additional parameters. The motion passed unanimously (4-0, with Commissioner Hart present online).
- Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund (CRRF) – Additional FY2026 Recommendations: Two additional awards were approved: $547,469.68 total (corrected from a transposed number in the memo). The Calvert County Health Department received funding for a behavioral health crisis response program, and Mount Olive United Methodist Church received funding for youth programs in the Yardley Hills community. The motion passed unanimously.
- Geographic Information System (GIS) Data Collection Contract: A six-year contract with Eagle View was approved for biannual aerial flyovers. Cost increases from $40,400 to $50,400 per year (3.76% annualized). The new imagery will have nine times greater resolution. Staff noted the data integrates with permit and public safety systems. The motion passed unanimously.
- FY2026 Opioid Restitution Fund Recommendations: Three applications totaling $154,500 were approved (with an additional three deferred for direct procurement of training). Budget amendment BA2026-000528 was adopted. The motion passed unanimously.
- Budget Amendments for Ward Farm Recreation and Nature Park: Two budget amendments (BA2026-512 and BA2026-513) were approved to align the project budget with state CROF funds, increasing state grant revenue by $5,735,985. The motion passed unanimously.
- Motion to Explore an On-Call Data Center Consultant: Commissioner Hance moved to direct staff to explore retaining an on-call consultant for data center negotiations. The motion specified no financial obligation at this stage; staff would bring back options for a future vote. Approved unanimously.
Commissioner Reports
- Commissioners thanked county road crews and first responders for exceptional snow and ice removal. Several commissioners reported attending the opening of the Maryland legislative session in Annapolis, noting bills that would reduce local control over housing density. Commissioner Cox urged residents to check on neighbors during the continued cold weather. The one-year anniversary of the national airport tragedy was acknowledged.
Key Outcomes
- Approved consent agenda (5 items) unanimously.
- Approved all appointments: Commission for Women (Michelle Redding), Ethics Commission (John Kaiser, Ray Shackelford, Laura Regan as alternate), Parks & Recreation Advisory Board (Brad Ray), Board of Library Trustees (Emily Barson), Environmental Commission (Richard Rapier and James Levin), and updated annual committee assignments for 2026.
- Approved data center siting parameters (specific requirements and text amendment direction) unanimously.
- Approved CRRF additional funding ($547,469.68) unanimously.
- Approved GIS data collection contract (Eagle View, 6-year) unanimously.
- Approved opioid restitution fund awards ($154,500) and budget amendment unanimously.
- Approved Ward Farm budget amendments (BA2026-512 and BA2026-513) unanimously.
- Directed staff to explore an on-call data center consultant unanimously.
- Scheduled a work session for February 10, 2026, to further discuss data center regulations.
- Recessed to executive session at approximately 1:00 p.m. for personnel, legal, and business discussions.
Meeting Transcript
And welcome to the January 28th meeting of the Board of Calvert County Commissioners. This is a virtual meeting. It's also a special meeting, which was advertised ahead of time. Our invitation this morning is Pastor James E. Kent with First Lutheran Church in Huntingtown. Good morning, Pastor. Good morning. Good morning, sir. Apologize for the appearance, but we were shoveling snow to try to get our preschool open. So we get in our part. Now we just need a clean parking lot. Yes, sir. But uh I do want to offer up a word of prayer for y'all as you uh conduct your business today. Uh first of all, as I begin, uh I would like to thank thank God for all of our public works uh folks this weekend uh for getting our roads cleared, keeping them safe. I want to thank God for uh the work of our uh emergency responders, our law enforcement in the area, uh keeping order in this time and for all that they had to do out in uh the elements. So we thank you, Lord, for keeping them uh safe in this time. Uh and we thank you, Lord, for also keeping our residents safe. Dear Father in heaven, as we uh uh engage in the business of serving your people today, um I thank you, Lord, for these men and women and the work that they do, and I pray, Lord, that you would uh grant them wisdom in all that they do, that they would uh work to uh use the resources you have graciously provided us for the benefit of your community, uh these people that uh they're in charge of. And I just ask that you would uh grant them wisdom in all that they do, grant them wisdom in their decisions, and we ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag in the United States of America and to the public for which it stands. One under God, indivisible with liberty and justice. Thank you, Pastor. You're welcome, thank you. Get back to cleaning that parking lot up, would you? Yeah, yeah. We pre-is skating at first leaving if anybody's gonna go five goes up. Make the best. Thank you, sir. Um, do I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Mr. President, I move that we remove new business item number one and approve and adopt the agenda as amended. Second. So I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda with the amendment. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed, motion carries. I'm sorry for the delay. Um I should mention uh we have Commissioner Grasso and Commissioner Hart uh on teams with us. Um so there might be a little bit of a delay um in responses, and I apologize ahead of time for any uh confusion there. That moves us to public service announcements. Um, as we all know, you know the Mother Nature dealt us a good one with the ice, and uh we want to thank our public uh work crews for being out there and and they did a tremendous job. I mean, it was all over uh social media, how good a job they did, and for those that have to travel outside of the county, how when it got outside of the county they didn't experience quite the uh the level of service that uh the our citizens in Calvert County here received for clearing the roads. It was without a doubt challenging uh with the ice, particularly if if people went out and I guess got the snow off before the ice came, and it was a mess. But our plan was um before the storm we knew how much ice was coming, so there was a delay in pushing the roads off, but that was done intentionally uh so that the ice was manageable and it worked out very well, as most of you could see. And I guess the sunshine hit that asphalt, and it uh it did wonders between that and assault to get our roadways clear.
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