Prince George's County, MD Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Noise Limits (2026)

Section 27-5102(e)(4)(B), the use-specific standard for qualified data centers under Subtitle 27, the Zoning Ordinance, folds the County's noise code directly into the permitting process. It requires the applicant to submit an acoustical study prepared by a professional acoustical engineer demonstrating that the completed facility will not violate the maximum allowable noise levels, measured in dBA, set out in Subtitle 19 of the County Code. A data center operator cannot simply build to the Zoning Ordinance's setback and screening rules and assume compliance; DPIE reviews the acoustical study as part of the site plan package before issuing a building permit, and the projected noise output has to hold under Subtitle 19's limits at the property line even with cooling towers, generators, and mechanical equipment running.

The noise standard sits alongside the same section's other siting rules, including the requirement that exterior lighting use cutoff, fully shielded fixtures directed away from adjacent roads and properties, and the 40-foot vegetated buffer required between security fencing and any abutting residential property. Because the acoustical study is a use-specific standard rather than a general nuisance provision, it applies whether or not the facility sits in the RR Zone's additional acreage and setback tier, and it controls even where the Zoning Ordinance's development standards under PART 27-6 would otherwise conflict, since the Ordinance states the qualified data center standards govern in that circumstance.