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

Section 27-5102(e)(4)(B) of Subtitle 27, the Zoning Ordinance, spells out where and how a qualified data center may be built. A site plan must accompany the building permit application, but the use is exempt from detailed site plan approval, letting DPIE and M-NCPPC staff review the standards administratively. Qualified data centers cannot locate in Designated Regional Transit Districts, Local Transit Centers (Local), Neighborhood Centers (Local), or Campus Centers (Local) under the County's Plan 2035 General Plan, with one carve-out: the Bowie MARC Campus Center. Where a data center replaces the standard CGO Zone dimensional rules, it must instead provide a minimum 10 percent green area, a 25-foot front yard, 20-foot side and rear yards, and hold building height to 35 feet, unless DPIE and M-NCPPC approve alternate figures on the site plan.

Security fencing around the site cannot exceed 10 feet and must be screened by at least 40 feet of vegetation from every abutting residential property and public right-of-way. In the RR Zone specifically, a qualified data center needs a minimum 25 acres of land, must sit at least 4,000 feet from a regional park, and its structure has to be at least 300 feet from any residential use and 500 feet from any place of worship. Before filing a building permit application for an RR Zone site, the applicant must mail an informational notice at least 30 days ahead to adjoining owners, registered civic and homeowners associations countywide in the Councilmanic District, and any municipality within one mile, and file a compliance affidavit with DPIE.