AWS Site Plan Didn’t Meet Basic Requirements For Stormwater Management In Calvert County, Officials Say

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — Calvert County Planning and Zoning Director Jason Brinkley confirmed that Amazon Web Services (AWS) will have to resubmit a site plan if they want to move forward with a data center project.

At the request of County Commissioner Mike Hart, Brinkley spoke about the status of AWS’s site plan at the July 21 Board of County Commissioners meeting. Hart asked Brinkley to share the site plan’s status with the public, knowing they were “anxious” for updates.

Brinkley said the site plan “did not meet the basic requirements for stormwater management” and was returned to AWS for resubmission. Concept plans are focused on stormwater management, and in this case, Brinkley said staff submitted more than 20 pages of notes on the plan specifically on stormwater management, and because of this, it didn’t meet the requirements for a full concept review beyond stormwater management.

Additionally, Brinkley said staff has not heard back from AWS at this time, but they have up to two years to resubmit their concept.

“Typically for a concept, you have a couple of rounds. Since we weren’t able to do a full review from the DPW [department of public works] side, it would likely be two more rounds of concept before even moving onto the detailed plan,” Brinkley said. Review time for concept plans is currently about seven weeks.

The concept plan and comments are available online for the public to view.