Lerner Enterprises had already secured county planning approval for an 80-acre data-center campus less than a mile from Taylor Frazier McCollum’s home. She had no political background, no property to protect, and no organizational infrastructure behind her.
McCollum had been evicted from her rental unit in 2024 after a wage reduction made rent unaffordable. She was living in her grandfather’s home in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a predominantly Black suburb of Washington, D.C., when news about the proposed Brightseat Park project reached her.
She launched a petition that collected nearly 24,000 signatures. From there, she attended county meetings, testified before Maryland legislators, endorsed political candidates and built connections with Black communities contesting similar projects in Atlanta, Memphis and Zambia. Her activism carried a real price: missed work shifts, borrowed rides and family members absorbing her childcare responsibilities while she attended hearings and canvassed her neighborhood.
A Zoning Gap That Let the Project Skip Scrutiny
County rules allowed certain data centers to bypass a full site-plan review, and that loophole is now closed.
The proposed campus, estimated at roughly $5 billion, moved through a zoning framework that permitted certain data centers to avoid a detailed site-plan review and a second County Council vote. Residents had no formal opportunity to weigh in before approval landed. The County Council later voted 10-0-1 to close that gap, requiring additional review and public involvement going forward; Council Member Wanika Fisher abstained.
The former Landover Mall site has sat largely vacant since the mall closed in 2002. Construction on the data-center campus had been projected to begin between 2026 and 2027.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU for NPR
Moratorium, Task Force, and an Unresolved Project
The county paused new approvals and created a review process, but the Landover proposal is delayed, not dead.
Prince George’s County established a data-center task force in 2025 to examine environmental, infrastructure and economic effects from these facilities. The county has since imposed a two-year moratorium blocking new data-center approvals while officials work on updated zoning and siting rules. The moratorium does not cancel the Landover project; it stalls it and makes the regulatory path considerably harder.
The County Needs Revenue. Residents Want More Than That.
Supporters cite roughly $13.7 million in projected annual tax revenue. Opponents say the community deserves a better choice.
The county is managing a budget deficit after a difficult stretch: Six Flags closed, the Washington Commanders announced plans to return to Washington, D.C., and federal job losses hit the region. Supporters of the Landover project project approximately $13.7 million in annual county tax revenue from the campus, according to reporting from The Baltimore Banner. Council Member Fisher has said the county needs a serious conversation about its economic future while acknowledging that a data center may not be the right answer.
McCollum has proposed alternatives for the site, including affordable housing, a sports complex or heritage tourism, and has acknowledged that those options may generate less immediate revenue than a hyperscale data facility. Residents have raised concerns about diesel generator emissions, air and water quality, noise, light pollution and the energy and water demands that large data centers typically require. Those are potential risks associated with facilities of this type, not confirmed impacts from a building that has not been constructed.
A Local Fight With National Reach
Hundreds of communities are pushing back on data-center growth, and Landover has become a reference point.
Community opposition to data-center development has spread across the United States. Residents are showing up at local hearings and pushing for moratoriums; NPR’s reporting puts the number of active efforts in the hundreds, though the underlying count has not been independently verified. Staci Hartwell, a longtime environmental activist involved in the Prince George’s County campaign, told NPR that McCollum’s proximity to the proposed site produced a political awakening that earlier organizing had not achieved. The Landover fight illustrates how national debates over AI infrastructure become local conflicts over zoning, public transparency, environmental risk and who benefits financially from development.
