Just ten days after we uncovered a planned data center project at the Martin Farm property on Burkholder Lane, data center job listings appeared online for Hagerstown. According to listings on Indeed, LinkedIn, and its own website, CBRE is hiring building and maintenance employees for a data center.
So, is CBRE hiring for the data center project we uncovered at Martin Farm, or is another data center project already moving forward in Hagerstown?
On June 30, Washington County Commissioners passed a one-year moratorium on data centers, saying they needed time to study their effects. But the County’s own draft moratorium ordinance spelled out the concerns they said required a pause: enormous electricity use and strain on utility infrastructure; noise from cooling systems and backup generators; substantial water use; hazardous materials and electronic waste; and incompatibility with rural and agricultural land. The Commissioners also said they needed to study effects on homes, environmental resources, roads, and public infrastructure.
At the same time, Commissioners had already met privately with Diversified Capital, the developer connected to Martin Farm, in December 2025. We discovered that secret meeting after County Commissioner Jeff Cline returned campaign donations from people tied to the project roughly ten months after receiving them, shortly before the County was set to vote on the moratorium.
Now the Martin Farm property may be annexed into the City of Hagerstown, where planning and zoning decisions would no longer be controlled by Washington County and where the County’s moratorium may not apply. And now CBRE is hiring for data center work in Hagerstown.
The public deserves an answer: are these jobs for the Martin Farm data center project we uncovered, or is Hagerstown preparing for another data center while Washington County tells residents it is still studying them?
Join us Tuesday, September 15 at 9 a.m. outside the Washington County Commissioners meeting, 100 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown, and tell the Commissioners that we know about their secret meetings with the Martin Farm data center developer, their NDAs, and their attempts to keep the public in the dark. They do not get to claim they are protecting the County from data centers while one may be moving forward right in front of us.
Typical Washington County can't see the forest for the trees thinking. Tear it down now and then it can't be resurrected. See any number of demolished farms, downtown buildings with historical significance and beauty. Build a warehouse or a data center or a concrete parking lot. Lying SIBs ought to get voted out, but the ignorant voters who support you-know-who will never vote them out because they don't care about history and scenery, and beauty. Makes me sad to say that's where I grew up.
Utterly immoral and insane! I’m sure the declared “one year moratorium to consider effects” was a bullshit cover to appease anyone protesting- they can act responsible and concerned in public to assuage the public while making whatever dirty deal lines their pockets behind closed doors… looks like lying & greed is a prerequisite for office.