On Tuesday, October 27, at 6:45 PM, Hagerstown will hold a public hearing on the Burkholder-McDade annexation tied to Diversified Capital’s data center development. Annexation would move approximately 172 acres into Hagerstown, where Washington County’s sham data center moratorium conveniently does not apply. Everyone who can attend needs to be there, whether you live inside city limits or elsewhere in Washington County.
Data centers can bring consequences that residents live with long after construction ends:
Higher electricity bills. Enormous power demand can increase electricity prices and require expensive generation and transmission projects. Maryland’s consumer advocate has warned that households could be left paying data center costs.
Higher water and sewage bills. If new pipes, pumps or treatment capacity are needed and developers do not cover the full costs, existing customers could pay through higher rates. Residents deserve to see the infrastructure plans and financing assumptions before commitments are made.
Additional pressure on water supplies. Cooling systems can consume water through evaporation, including during hot weather. Recycling water does not eliminate that consumption. The cooling design determines how much water a facility needs.
Loud equipment and a constant industrial hum. Cooling equipment can operate around the clock. Virginia’s legislative review documented residents’ complaints about persistent low-frequency noise, which conventional noise ordinances can struggle to address.
Air pollution and climate impacts. Fuel-burning generators produce exhaust, while supplying additional electricity can increase emissions when fossil-fuel generation serves that demand. EPA identifies data center power equipment as a source requiring air-pollution oversight.
Land clearing, polluted runoff and neighborhood disruption. Large industrial development can replace farmland and vegetation, disturb habitat, and bring construction traffic, dust and noise. EPA explains how construction runoff and additional paved surfaces can threaten water quality. Residents also deserve answers about lighting, buffers and changes to surrounding neighborhoods.
Public costs that outlast developers’ promises. Tax exemptions reduce potential public revenue, and infrastructure built for speculative projects can leave customers exposed if anticipated demand never materializes. Maryland’s consumer advocate has explicitly warned about that risk.
Relatively few permanent jobs for the footprint. Construction jobs are temporary. Virginia’s legislative review reported that industry representatives described approximately 50 full-time workers at a typical 250,000-square-foot data center, roughly half contractors. That is a comparison, not a verified employment estimate for this project. Residents deserve verified permanent-job numbers before officials use employment promises to justify public commitments.
Both Washington County and Hagerstown have been deceptive about their dealings with Diversified Capital. We see a pattern of both governments going out of their way to keep residents out of the process while giving the developer private access to elected officials and senior staff. On December 9, 2025, Diversified Capital CFO Moshe Rubin and members of his development team met privately with both governments on the same day. Officials involved included:
John Barr, President of the Washington County Commissioners
Jeff Cline, Washington County Commissioner
Randal Leatherman, Washington County Commissioner
Randy Wagner, Washington County Commissioner
Michelle Gordon, Washington County Administrator
Jonathan Horowitz, Washington County Director of Business Development and member of the Data Center Alliance of Maryland Steering Committee
Bill McIntire, Mayor of Hagerstown
Kristin Aleshire, Hagerstown City Council
Caroline Anderson, Hagerstown City Council
Erika Bell, Hagerstown City Council
Tiara Burnett, Hagerstown City Council
Sean Flaherty, Hagerstown City Council
Scott Nicewarner, Hagerstown City Administrator
Jill Thompson, Hagerstown Director of Planning and Economic Development
County officials signed confidentiality agreements. Hagerstown refuses to release its NDA or identify who signed it. The city’s approved meeting summary remained missing from its online archive for nearly nine months until we obtained it through an October records request. Then the October 20 annexation agenda omitted both Diversified Capital and the data center, identifying the matter simply as “Burkholder-McDade.” Residents had to know the story already to recognize what officials were discussing.
Meanwhile, commissioners point to a data center moratorium that does not apply inside Hagerstown, the very jurisdiction this developer is seeking to enter. Residents trying to follow their own government have had to uncover the meetings, obtain the missing records and decode the agenda themselves. The developer gets direct access to decision-makers. The public gets confidentiality agreements, incomplete information and a bill for obtaining its own government’s records.
This record gives us no reason to trust either government to negotiate these projects without meaningful, enforceable public participation. Residents should know what developers are requesting, what officials are considering and who could pay before commitments are made. Our opportunity to participate should not depend on whether we discover what is happening in time to object.
Washington County invited residents to help shape its 2040 Comprehensive Plan because decisions about land use, infrastructure, natural resources and public services affect all of us. That principle should apply before consequential commitments involving data centers or the proposed ICE detention center, too. A private developer’s demand for secrecy should never take priority over officials’ responsibility to the public.
Sign the petition at StopTheNDAs.org to demand meaningful public participation before major development decisions are made. Then show up Tuesday, October 27, at 6:45 PM at Hagerstown City Hall, 1 East Franklin Street. The hearing begins at 7 PM. Bring your neighbors and your questions, and come even if you do not plan to speak. Our utility bills, water supply and neighborhoods deserve a room full of residents demanding answers.
On September 2nd, we broke the story that a secret data center was in the works. Read what we uncovered in that investigation:
