October 27, 2026 | Mayor & Council: Regular Session

The Hagerstown Mayor and Council’s October 27, 2026 regular session included public hearings and extensive discussion of annexation case A-2026-02 for the 172-acre Burke Holder/McDade property. Diversified Capital described a data center as a possible use but said no end user or final development plan had been selected; the annexation itself was not decided, with further discussion scheduled for November 10. The applicant presented estimates for a hypothetical 600,000-square-foot data center, including about $7.1 million in city property-tax revenue, while residents raised concerns about water, power, emissions, noise, neighborhood impacts, and the county’s data-center moratorium. Council members discussed the need for more deliberation and possible enforceable protections; no annexation vote occurred. The council approved a separate amendment correcting the priority-funding-area language in the annexation plan for case A-2026-02.

Procurement and spending actions included approval of a three-year Maryland State Highway Administration salt-purchase agreement for winter emergencies (September 2026–August 2029; no amount stated) and a snow-removal agreement with Joshua C. Swan, sole proprietor trading as Swan’s Lawn Care and Landscaping, with purchase orders for FY 2026–27 and renewal years FY 2027–28 and FY 2028–29 (no amount stated). Council also approved a memorandum of understanding with Kerwood DH LLC for sanitary-sewer improvement costs, subject to receipt of recorded easements; agreements directing opioid-abatement funding to a Washington County Health Department program; and deobligation and forfeiture of remaining unspent CDBG-CV funds. It approved revisions to the Invest Hagerstown rental-rehabilitation grant guidelines, limiting eligibility to planned projects and excluding projects already in progress. A proposed land-management-code amendment was tabled for further information.