Zoning can control AWS cable landing

Corporate behemoth Amazon might be worth $2.77 trillion and employ 29 times as many people as Worcester County has full-time residents. It might also be prepared to spend up to $1 billion to lay a transatlantic fiber-optic cable from Cork, Ireland, to the Ocean City Municipal Airport.

But as powerful as that sounds, local zoning law is stronger, and that’s why residents should not fear the cable landing project proposed by Amazon Web Services and the Maryland Broadband Cooperative.

Elected officials should worry less about the what-ifs of the situation and concentrate instead on what they know. Putting aside all the techno-speak, it’s not that complicated.

AWS wants to connect its transatlantic cable to the Washington, D.C., area through the Maryland Broadband Cooperative’s fiber-optic network. Other East Coast routes to Washington exist, but the Maryland path appears to be the most direct.

Maryland Broadband, which is partially sponsored by Worcester County through its membership in the Tri-County Council of the Lower Eastern Shore, a part owner, says that’s all there is to it and that no data centers are or will be involved (Commissioner Joe Mitrecic chairs the Tri-County Council).

But even if Maryland Broadband is being misled, local zoning regulations can ensure that what AWS says it wants is all that it will get. Never mind the desire to understand the complex technologies involved. The county’s regulatory authorities already possess all the knowledge they need to control how AWS and the Maryland Broadband Cooperative operate within Worcester County.

Through its zoning authority, the county can ensure that public lands are not disturbed, that the size of the landing site is restricted and that any future expansion remains subject to local review and approval.

As long as the county carefully regulates the facility and enforces limits on its use and expansion, it can ensure the project proceeds on local terms rather than Amazon’s.