Citizens say a long-range plan for data center infrastructure is lacking

By Reed Carver

Public comments on the Orme Farm application, proposed for 11.7-acres south of Leesburg, turned to the future of data centers in general during the Board of Supervisors Public Hearing on May 15. The proposal includes 508,000 sq. ft. of data center space, adjacent and south of Shreve Mill Road, east of the Dulles Greenway, right before the overpass.

Approval would mean moving the land out of the Leesburg JLMA – 20 Legacy Zoning District, to Planned Development – Industrial Park Legacy Zoning District (PDIP), which would allow data centers and sub-stations. Dominion is planning power lines passing the site on the southeast. 

Supervisor Laura TeKrony (D-Little River) clarified with staff that the by-right use of this part of the JLMA is rural business and light commercial. Staff said data centers are not allowed without approval; they cannot be installed by-right under the current zoning.

As part of the project, supervisors are considering special exceptions to increase the Floor Area Ratio from 0.6 to 1.0, and the maximum lot coverage from 0.45 to 0.60. These figures increase the indoor space. Staff suggested approval because they said this use is consistent with the place type.

Van Metre Companies are proposing a tree conservation area, and a trail that would be able to be integrated into the Loudoun County Linear Parks and Trail Plan. They are also proffering truck queuing to prevent build-up on Shreve Mill Road. Serious equipment will be shielded from the public sides of the plot, said Denise Harrover, who represented Van Metre.

Chris Tandy with Loudoun Climate Project said, “The public is being forced to pay for infrastructure, while data centers buy energy in bulk and get a discount. If nothing changes, eventually data centers will have to run their back-up generators at peak mode in summer and winter, causing air-borne pollution … I would ask you to represent the public, not the data center industry and do not approve the rezoning.”

“As the county moves west … there doesn’t seem to be many data centers that this Board of Supervisors doesn’t love,” said Steve Teal, a long-term resident. “We never envisioned that Loudoun County was going to become another Chantilly, but it’s getting damn close, and I don’t like that … All over this county, traffic is a big problem.” 

He said higher growth rates will worsen traffic, and travel times have already multiplied. 

“Data centers have not only blotted our countryside; they have not produced expected revenue for taxpayers. Our taxes keep going up; you keep building data centers, and we don’t see any tangible benefit. That concerns me also.” 

He said data centers are consuming 30 percent of the energy in the county, and “I’m not sure we’re getting a fair shake, for the infrastructure that we’re providing … I would oppose any new data centers until we do a more in-depth analysis of what the true cost is,” Teal concluded.

“No design standards, buffers, trails, landscaping or even tax revenue in a county over-reliant on a single industry is worth deepening our undeniable energy crisis in Northern Virginia,” said Dorna Taintor from Waterford. 

“I don’t think we should be approving data centers without understanding the infrastructure needs,” said resident Erin Walter. She cited water and power as examples. 

“Nowhere in the application is there any information on that [water], and I think we all know at this point that we’re out of power in the county. The water situation isn’t as clear to me, and I don’t think we have public information regarding that situation. So I think you don’t have enough information to be doing this,” Walter called for more transparency about the cost to citizens. 

Thomas Donahue, an electrical engineer, is concerned about how the infrastructural pieces fit together. “We don’t know how many substations there’s going to be, how much power there’s going to be, how they all interrelate to each other. There is the sub-station that Dominion is building, which I think will be around 300 megawatts because it’s supporting a 230-kilovolt transmission line so that would make sense … but to me it’s a land use issue, where does all this stuff go and how does it all fit together?”

Donahue said the water needs were unclear. “The question is what the heck are we doing? How are we going to respond to the proposal to turn western Loudoun into a national-interest electric transmission corridor?

“That‘s a two-mile wide corridor that’s projected to go right through the county, and as we make decisions here … How do we balance this decision to do more data centers against the desire not to be a national-interest electric transmission corridor, and thus be subject to federal regulatory oversight for any decisions that will go with energy infrastructure in the future?”

Supervisor Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg) moved to send the Orme Farm Application to the BOS Business Meeting on July 2 for action.