Orme Farm rezoning approved

By Katie Northcott

The Orme Farm rezoning application appeared on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ consent agenda at its Oct. 16 business meeting after receiving pushback during the board’s public hearing on May 15.

Orme farm, previously known as Greenfield Farm, has received attention from The Washington Post for being one of the last two big turkey farms in Loudoun County. It was home to 20,000 turkeys in the 1940s and 1950s before becoming a hog farm in 1959 after turkey meat lost its popularity. Now, Loudoun County residents are worried that it will become home to yet another data center.

The Blue Ridge Leader reported on citizens’ public comments on re-zoning the Orme Farm property at the Loudoun Board of Supervisors public hearing on May 15.

During the comments, Tia Earman from the Piedmont Environmental Council said, “When we say, ‘Stop digging the hole deeper,’ this application is exactly what we are talking about.”

At the May 15 meeting, Vice Chair Juli Briskman (?-Algonkian) asked if the applicant would proffer out data centers and substations from the application. Representing the owners of Orme Farm, Roy Barnett of Van Metre Companies, LLC responded.

“I cannot sit here tonight and answer that question,” Barnett said, “because we are representatives here, and I am not the property owner. That would be a property owner decision.”

Barnett said that he would go back and ask the property owner for permission to proffer out data centers and substations.

“It’s pretty clear that this is going to be a data center unless you proffer out data center use,” Ashburn resident Chris Tandy said during public comment.

At the May 15 meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted to forward the application to its July 2 business meeting. The vote was 5-2-2 [Briskman and Supervisor Michael Turner (D-Ashburn) opposed; Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) and Supervisor Sylvia Glass (D-Broad Run) absent]. The applicant later requested to defer the application to the board’s Oct. 16 business meeting where the application appeared on the consent agenda to be passed in a block vote with several other motions.

At the Oct. 16 meeting, Randall asked about the Orme Farm application before passing the consent agenda. She said she would move the application off the consent agenda if necessary. The applicant had proffered out a data center, but building a substation remained an option for the applicant.

“If a data center wanted to use the utility substation that sits on the Orme property—if that’s what’s actually built there—that data center would have to come back to the planning commission and the board for approval before that happens, correct?” Randall asked.

The applicant agreed that Randall understood correctly. The board passed the consent agenda, which included the Orme Farm application, with a vote of 9-0.