This text was taken from an email alert sent out on Oct. 18, 2024. Sign up for email alerts →
Dear Supporter,
We have a real opportunity to improve the process by which data centers are approved in Loudoun County and start to shift away from the unsustainable path we’ve been on. I encourage you to urge the Planning Commission to act quickly on the proposed plan for increasing oversight of data center development.
Underscoring the importance of this plan, I also wanted to provide an update on three new data center proposals under consideration by the County.
As we face an ever-increasing number of data center applications — resulting in rapid growth that raises concerns about sustainability, energy infrastructure, cost, air and water quality, and neighborhood character — it’s vital that the County put more safeguards in place. And with the data center industry pushing back against more oversight, it’s important that Loudoun residents weigh in.
For the past two years, the Board of Supervisors has been discussing increasing the oversight of data center development through policy adjustments and corresponding zoning changes. The proposed changes aim to clarify where data centers can be built and ensure that all applications undergo a public review process, allowing community input and adherence to county standards.
The Board chose to split the plan into two phases to accelerate its ability to manage data center applications. Phase One was introduced and discussed at the Planning Commission work session on Sept. 12, and the public was invited to comment at its public hearing on Sept. 24. The Planning Commission is still accepting written comments. Phase Two is expected to begin in spring of 2025.
Take Action: Tell the Planning Commission to Support More Oversight of the Data Center Industry
We trust that Loudoun’s supervisors know it is imperative that they do everything in their power to better manage data center growth. But there is strong opposition from the data center industry, which has become accustomed to unfettered approvals. Representatives of the industry, the Chamber of Commerce, trade unions and other industry supporters attended the Sept. 24 Planning Commission public hearing and spoke in favor of continued growth and expressed opposition to increased oversight. The Planning Commission will discuss the issue further at a dedicated work session on Oct. 22.
Now is the time for concerned residents to speak up and let the Planning Commission know that Loudoun County should prioritize its communities over the data center industry. Use our advocacy campaign to send your own letter to the Planning Commission.
PEC Supports the Board’s Proposed Changes
The envisioned changes to county policy would clarify where it is and is not appropriate to build data centers and update the process applicants have to go through. In areas where data centers are permitted, the policy change will ensure that applications undergo a public review process by both the Planning Commission and Board.
In other words, the proposed changes remove the opportunity to develop by-right, which only requires administrative (staff) review. Instead, an application would have to go through a special exception process which also gives the public an opportunity to weigh in during the required public hearings. This review will also verify compliance with the County’s official approval conditions and standards.
Two changes are proposed in the County’s Comprehensive Plan policies:
- Make data centers a conditional use (requiring more oversight and review) in any area where they could be allowed.
- Further identify where future data centers will be considered, and where they won’t. While it is too late in some cases, this would help to avoid further domino effects where data centers have created conflicts between uses and unexpectedly changed the character of an area.
There is one related change proposed for the Zoning Ordinance:
- Designate data centers as a Special Exception (SPEX) use in all zoning districts where they are currently permitted by-right. This means that all new applications will get public hearings, a full review by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, both opportunities for the public to weigh in.
Phase Two will get into policy and performance standards that would add more specific regulatory control over data center development, which would build on standards adopted during the zoning ordinance rewrite last year, but Phase One must be adopted first.
Send a letter in support of these proposed changes >>
Why it Matters
At the Sept. 24 Planning Commission meeting, County staff presented a report detailing the data that underpins Loudoun’s status as the data center capital of the world and its record-breaking growth. Loudoun is overrun with approved data centers, and many more applications are under consideration. There is no slow down in sight as new applications continue to be submitted and numerous by-right developments move forward.
It appears that everyone wants to capitalize on the data center boom. New proposals include expanding existing data center facilities and converting current flex buildings, as well as repurposing other commercial and residential properties.
Surge in Growth
Per County staff, Loudoun’s existing data center space, plus applications that have been approved and proposed, grew by roughly 15 million square feet, or 16%, of additional data center space in just four months. And this doesn’t even account for the impacts of the additional power, transmission lines and substations needed to accompany it.
It is Simply Not Sustainable
Loudoun’s data center market is so saturated that it’s having a wide variety of ripple effects, beyond the energy and related infrastructure needed to support it:
- Neighborhoods are becoming increasingly impacted, and the character of suburban Loudoun is shifting towards a more industrial feel as construction begins on substations, transmission lines, and still more data centers.
- Loudoun County’s air quality is at risk from an increasing number of train car sized diesel and gas generators being permitted at data center campuses.
- The health of Loudoun’s rivers and streams are threatened by expansive data center campuses with acres of buildings, parking lots, and generator yards. These impervious surfaces increase urban runoff and block ground water recharge.
- Loudoun is becoming overly dependent on tax revenue from a single industry.
- Due to the high price data center developers are willing to spend, the cost of land has dramatically increased, making it too expensive for other businesses to consider locating here. This further limits the County’s ability to diversify its revenue stream.
- New data center applications continue to request larger footprints, denser floor area ratios, and taller buildings, exacerbating all of the other negative impacts of this industry on the community.
New Rezoning & Special Exception Applications to Weigh In On
Three new data center rezoning and special exception applications were discussed at the Planning Commission public hearing on Sept. 24. We were pleased to note that it voted to recommend denial of Arcola Grove to rezone an additional 30+ acres for data center development.
However, the Planning Commission didn’t seem as concerned about the two remaining applications, Luck Stone Cochran Mill and Cross Mill Center, and will discuss them further at future work sessions. Together, these applications add up to 2.6 million square feet more data center space, proving that the push for growth continues unabated.
The County is not obligated to approve applications that are not in the public interest. For all the reasons stated in this email, PEC opposes continued approval of data centers that will raise Loudoun’s budgetary dependence on data center revenue, risking the stability of the County’s fiscal status and creating other costly impacts that will be borne by residents in Loudoun and beyond.
Luck Stone Cochran Mill
This application request asks the County to rezone approximately 97.8 acres from multiple zoning districts to the General Industrial Zoning District for the development of approximately 1.7 million square feet of data center (equal to 9+ Walmart Supercenters), along with a utility substation. It also requests zoning modifications to increase the building height from 48 feet to as much as 117 feet and to reduce the required buffer adjacent to Sycolin Creek.
Arcola Grove
This application asks the County to rezone 30.49 acres from Rural Commercial to Industrial Park for data center development and requests a special exception permit for a utility substation and a zoning modification to increase the maximum building height from 60 feet to 100 feet. The application covers and expands on the area that was previously approved for a data center in 2021, adding 129,000 square feet to the 600,000+ square feet already approved.
We’re pleased to report that the Planning Commission did vote to recommend denial on this application for multiple reasons, but primarily because it would add to the negative impacts that data centers are already having on neighborhoods in the Arcola area.
Cross Mill Center
This application asks the County to rezone 22.73 acres in the Leesburg Joint Land Management Area to the Industrial Park Zoning District for up to 927,910 square feet of data center development (equal to 4+ Walmart Supercenters) and any other uses allowed in that zoning district. Because this application includes non data center uses in a high value commercial location, the best answer to this request would be a proffer to remove data centers as an allowed use in the rezoning.
It is very important that the planning commissioners hear from members of the community on these applications and even more important for the public to weigh in when they move on to the Board of Supervisors in the coming months. Take a moment to send a letter >>
We will continue to keep you informed on recent data center applications as they work their way through the public process. It’s important to continue sharing your thoughts and concerns with both the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors so both of Loudoun’s decision-making bodies regularly hear residents’ perspectives.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Gem Bingol
Senior Land Use Field Representative
Loudoun County
The Piedmont Environmental Council
[email protected]
P.S. This week, Dominion Energy filed an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), which projects a more than 100 percent increase in electricity usage in the next 15 years, primarily driven by the explosive and uncontrolled growth of data centers. On the current track, Virginians could see their electricity bills double over the period laid out in Dominion’s plan. Read our press release >>