Data centers are physical facilities that house computers, servers and other networking equipment to process and distribute data. Demand for them has ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Developer Doug Fuller requested a rezoning of 22.6 acres of agricultural land to light industrial to construct a 350,000-square-foot facility that processes data and computes for artificial intelligence, made possible due to high speed Internet infrastructure already established in the area. The proposed facility would be located on the west side of Centerville Turnpike and south of Etheridge Manor Boulevard.
But the project was met with major opposition from hundreds of residents even before it made its way to the Planning Commission. The commission’s chair, Joshua Gerloff, said a petition signed by at least 450 residents was submitted to the city, along with 650 emails overwhelmingly pushing back on the request. Among the biggest concerns were impacts to the environment, water supply, electrical power grid, property values, noise, pollution and — perhaps most of all — location.
The facility would be located near the Etheridge Lakes neighborhoods, and residents questioned why it was not proposed in an industrial location.
Hundreds of residents poured into City Council chambers Wednesday, leaving standing room only. After hours of public comment from a rowdy crowd Wednesday, the project ultimately failed with a 6-1 vote. Some commissioners attempted to compromise, heeding another major concern that the project was rushed through without adequate feedback and engagement with residents. But a motion to defer the project up to 120 days failed after only two commissioners voted in support.
However, the data center project still has a chance as City Council gets the ultimate say on greenlighting conditional use permit applications.
Northern Virginia houses more data centers than anywhere in the world, and their rapid growth has led to concerns about environmental and energy costs in the the state. A Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report last year found that if the industry continues to grow unrestrained, the state energy demand is projected to double in the next 10 years, largely driven by data centers.
Some Virginia lawmakers say the unprecedented growth is unsustainable and will have negative financial and environmental impacts. Members of the General Assembly sought enact tighter regulations on the industry this year, but many of those bills failed.
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