However, the county is considering a move to stem that growth, and limit data centers to an area in and around the White Oak Technology park in eastern Henrico.
Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson said he’s happy to limit data center growth, when asked about the special focus area. His district contains the White Oak Technology Park.
“Once White Oak is filled up, personally, I’m good. We don’t have to have any more,” Nelson said. “I don’t want to turn Varina into a data center capital like Northern Virginia.”
The Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission will have a joint meeting Thursday to talk about making a “special focus area” around Technology Boulevard and the White Oak Technology Park.
If approved, any prospective tech company wanting to build a data center outside of that zone would have to get approval from the board of supervisors first.
The new zone also creates regulations for setbacks, noise, construction materials, operation of backup generators and other construction aspects.
TECHNOLOGY BOULEVARD FOCUS AREA
The proposed Technology Boulevard Focus Area, which would become the only area where data centers are allowed by right. All other locations would have to achieve board approval.
The White Oak Technology Park is home to Henrico’s largest data centers. Giants like Meta and QTS have centers there. The entire county has about 37 data centers of varying size, but most are centered around Technology Boulevard.
Of the county’s 2,700 total acres used for data centers today, 2,300 are at White Oak.
As of February, the combined value of properties at the park totaled $2.25 billion. According to numbers presented to the Economic Development Authority, a further $10.6 billion was planned.
That same month, Boston-based Iron Mountain announced that it was planning a 66-acre, three-building data center site in that area.
In terms of square footage, the Henrico Planning Department said White Oak has between eight and 11 million square feet of data center space either built, or under construction. There is an additional 9.7 million square feet pending approval.
Henrico also approved an extension of the White Oak Technology Park in May 2024. That 622-acre outgrowth, at Technology Boulevard’s intersection with East Williamsburg Road, included a plan for around 13 data center buildings.
The zone to regulate data center growth is basically just the White Oak Tech Park, and its 622-acre extension. Most of the land in that area is either operational, under construction or has a project pending.
The Board of Supervisors could still approve new data centers outside that zone on a case-by-case basis, but centers wouldn’t be allowed by-right. The board could also modify its land use maps in the future to allow for data centers outside the zone around White Oak.
According to a report from the Henrico Planning Department, there are only three locations left in the county that are zoned for, and capable of hosting data centers.
One of those is the remaining land at the White Oak Technology Park, and within the special focus area being considered by the board and planning commission Thursday.
A second is on the southern side of New Market Road’s intersection with Interstate 295. The third is a chunk of land in the industrial area surrounding the Richmond Raceway.
Data centers in general have also faced significant public pushback. Detractors largely site environmental concerns about the amounts of energy and water they use. Unfiltered diesel-fueled backup generators have also been cited as a concern, as maintenance requires them to be run every month.
These centers also raise concerns about the cost burden of paying for electric infrastructure, with some arguing that the public bears the cost of private company’s infrastructure.
The county’s planning commission report on data centers says that data centers consume almost 25% of Virginia’s energy. Nationally, data centers are forecasted to use 12% of energy by 2028.
That report said that data centers in Henrico use between 500,000 to 1 million gallons of water per day.
The planning department recommended that the board adopt the new rules to limit expansion.
Henrico sits right on the world’s Internet superhighway. Three subsea cables connecting to Brazil, France and Spain run ashore in Virginia Beach. Those cables run into Henrico before heading north into the Washington, D.C., area.
Henrico initially dropped its taxes on data centers to 40 cents per every $100 of assessed value in 2017. That move was done to entice companies to build in Henrico.
The county’s most recent budget upped that rate significantly, to $2.60 per $100 in assessed value. That rate was still $1.55 lower than Loudoun County’s, known as the world’s data center capital.
©2025 Richmond Times-Dispatch, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
