Culpeper Quarterly Update – Culpeper puts guardrails on data centers

Posted on by Sarah Parmelee

This text was taken from an email alert sent out on September 17, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →

Aerial view of the town of Culpeper, VA - with its red brick buildings and a train at the station - and an orange and yellow sunset sky in the background illuminating the mountains on the horizon.
Town of Culpeper. Credit: Hugh Kenny, PEC..

Dear Supporter,

I wanted to fill you in on some recent happenings in Culpeper: 1) a big win for Culpeper County as the Board of Supervisors finally starts putting guard rails on data centers; 2) an update on the Town Unified Draft Ordinance; and 3) some information about planned transmission line and substation expansion to serve Culpeper data centers and how you can provide input.

Culpeper County Requires Conditional Use Permit for Data Centers

Any new proposals will require board approval and a public comment period

Aerial view of a data center - a large, white rectangular building with several cooling tanks and generators jutting out along the side and on the roof - with runoff water drainage on either side of one end. The data center is surrounded by green trees, fields and farmland.
Marvel data center in Stevensburg, VA. Credit: Hugh Kenny, PEC.

On Sept. 2, the Culpeper Board of Supervisors passed a zoning text amendment requiring a conditional use permit for all new data centers on industrially zoned land outside the Culpeper Tech Zone. This was a much-needed change as data centers were previously considered by-right on industrial zoning, meaning that they did not require additional approval from the county to build on already zoned lands. 

Send a letter to the supervisors thanking them for putting Culpeper County residents’ interests first! → 

Thank you to everyone who wrote in and spoke at the hearings!! This amendment could not have come soon enough; the planning department has already received multiple inquiries from developers seeking to build data centers on existing industrial land outside the Tech Zone. 

The Board has also expressed a desire to revisit the tax incentives associated with the Culpeper Tech Zone. Currently, if a data center invests $10 million and hires 10 employees, it can be eligible for a 40% break on its taxes for five years. This could result in tens of millions of dollars of forfeited revenue by the County at a time when the coffers are already strained due to the need for new schools.

Town of Culpeper Delays Adoption of the UDO

On Sept. 9, the Town Council moved to delay the final vote on the Unified Draft Ordinance (UDO) and send it back to the Planning Commission for a final review. PEC has remained largely neutral on this issue, but we support the recent move to create a data center overlay, which will effectively prohibit new data centers in the Town. However, it will not impact data centers that have already been approved. The Planning Commission will discuss the UDO and make a final recommendation during its work session on Sept. 25 – all proposed changes to the UDO must be submitted by 12 p.m. on Sept. 18. The Town Council is expected to vote on the UDO on Oct. 14.

Culpeper Tech Zone Transmission Upgrade

Satellite map with blue, red, yellow, orange and purple lines showing proposed transmission lines.
Map of proposed transmission lines to serve new data centers in the Culpeper Tech Zone. Source: Dominion Energy (p. 30)

Dominion has proposed a $253.7 million upgrade to the transmission infrastructure in Culpeper, Orange and Fauquier Counties, primarily to serve some of the new data centers in the Culpeper Tech Zone, specifically Databank, Copper Ridge and the Culpeper Tech Campus owned by STACK Infrastructure. The upgrade includes some additional work on substations in Fauquier and Orange counties, but the bulk of the project is focused on Culpeper’s data centers.

Why we’re concerned:

  • Upgrades along Virginia State Route 3, Germanna Highway will widen the existing right-of-way through Culpeper farms.
  • New transmission lines will visually impact the Culpeper National Cemetery and Culpeper’s historic districts.
  • Three of the four proposed 10-acre substations are in close proximity to residential areas.
  • It’s unclear how much of the project will be paid for by the data centers that have necessitated it.

Unfortunately, this project will not be enough to supply power to all the data centers that have been approved, so there are more transmission lines and substations still to come.

Three things you can do right now:

  1. We encourage residents of Culpeper to write to the State Corporation Commission (which will review and approve the project) and demand better protections for ratepayers and residents impacted by this new infrastructure. You can submit written comments to the SCC now until Oct. 7.
    • If you need inspiration for your letter, a member of the Coalition to Save Culpeper has drafted a letter to the SCC that raises many of these issues. View the letter →

Who is the SCC?

In Virginia, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) is an agency of the state government that serves as the central filing office and regulatory body for utilities – in this case, Dominion Energy. Three Commissioners, appointed by the General Assembly, sit on the SCC and issue rulings.

  1. Let your state and local elected officials know that you do not want more transmission lines criss-crossing our farms and neighborhoods.
  2. Stay tuned for the next one. The recent submissions to the PJM, the regional provider that manages our electrical grid, include multiple new or expanded transmission lines crossing Culpeper (page 18). Not all of these lines will come to fruition, but we need to be ready to protect our historic resources, farms and communities.

For more information about the project, visit Dominion’s project website.

Updated Culpeper County Policy Brief

We’re pleased to share an updated Culpeper County Policy Brief, which provides a comprehensive overview and PEC’s recommendations on key land use issues in Culpeper County, including data centers and transmissions lines; rural area protection and conservation; and smart growth and sustainable communities.

As one of the few nonprofit organizations following conservation and land use issues in the county, we have been encouraged by recent decisions to promote agriculture and limit industrial development in rural areas. The policy recommendations in this briefing would help Culpeper continue on this track and serve the best interests of its residents.

Access the Policy Brief →

Fall Events

Aerial view of a town in Virginia with green and yellow trees suggesting the start of fall.
Culpeper, VA at sunset. Credit: Hugh Kenny, PEC.

If you’re out and about in the piedmont this fall, we’d love to see you at our upcoming in-person PEC and partner events:

Volunteer opportunities: There are still opportunities to volunteer at the PEC Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows in Aldie, VA through the beginning of October, as well as three opportunities to plant trees with our Plantings for the Piedmont program:

Find more event opportunities with PEC →

Thank you so much for your support, and stay tuned for more!

Sarah Parmelee
Land Use Field Representative
Culpeper County
[email protected]
(540) 347-2334 ext. 7045

headshot of woman in blue shirt