We hope you had some time to relax and recharge during the holidays. It seems 2024 blew right by, and 2025 shows no sign of slowing down. Below, you will find the highlights of the biggest land use issues that transpired last year. For more details on our work related to data centers and transmission lines in 2024, check out this blog post →.
Remington Data Centers
Remington could be ground zero for data center development in Fauquier County. The Board of Supervisors accepted proposals for four different data center campuses in Remington. Already, 1.8 million square feet have been approved at Remington Technology Park; an additional 4 million square feet, proposed by Convergent, SAMX and Gigaland, are still under consideration. These three proposals are currently under review by County staff and outside agencies. Public hearings with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors can be expected this year.
The data center campuses concerning Remington are:
Each campus requires intensive energy infrastructure, including new and/or upgraded transmission lines and new sources of power. The cumulative impacts of so much industrialization could dramatically change the Remington community by discouraging recreation, tourism, walkability and livability, and appeal to local businesses that sustain a healthy Main Street. Explore our website for more information about our concerns and recommendations going forward.
Catlett Data Center
Thanks to thoughtful public comments and strong advocacy by Protect Catlett, Citizens for Fauquier County and Protect Fauquier, a developer withdrew its application to rezone 60 acres of land in Catlett for a 1.4 million-square-foot data center campus with an electric substation. Instead, the site may be developed as a warehouse, which we feel is a better outcome for the community.
Though not yet finalized, preapplication materials filed in December indicate that the warehouse would be non-distributing, and any proposal for distribution would have to undergo special exception approval. A warehouse would have a far lesser impact on traffic, noise and air quality than either a data center or a distribution center. PEC and residents will remain vigilant as the developer continues to weigh its options.
PCID & Substation Zoning Text Amendments
In May 2024, the Board of Supervisors voted in favor of a zoning text amendment requiring a special exception permit for any new structure within the Vint Hill Planned Commercial Industrial Development District PCID with a footprint over 50,000 square feet. PEC supported this proposal. However, the board chose to grant a request by the potential Vint Hill Corners data center campus to be grandfathered, exempting it from the new regulations and allowing it to be developed by-right under the prior regulations.
PEC also supported a zoning text amendment requiring electric substations to undergo special exception approval in all industrial zones. The Board of Supervisors approved this amendment in September 2024 but exempted the substation that will serve the approved, but still unbuilt, Remington Technology Park, leaving the substation subject to the previous regulations that allowed it to be built by-right.
Transmission Line Threats
We continue to closely monitor plans for transmission expansion to serve data center energy demands from regional grid operator, PJM Interconnect. Of the shortlist of transmission proposals currently being considered by PJM, one will impact Fauquier County: a 765-kilovolt line from Joshua Falls to the proposed YEAT 765 kv substation just north of the existing NOVEC Sowego substation in southern Fauquier. This infrastructure is larger than anything in Fauquier County, with 200-foot right of ways, towers as tall as 150 feet and substations occupying 10–20 acres of land. The PJM Board is likely to approve the proposal in early 2025. The utilities companies involved will then determine exact routing and conduct community outreach, before a public hearing and final ruling from the State Corporation Commission. We will continue to update you on these developments as we learn about them.
We previously informed the public about the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC), a federal designation that allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to permit transmission lines within a designated corridor if the Virginia SCC has denied or taken too long to act on a proposal. Gratefully, thanks to extensive public input, the entire Mid-Atlantic corridor is now out of consideration. One segment of the proposed NIETC Mid-Atlantic corridor would have run into Fauquier County along an existing line that ends near Fiery Run.
Amazon Data Center and Transmission Line
There have been no updates on Dominion’s plans to serve the approved Amazon data center site using an underground distribution line and an off-site substation. The exact substation location and route have yet to be determined. Recent actions by the Warrenton Town Council and ongoing litigation continue to cast uncertainty on the status of the proposal.
East Point Battery Storage Facility
East Point Energy submitted a Comprehensive Plan Compliance Review application for a 150-megawatt battery storage project in the Village of Morrisville, adjacent to Mary Walter Middle School and existing Dominion energy infrastructure. At its November public hearing, the Planning Commission determined the project to be inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan, though East Point could file an appeal to the Board of Supervisors. PEC commented on the proposal, seeing no conflict with the comprehensive plan, but requested a robust emergency response plan and plan for evacuation of the adjacent school in the event of a fire.
Bealeton Solar
The Board of Supervisors recently approved Sun Tribe Solar’s special exception application for a 161-acre solar project in Remington, located on land that is planned to be occupied by an expansion of Luck Stone’s existing quarry operation. PEC did not comment on the proposal because there was no possibility for long-term agricultural preservation after decommissioning due to Luck Stone’s expansion plans.
Arrington
In November, the Commission on Local Government unanimously approved the voluntary settlement agreement that would be the first step toward incorporating the 270-unit Arrington residential and commercial development into the Town of Warrenton. Since then, both the Town and Fauquier County held public hearings where they approved the incorporation. A three-judge panel appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court will now be making a final decision.
Warrenton Village Center
The Warrenton Town Council approved a 386-unit development consisting of multifamily, two-over-two apartments and townhomes on 30 acres adjacent to the existing Warrenton Village Shopping Center. The development seeks to add a mixed-use component to the existing shopping center and proposes a 4-story parking structure, replacement of existing surface parking with landscaping and public open space, and new pedestrian walkways. To address concerns by neighbors and others, the applicants made some changes in design, number of affordable housing units, and access issues.
Alameda Solar
Open Roads Renewables has submitted an application for a Comprehensive Plan Compliance Review, for its agrivoltaics project in Midland. Open Roads has incorporated the majority of PEC’s feedback on the company’s drafted conditions of approval and is scheduled for a Planning Commission public hearing on Feb. 20, 2025.
Partisan’s Reach
Developer D.R. Horton, Inc. submitted a preliminary zoning map, or plat, proposing a by-right subdivision for 87 single-family detached lots along Rectortown Road at the northern edge of the Marshall service district. The Board of Supervisors approved the plan at its October public hearing, and a final plat of subdivision has been submitted to Fauquier County. The applicant must now file a construction plan with the county before the final plat of subdivision creating the new lots is ultimately recorded.
Marshall Roundabout at Route 55/Zulla Road
The Virginia Department of Transportation recently announced a planned reconstruction of the intersection of Virginia State Route 55 and Zulla Road in northern Fauquier County as a single-lane roundabout. The roundabout, which had already obtained SmartScale funding from the state, will be constructed at Brooks Corner, a crossroads located between Marshall and The Plains. While the construction will require some additional rights of way , we believe this proposed roundabout will lower vehicle speeds, reduce crashes, create a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists and reduce delays at school drop-off and pick-up times at adjacent Coleman Elementary and Marshall Middle Schools.
I-66 Bridge Replacement at Broad Run
In late 2023, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced the planned replacement of a bridge superstructure for a segment of Interstate 66 near the historic Chapman-Beverly Mill. Because of its proximity to a property on the National Register of Historic Places, the project required a Section 106 process, in which VDOT studies the area of potential impact on the historic property. Fauquier County and PEC both commented on the proposal as official consulting parties.
Earlier this month, VDOT made a determination of “No Adverse Effect” to the Chapman-Beverly Mill Historic Site and is now seeking concurrence from the Department of Historic Resources. In January, VDOT has opted to replace the full bridge rather than just the suspended portion of the bridge because of the expected lifespan of the bridge footers, support beams, and other substructure, the cost of suspended bridge replacement and existing stress on the bridge.
The bridge replacement will occur entirely within the existing VDOT right-of-way; While we have some concerns about the impacts of construction, the restriction of the project within the current right of way is some protection against any expansion of the roadway in a later project.
We intend to weigh in on a number of active policy discussions in the new year, including County zoning text amendments about community solar and battery storage facilities and the Town of Warrenton Zoning Ordinance