Proposed Leesburg Gateway Amendment Would Allow Data Center Development Near Neighborhoods

Posted on by PEC

Update: The Jan. 27 hearing on the Leesburg Gateway data center amendment to the Town Plan has been deferred to a later date at the request of the applicant. A new date has not yet been determined.Once determined, it will be posted to the Leesburg Town Council website.

Attend the Town Council Public Hearing on Jan. 27 to voice your concerns

Data centers directly next to neighborhoods in Ashburn, VA.

The Leesburg Gateway data center developer has proposed an amendment to the Leesburg Town Plan that would allow for data center and warehouse development close to residential neighborhoods in the town gateway, near the eastern border of the town along Route 7.

This proposed amendment would negatively impact quality of life and go against the Town Plan guidelines that call for reducing conflicts between data centers and residential neighborhoods. Click below for more information about the Town Council Public hearing on the proposed amendment and how you can take action, as well as helpful resources and links on the Leesburg Gateway data center project.

Illustrative Plan of Leesburg Gateway data center complex. Source: Town of Leesburg Community Development Web Portal.

Town Council Public Hearing

The Leesburg Town Council will hold a public hearing on the amendment, which would support a rezoning application that the developer is requesting. If approved, it would pave the way for its new data center complex, which will be in the middle of Leesburg residential neighborhoods (see illustrative plan above).

Voice your concerns!
Attend and speak at the Town Council Public Hearing
When: Tuesday, Jan. 27 @ 7 p.m.
Where: Town Council Chambers
25 W. Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176

What You Can Do

1. Attend and sign up to speak at the public hearing

If you live in Leesburg, especially in a neighborhood that will be directly affected by Leesburg Gateway, we encourage you to speak up and make your concerns known at the public hearing on Jan. 27. Tell the Town Council how this personally affects you, your family and community, and your quality of life.

Sign up to speak

2. Submit written comments

If you cannot attend the hearing, you can still submit written comments! Email the Town Council at [email protected]. See below for our Talking Points to help you prepare your comments.

3. Post a Yard Sign

Raise awareness about the hearing and proposed amendment by placing a sign in your yard. If you would like a “No More Data Centers in Leesburg’s Gateway” yard sign, please click here to fill out a Yard Sign request form.

4. Sign the petition

A Leesburg resident created a Change.org petition, “Stop the rezoning of Leesburg Gateway area” that is collecting signatures. You can read and sign the petition here.

Talking Points

PEC has developed Talking Points about the Leesburg Gateway data center amendment that you can use to inform your comments. Focus on 1-2 key points that resonate most with you, and be sure to include a personal example or story about how this proposal, if approved, would impact you.

The bottom line: The proposed amendment contradicts citizen-supported Town Plan guiding principles and should be denied.
1. The Plan amendment and proposed data center are neither strategic nor protective of the Town’s critical Route 7 gateway.
  • Route 7 is the main entrance to Leesburg and already has one approved data center. Allowing another promotes industrial sprawl, not a welcoming gateway. 
  • The Town Plan does not identify this portion of Rte. 7 as an appropriate location for additional data centers; instead, it is more appropriate for mixed-use, walkable development. This data center is proposed to be built in the middle of Leesburg neighborhoods! 
  • Dominion Energy, with State Corporation Commission (SCC) approval decides where transmission lines to serve these data centers go—not the Town or the developer. If lines cannot be buried, more above-ground transmission lines will further industrialize the gateway.
2. The location of the proposed data center – directly across from a residential development – degrades neighborhoods and makes them less desirable.
Data center next to homes in Ashburn, VA.
  • The Town Plan explicitly seeks to avoid conflicts between data centers and residential areas, but this site is directly across from existing neighborhoods. 
  • Data centers near homes are known to bring significant noise, pollution, and viewshed disruption, as well as heavy electrical infrastructure, leading to significant property value loss.
3. More data center development undermines Leesburg’s sustainability commitments.
  • Data centers are increasing the use of fossil fuels and contributing to increased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. 
  • Virginia’s climate goals are unachievable with the massive and growing energy demand of data centers.
4. It creates serious unintended consequences.
  • Dominion has stated data centers face a seven to eight year wait for power, with the costs of building additional transmission lines and other electrical infrastructure passed on to all ratepayers. 
  • This delay means data centers are increasingly turning to onsite fuel sources, including natural gas turbines and diesel generators. 
  • The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) regulates the air permits for onsite data center power generation (the Town does not control that process) and public hearings are not required. 
  • The Town’s zoning definition of a data center (see below) explicitly allows electrical substations, backup generators, overhead powerlines, and other utility infrastructure required to operate the data center. It does not specifically prohibit natural gas turbines, meaning a data center could potentially be allowed to use them.

Data Center definition: (per Town draft zoning ordinance as of 11-17-25): “A facility used primarily for the storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data, which houses computer and / or network equipment, systems, servers, appliances, and other associated components related to digital data operations. Such facilities may also include air handlers, power generators, water cooling and storage facilities, utility substations, and other associated utility infrastructure to support sustained operations at a data center.” (emphasis added)

  • VA DEQ recently changed its guidance to allow data centers to run polluting Tier 2 emergency diesel generators during planned outages, such as when transmission lines are being built, increasing noise and air pollution. 
  • VA DEQ allows cleaner Tier 4 diesel generators (also noisy) to run for very long periods. 
  • Both air- and water-cooled data centers have negative impacts. Air-cooled data centers are noisier, but those cooled by water can use over half a million gallons a day. 
  • A July 2024 Loudoun Now article references a Leesburg staff report wherein Director of Public Utilities, Amy Wyks wrote, “The ultimate build out of the Town’s utility service area cannot accommodate and sustain the continued addition of large capacity water users with the Town’s current treatment capacity… The Town’s projected water and wastewater demand at buildout is close to the state’s regulatory trigger point that would require expensive plant capacity improvements or confirm that growth in the service area is limited.”
Leesburg has approved enough data centers and does not need any more, especially in this location. Its small-town charm and quality of life will be diminished.
Attend the public hearing and let the Town Council know what you think.
If you cannot attend the meeting, please email the Town Council: [email protected]
Questions? Send PEC an email at [email protected].
Download Printable Talking Points

Data Center Impacts to Neighborhoods

Data centers negatively impact the environment and nearby residents, emitting noise, light and air pollution and visually disrupting otherwise peaceful and picturesque surroundings. And, as data centers require massive amounts of electricity their presence drives the need for more transmission lines, the cost of which is passed on to residents in the form of higher electricity bills.

Data centers are increasing use of fossil fuels, contributing to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, recent changes to Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) guidance around the use by data centers of backup diesel generators now allows data centers to run polluting Tier II generators during unplanned power outages, such as when transmission lines are being built, increasing noise and air pollution.

Data centers also use a lot of water and if approved, at full build-out, these data centers will exceed the town’s current water and sewer capacity that residents and other businesses depend on.

This area does not need another data center that will degrade residents’ quality of life, diminish Leesburg’s small-town charm, and drive down residents’ property values.

Town of Leesburg Resources
Rezoning Application Documents
Town Plan Amendment Application Documents
Map of proposed Leesburg Gateway data center project area. Source: Phase I Cultural Resource Investigation, accessed through the Town of Leesburg Community Development Web Portal.

Additional Data Center Resources