Dear Supporter:
Loudoun’s supervisors are getting the message: data centers, transmission lines and substations are changing the character of suburban Loudoun and have had negative impacts on neighborhoods. Residents have had enough and are making it clear that their quality of life is degrading and the fiscal benefits data centers provide is diminishing.
Last July, in order to address many of these concerns, the Board of Supervisors initiated a first phase of changes to the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance to better manage data center development in Loudoun. While the planned changes will not stop data center development, they will reduce impacts on residents, provide more oversight and increase transparency.
Phase two of the proposed changes will focus on standards to increase data center efficiency and reduce environmental and other impacts. The full project is outlined here with an interactive map of existing and pipeline data center parcels.
Board of Supervisors Public Hearing
We hope you’ll join us in supporting the proposed comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance amendments in person on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. at the County Building, 1 Harrison St., Leesburg.
We’ll also be rallying with other Loudoun organizations and residents outside in the courtyard of the County Building at 5 p.m. Come early to get handouts with talking points and stickers, and to make your own signs. I hope to see you there!
- Before noon on Wednesday, Feb. 12, call 703-777-0200 to sign up to speak either in person or online.
- You can also submit your comments in writing to [email protected].
If you plan to attend the rally or hearing, let us know by filling out this form so we can get in touch with you about any changes or new information we find out.
What’s the Board’s Plan?
Phase one of the Board’s plan would change where data centers can be developed with board review and would eliminate by-right development. It would provide greater oversight to:
- Give data center applicants a clear understanding of where development may be acceptable going forward;
- Allow the Board the chance to reject applications that directly or indirectly harm residents’ quality of life;
- Increase transparency by requiring special exception review by the Board instead of the administrative by-right review process.
This updated process kicked off last September, with a public hearing and review by the planning commission. Unfortunately, the process got bogged down as the Chamber of Commerce and data center developers proposed a variety of exceptions and delays for the planning commission to consider. This ultimately resulted in the Planning Commission recommending denial of this first phase of the Board’s proposed actions. The commission also proposed six alternative recommendations and criteria to allow for exceptions to the Board’s plan.
We are urging the Board to adopt its originally planned changes without exceptions in order to fulfill its own goals to better manage and reduce the impacts to residents’ quality of life.
Read more about our concerns and why we oppose any exceptions to the Board’s proposed changes below.
What’s At Risk?
As of November 2024, Loudoun has approved 200 data centers, with another 117 in the pipeline (with and without site plans). That’s not counting other proposals in the works. Dominion Energy has indicated it cannot meet the energy demands of data centers already on the ground with the currently available power supply and infrastructure. To solve that problem, the utility has proposed:
- New 500 kV and 230 kV transmission lines to loop around eastern Loudoun, further industrializing the look and feel of commercial areas adjacent to suburban neighborhoods, negatively impacting the character of the area. Even these additions will fall short of the power needed to accommodate the data centers already approved so more lines will be necessary in years to come.
- Due to the lack of space, transmission lines are also planned to traverse Loudoun’s open spaces, stream corridors and trails.
- There are twenty-six new unsightly substations that are currently proposed to accompany needed transmission lines to support data center energy needs [see pg. 57, Figure 5 of the Loudoun County Electrical Infrastructure Study].
These solutions are not due to come online before 2028. Meanwhile, continuing technological advancements and AI will further strain the capacity of the grid and threaten reliability.
Concerningly, in addition to the thousands of diesel generators already approved as back-up emergency power, local data centers are turning to on-site fossil-fuel-powered solutions, essentially adding small power plants to them with little state review and no public input. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has not analyzed the potential cumulative impacts on air quality and related health hazards for residents in Loudoun and beyond.
Diesel generator at a data center. Credit PEC ACWA, Flickr.
Utility companies are proposing to use fossil fuels to meet the explosive energy demand of data centers including expanded and new gas plants as well as continued use of coal facilities. If not properly managed and coordinated, the new fossil fuel infrastructure for local data centers sets up a scenario where residents are faced with multiple threats to their health, welfare and long-term safety:
- A rise in electric bills as all ratepayers fund the expansion of electrical infrastructure even though it’s only needed for data centers;
- Increased air pollution from growing fossil-fuel-based energy generation at nearby data centers, threatening public health;
- Severe setbacks in our local, regional, and state goals for a clean energy economy and climate resilience as our utility providers delay the retirements of coal facilities, bring new gas plants online and extend our reliance on fossil fuels.
Our critical water resources are also at risk:
- Stream health is being impacted by the increase in impervious cover as data centers proliferate and request maximum lot coverage;
- While Loudoun’s drinking water supply is currently adequate, data centers’ water consumption has doubled over the last few years. Phase two of the Board’s effort to manage data centers must include ways to eliminate any threats to this critical resource and take into account the increased frequency and severity of drought conditions in Loudoun due to climate change.
Residents once trusted the vision for suburban Loudoun’s future, but that vision has now lost its integrity and sense of place. For many, it was a key factor in their decision on where to live and invest. In addition to these concerns, the effects of noise, visual disruptions, and encroachment on residents must be addressed to prevent further negative impacts.
This can’t all be managed by the Board of Supervisors; the General Assembly also has to act to protect Virginians from the costs and negative impacts of this global industry. But the Loudoun Board has a critical role to play that is strictly under local control. Board members must act on their plan to better control data center growth, without giving in to the various exceptions that have been proposed and that have the potential to worsen impacts on Loudoun residents and other businesses.
Talking Points: Why We’re Opposed to Any Exceptions
We oppose all of the Planning Commission’s recommendations to avoid adopting the measures or to allow exceptions including, (but not limited to):
“Grandfathering”
When the Board adopted the 2023 Zoning Ordinance Rewrite, it approved generous terms that allowed all applications accepted by the adoption date to be processed under the old rather than the newly adopted rules. This voluntary decision (also known as grandfathering) is separate from the state’s vested rights law which provides specific, limited criteria that give property owners protection against regulatory changes that might have costly impacts.
- In our opinion, the Board’s decision greatly hampered their ability to control the many data center applications that were hurriedly submitted before the adoption date.
- If grandfathering is offered again, the value of the Board’s initiative would be severely minimized.
Data Center Campus Modification
One of the key goals of the Board’s action is to increase its oversight of further data center development.
The industry has lobbied for flexibility to modify development plans without starting the review process from the beginning. But the zoning ordinance already has such provisions which are adequate for minor adjustments.
Where future building site plans don’t exist as in phased developments, or when developers need to make major adjustments to existing plans, they must go through a Board review. The growing negative impacts on communities are adequate justification for requiring the special exception review. The industry must accept the associated cost and delays they may face in the process to allow full transparency with all new data center development plans.
Additional Guidance or Criteria in the Comprehensive Plan
In the Plan, Place Type descriptions are already in place that outline the need for a case by case review of uses that may not fully comply with design standards. Any additional adjustments should wait for Phase Two of the initiative.
The Special Exception Process should not include criteria that provide an exception that allows for by-right approvals.
Phase two will provide for performance criteria to help increase energy efficiency and reduce negative impacts. Instead of using such measures as a reason to allow by-right development in Phase One, they should be essential factors for approval or denial in the future.
View full Loudoun Electrical Infrastructure Report: https://loudoun.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=90&clip_id=7770&meta_id=252526
While phase one is just the start of Board actions, PEC and our partners have been advocating for such changes and more, both locally and in Richmond, for the last few years. The Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition has adopted four core pillars of data center reform. These pillars provide a framework for responsible action and robust reform that will help the state achieve a balanced and sustainable future.
PEC and the Coalition are calling for:
- Enhanced transparency
- More state and local oversight
- Protections for families and businesses
- Incentives for efficiency
The Loudoun Board must ensure that it does everything within its power to support and implement each of these common-sense measures both locally and at the state level. This includes working with the legislature to clarify and expand its ability to consider all of the impacts of this industry, like power usage and water consumption, when making decisions.
As a resident, it’s important for you to share the negative impacts you’ve felt and why it’s important to you that the Board acts without further delay to adopt the measures they have laid out.
Please let us know if you’ll be able to join us on Wednesday, Feb 12. Together we’ll urge the Board to act – without delay and without exception – to adopt and apply these measures!
Let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Gem Bingol
Senior Land Use Field Officer
[email protected]