Towns are places that are meant to be vibrant, pedestrian-oriented, human-scaled places for people to live, work and play. They are land constrained, so the limited space should be used for housing, retail and public places. The Town of Orange is a historic, compact and walkable community. The current data center market – focused on data centers of 100,000 square-feet and larger (“hyperscale” data centers) – threatens to overwhelm and industrialize small towns like Orange and strain local infrastructure. The Town of Orange should prohibit data centers larger than 40,000 square feet.
The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is working closely with residents and town officials to ensure that future development complements, not destroys, the unique character of Orange.
Recent Updates: Town Council Takes Action
Feb. 17, 2026: Town Council takes significant step by voting unanimously to amend the town’s zoning ordinance. Changes shift data centers from a “by-right” use (which requires no public input) to a Special Use Permit (SUP) requirement:
Key Changes Approved:
- Prohibited in Downtown: Data centers are now prohibited in the Traditional Town Center (TTC) district.
- Residential Protections: Data centers remain prohibited in all residential districts (RR, TR-L, TR-H, T2, T3, T4).
- Removed By-Right Status: Data centers now require an SUP everywhere else in Town: the Town Activity Center (TAC), Rural Commercial (RC) and Traditional Industrial (TI) districts, and in T5-A, T5-B and SD-15 (in the Round Hill Traditional Neighborhood Development district).
- Closing the Gap: Listening to resident concerns, the Town Council also shifted data centers from by-right to an SUP process in the Round Hill Traditional Neighborhood Development district.
What is an SUP? A Special Use Permit ensures that any data center proposal must undergo a public hearing. This allows you, the resident, to voice concerns regarding noise, visual impact, utility needs and other impacts, before a project is approved.
Apr. 20, 2026: Town Council approves an updated zoning ordinance definition of “data center” that better describes modern, hyperscale data centers. Unfortunately, the Council chose to not incorporate PEC’s recommendation that the definition should clearly distinguish between on-site emergency back up power generation and on-site primary power generation. However, Council members publicly stated their intent to address that elsewhere within the zoning ordinance soon.
Next up – Town Council is expected to continue discussions about a draft data center policy document, and to make additions to the zoning ordinance to provide use standards that any future data center would be required to meet.
Why a Special Use Permit Isn’t Enough
While the move to require a SUP is a “step in the right direction,” PEC and many residents believe the Town should go further. Currently, the Town’s definition of “data center” does not distinguish between a small data center that would fit in with other light industrial buildings and businesses, and a massive, “hyperscale” data center.
The Reality of Modern Data Centers
In the last 5-10 years, the industry has moved away from building “smaller” data centers (less than 40,000 square feet) to behemoths that dominate the landscape. Today’s hyperscale projects often involve:
- Massive Scale: Buildings are often over 100,000 square feet and 80 feet in height.
- Expansive Energy Infrastructure: Since many data center campuses require as much energy to operate as a small town, energy companies are struggling to meet demand. We’ve increasingly seen proposals for massive new transmission lines and large substations to carry electricity to these power-hungry facilities.
- Cost to Ratepayers Like You and Me: It’s important to note that the cost to build new energy infrastructure to serve the data center industry is spread across all ratepayers and shows up on our electric bills. Unless laws are changed at the state level, residents and businesses will continue footing the bill for this energy-hungry industry.
- Constant Noise: Industrial-grade cooling fans, and in some cases onsite gas turbines, run 24/7. The best way to avoid noise issues is to not site data centers near residential areas.
- Air Pollution: Most data centers use massive diesel generators the size of train cars for emergency back-up power. These generators are run in bulk during outage events, and individually, monthly for maintenance purposes. Data centers are also increasingly eyeing gas turbines as a primary power source when power is not available from the grid. These facilities may have dozens or even over a hundred generators permitted, this is a real concern, especially for schools, ballfields, trails and people living in close proximity to a facility.
Read more about the impacts of data centers at pecva.org/datacenters.
PEC’s Position: Prohibit Hyperscale Data Centers in the Town of Orange
PEC maintains that hyperscale data centers have no place within the Town limits. Towns are land-constrained; our limited space should be reserved for housing, retail, and public parks—not massive industrial blocks that provide few local jobs, consume vast amounts of energy and water, and degrade quality of life.
We are advocating for the following further protections:
- Size Cap: Prohibit hyperscale data centers larger than 40,000 square feet.
- Strict Standards: Update the Town ordinance to define and regulate hyperscale data center impacts separately from smaller enterprise data centers, and ensure that an SUP for a “data center” can’t inadvertently include gas turbines or other fossil-fuel-based primary power generation sources as accessory uses. Those are distinct uses and should require a separate SUP as Orange County has recently done.
- Water, Visual and Noise Standards: Ensure that any allowed “small” enterprise data centers are subject to strict water usage, architectural and sound modeling requirements.
How You Can Help
- Stay Informed: Sign up for PEC email alerts to receive notifications about issues in Orange and the region at pecva.org/signup.
- Write to the Town Council: Encourage town officials to adopt a 40,000-square-foot size limit to prevent hyperscale data centers and strict standards to address noise, water usage, and other impacts (Orange County’s ordinance is a good model), specify that on-site emergency power generation is only to be used for emergencies, and require a separate SUP for on-site primary power generation. Contact information →
- Talk to Neighbors: Help others understand that data centers today look very different than they did ten years ago and come with a host of impacts to residents and businesses.
- Learn more: Read about the impacts of data centers at pecva.org/datacenters.
PEC’s Public Comments:
- Letter submitted to Planning Commission on Feb. 9, 2026
- Email sent to Town Council on Feb. 16, 2026
- Email sent to Town Council on Feb. 25, 2026
- Letter submitted to Town Council on April 20, 2026
