The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors is set to consider and refine an ordinance Wednesday that would change and clarify the rules regulating where data center can be located within the county.
No vote is expected.
Virginia is already the data center capital of the world, housing hundreds of the warehouse-like buildings used for storing, processing and sharing data. Northern Virginia, where development has been concentrated, is home to roughly 13% of all global data center operational capacity and 25% of capacity in the Americas, according to a 2023 study from the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Data centers are necessary for supporting 21st-century technology, and they also create jobs and spur local economies. But their developers have faced pushback, with residents in Central Virginia complaining about the high energy demands and water usage as well as noise pollution caused by generators and cooling systems.
Amazon Web Services in July pulled an application for a 7.2 million-square-foot data center in Louisa County after residents there mounted an intense offensive.
In neighboring Albemarle County, officials launched a website in June to collect feedback from the public about potential changes to the rules governing data center sites.
A vote on those new rules is still months away. The Albemarle County Planning Commission is expected to hold a public hearing on Sept. 23, and the Board of Supervisors will hold one of its own on Nov. 19. But supervisors Wednesday will be discussing and hearing details regarding the potential ordinance at their regular meeting Wednesday.
Established regulations in the county allow facilities up to 40,000 square feet in industrial districts by right, but special-use permits allow facilities even larger in commercial districts and in downtown Crozet.
All data centers must be served by public water and sewer, and limits are in place for when generator maintenance can occur and how much noise can be produced by generators.
The county is not required to permit data centers, but if allowed, then there are limitations on what the county can regulate.
“The County does not have the authority to regulate the electric power consumption of a data center or how the electricity is generated. … The County has no authority to regulate who a data center serves, what technologies are used or where equipment is produced,” according to county documents.
Some of the proposed regulations include limiting generators’ emissions; design requirements breaking the mass and facade of data center buildings; establishing noise limits; requiring cooling systems, ventilation and other equipment; and requiring information on how power will be supplied if a special-use permit is requested.
The county is also considering language that would create overlay districts for data centers, zoning districts placed in existing districts with different regulations.
The potential overlay districts considered would be placed in areas where “existing infrastructure can adequately support the proposed use and where negative impacts to nearby properties and resources are limited,” according to county documents.
According to the county those include parts of the county northeast of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, Pantops just east of the city, the land surrounding the Rivanna Station U.S. Army installation north of the city, and land near the Interstate 64-U.S. 29 junction.
The proposed changes would create two tiers of districts. Tier 1 would allow data centers up to 125,000 square feet by right, and tier 2 would allow data centers up to 500,000 square feet by right. The county has not yet said which districts should be in which tier.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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