NEWS: Data Center Zoning before York County Board
Planning move portends influx of new facilities across region
Communities across Virginia have grappled with the issue of building data centers within their jurisdictions. Advocates point to tax revenue and jobs created by the new ventures. Opponents decry the size and environmental impacts of the sprawling complexes. Governments worry about the challenges of providing utilities to the resource-hungry facilities and the cost to residents.
In order to get out in front of these issues, the York County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposed ordinance concerning future data centers in the County. The meeting will be held Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 6PM inside York Hall, 301 Main Street in Yorktown, Virginia.
At the core of York County’s proposed zoning is a formal definition of a data center. In the new ordinance, a data center is described as "[an establishment engaging in the storage, management, processing, and/or transmission of digital data, and housing computer equipment, network equipment, systems, servers, appliances, and other associated components related to digital data operations."
The definition is part of a wider set of proposed amendments set forth in the new ordinance to address other issues related to data centers, including energy and water usage, noise pollution, generator testing, setbacks and buffers, architectural standards and safety provisions. The York County Planning Commission previously recommended that the Board approve the zoning changes.
Data center legislation elsewhere
Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill with bipartisan support to impose similar requirements on data center developers at the State level, though the initiative was vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin, as reported by Tad Dickens for Cardinal News. Mandates would have included assessments for noise pollution, water consumption as well as other environmental and cultural concerns. Youngkin issued a statement that these decisions should be left to local officials and that the requirements should only be recommendations and options for developers, noted Dickens in Cardinal News.
Other local jurisdictions have yet to get as far as York County in terms of zoning for data centers. A spokesperson for Williamsburg wrote in an email that the City does not have any specific zoning related to data centers, nor has any been considered by the City Council. Representatives of James City County did not return a request for information regarding current or planned data center zoning, but a review of Board of Supervisors’ meetings indicates that discussions on the topic date back to at least 2023. At a meeting in May 2024, a Supervisor noted that data centers seemed to be “popping up everywhere, not just in Northern Virginia.”
Virginia, the data center “Capital of the World”
The growth of data centers in Virginia has exploded over the last 10 years. According to statistics from the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), Virginia is the world’s largest data center market. The NVTC states that the industry has grown 500% in the State since 2015, with the majority of growth in Northern Virginia. According to the industry group’s 2023 figures, new data centers in Virginia generated $47B in “total economic output.” This included more than 26,000 jobs and $640M in tax revenue for the State. They also claim that data centers were by far the largest source of new investment in the State in that year.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership states that the Commonwealth is already home to almost 150 data centers, which represents 35% of all these facilities worldwide. And in 2023, the Virginia General Assembly tasked its Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to investigate the economic impact of data center growth in the State. The report by JLARC confirmed that data centers are providing a significant boost to the State, but also offered a glimpse into the nuance of data center benefits.
JLARC found that most of the economic benefits of data centers occur during the initial construction phase. And while the jobs created by the operation of the center tend to be high paying, there are fewer people employed at data centers than a similar size facility would typically need. The report also acknowledges large increases in power and water consumption come along with these projects, some of which is borne by local residents and other businesses. Their study concludes that communities with data centers could see utility bills increase by $14-$37 per month by 2040.
Communities push back against data center explosion
As noted, many residents in Virginia are starting to see data centers pop up in places other than Northern Virginia, as developers look to build in less expensive parts of the State. Yet many residents in these communities are unmoved by the purported economic impact of data centers. As the number of data centers has grown, so has pushback against them.
Gloucester County
Gloucester County, population 40,000, is considering zoning changes meant to encourage data center development, though the measure has come up against stiff public opposition. Respondents to a survey conducted by the County indicated that more than 80% were against the proposed changes, while 9% favored the new zoning and 9% were unsure.
While a few respondents to the Gloucester survey commented on the economic benefits of data centers, most comments reflected concerns about the facilities’ negative impact. One resident wrote that “[d]ata centers use enormous amounts of electricity and water, consume open space, destroy fish and wildlife habitat, generate noise, and provide relatively few long-term jobs. They change the character of rural areas.”
Louisa County
Louisa County sits between Richmond and Charlottesville and contains part of Lake Anna. Though the rural county is expansive, it has a permanent population of just 45,000. Louisa’s location along a major interstate between two growing cities makes it a prime spot for data center builders. For example, Amazon Web Services has already gained approval for two sprawling facilities in the rural county. Now they want to build a third.
The influx of data center development, with even more on the way, has made Louisa County ground zero for debate, reports Tammy Purcell for Engage Louisa. “Last year, Dominion Energy and AWS announced potential plans to develop a small modular reactor at or near North Anna. As the name suggests, SMRs are smaller, cheaper versions of traditional reactors, which could play a key role in keeping the lights on in power-hungry data centers in the decades to come,” Purcell wrote.
Another recent report by Purcell noted that the data center issue brought out over 100 residents and packed the Louisa County Office Building. Purcell quoted one resident as saying, “It just doesn’t feel like this is for our community. It feels like we are being sold out.” Another resident asked the Board and developers about the consistent hum that large data centers can create. “[W]ould they want that in their backyards? Would they want to be listening to the buzz all night long?”