City Staff Present Draft Zoning Ordinance to Facilitate Data Center Development
If approved early next year, the new Technology Overlay District would apply to about 250 acres in Celebrate Virginia South.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Fredericksburg City staff this week presented an overview of a draft zoning ordinance that would provide for by right data center development.
Josh Summits, director of economic development and tourism, introduced the potential Technology Overlay District at Tuesday’s City Council work session. Under the timeline presented, the new ordinance could be voted on by Council at the February 25 meeting.
“This is the most aggressive schedule that I’ve seen put to paper, [and its] meant to meet a request from the landowner,” City Manager Tim Baroody said at the work session.
The Technology Overlay District would apply to about 250 acres in the area of the city known as Celebrate Virginia South, Summits said. Much of the area is now zoned T4 (general urban), T4W (workplace), or T1 (preserved open space).
Remaining preserved open space land would amount to about 225 acres, Summits said.
Data centers would be permitted as a by right use in the overlay district, along with major (water towers, electrical substations, transmission) and minor (ancillary water and sewer) utilities.
The overlay would establish a minimum size of 150 contiguous acres for a data center development, with a maximum building height of 90 feet.
Staff proposed that there be requirement to preserve 20% of a data center campus as open space.
In response to a question from Council member Will Mackintosh, planning director Mike Craig said that as the draft ordinance is currently written, land that falls outside the overlay district would not count towards the 20% requirement.
Mackintosh said that’s “something I’d like to think about.”
“I do want to make sure we’re not leaving tax revenue on the table,” he said.
No use permitted by the overlay district would be allowed to “permanently utilize potable water for industrial cooling,” though potable water may be used on a temporary basis governed by a water service agreement between the city and the developer.
Summits said these agreements usually state a maximum number of gallons of potable water that could be used per day or that potable water can only be used until a certain percentage of full buildout is complete.
The overlay district would also limit the noise output from a data center development to 60 decibels during the day and 55 at night.
Summits said 60 decibels equates to a “moderate to quiet conversation” and 55 decibels equates to the hum of a refrigerator.
According to the timeline presented by Summits, City Council and the Planning Commission will hold two joint work sessions in January to discuss the draft ordinance.
There will be two public hearings on the ordinance, one before the Planning Commission on February 12 and one before City Council on February 25.
Mayor Kerry Devine said the proposed timeline is “aggressive but necessary.”
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