Developer Seeks Rezoning for 7.9 Million Square Foot Data Center in Stafford's Hartwood District
Applicant held a community meeting for neighbors last week.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Stafford County-based developer The Garrett Companies is seeking approval from the county to build a data center campus on 1,042 acres off Ramoth Church Road in the Hartwood district.
The applicant is requesting the rezoning of 20 parcels to heavy industrial, or M2, use as well as a conditional use permit to increase the permitted height of any data center building and electric transmission or substation facility to a maximum of 105 feet.
Attorney Charlie Payne with the firm Hirschler submitted a second impact statement and proffer statement related to the “GWV” project in October, and the firm held a community meeting about the project last week.
The parcels are currently covered by a mix of zoning, including urban commercial, high-density urban residential, light industrial, rural residential, and agricultural.
According to the impact statement, at full build-out in 20 years, “the project is anticipated to include approximately 7.9 million square feet of single or multi-tenant industrial uses along with accessory uses.”
The parcels are bounded by Ramoth Church Road to the south and west, Courthouse Road to the north, and Interstate 95 to the east. Surrounding the property are residential subdivisions, single-family residences, Ramoth Baptist Church, Mountain View Rescue Squad and Fire Department, Stafford Regional Airport, Colonial Forge High School, and the Jeff Rouse Swim and Sport Center.
There are also surrounding industrial uses, such as Austin Ridge Logistics—which is currently seeking a rezoning to M2 to support data center use, according to the impact statement—and the Virginia Paving Company, as well as vacant land.
According to the impact statement, “Most surrounding properties are developed for complementary uses [to a data center].”
“The Applicant’s proposal is not anticipated to change the character and established pattern of development in this area,” it states. “Instead, this Project is consistent with the County’s [Comprehensive] Plan and is expected to meet current market demands for industrial users and further complement and support the existing and future intended development pattern, as nearby uses include a variety of primarily commercial and industrial uses.”
The project is located in the county’s Courthouse and Central Stafford Targeted Development Areas, which according to the comprehensive plan, are areas where at least 50 percent of the county’s future residential and business development is recommended.
The comprehensive plan anticipates 5,440 residential dwelling units and 5.5 million square feet of commercial development in the Courthouse TDA, and 1,750 dwelling units and 12 million square feet of commercial development in the Central Stafford TDA.
“This project alone exceeds this goal” for commercial development in the Courthouse TDA, according to the impact statement.
The applicant is working with Dominion Energy to build five electrical substations on the property, which according to the impact statement will “have the potential to serve [development] in the surrounding area” and be “strategically located on the Property to limit visual and audible impacts to surrounding properties.”
The project proffers a number of road improvements, including construction of turn lanes, restriping, and signal improvements at the intersection of Courthouse and Mine roads; and construction of turn lanes at the intersections of Centreport Parkway and Ramoth Church Road and Mine Road Extended and Woodcutters Road.
It also proposes to dedicate a right-of-way for a four-lane cross section between Courthouse and Ramoth Church Road and another between Kellogg Mill Road and Mine Extended.
The proffer statement notes that not all of the property in these proposed right-of-ways is owned by the applicant. “Applicant will use commercially reasonable efforts to acquire all necessary off-site right-of-way easements…” it states. “In the event the Applicant is unable to purchase or otherwise obtain said Offsite Right of Way from third-party property owners … the Applicant will request the County to acquire the Offsite Right of Way by means of the County’s condemnation powers at the Applicant’s sole expense.”
Noise from the data center would be subject to the county’s noise ordinance and also kept to a maximum of 55 decibels between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m and 1 p.m. on weekends and holidays, according to the proffer statement.
The project proposes to use “no potable water” for industrial cooling, “unless approved by the county’s Utilities Department,” and if the project implements a water-based industrial cooling system, the “sole primary” source will be reuse water.
The applicant will also proffer $1.5 million to the county to support constructing a public safety joint training center and will construct a 10-foot-wide shared-use bike and pedestrian path along the Mine Road extension.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”