Fredericksburg City Council Passes Resolution Supporting Data Center Development
Staff are continuing to do "due diligence" in discussing potential development in Celebrate Virginia South, City Manager says.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Fredericksburg City Council at its meeting on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution acknowledging its “continued support for the potential development of data centers” in the city.
“We want to remind the community that Council [previously] directed staff to further study Celebrate Virginia South and that area for the potential citing of future data centers,” City Manager Tim Baroody said Tuesday evening, introducing the resolution. “We did think it was useful, and Mayor, you further directed us to craft a resolution to more formally give direction to continue that path.”
Council has not publicly discussed any specific proposal from a data center developer, but did go into a closed session at the end of Tuesday’s meeting to discuss “a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business’ or industry’s interest in locating or expanding its facilities in the community, specifically relating to a potential technology industry end user for property including Celebrate Virginia South.”
“I think this is an important path we are heading down,” Mayor Kerry Devine said Tuesday evening, before reading the resolution out loud in full.
It states that data center development has been ongoing throughout the region and that Council in 2018 approved amending City Code to consider data centers as by-right developments in certain zoning districts. Council also adopted the same amendments to the personal property tax rate and depreciation schedule for computer equipment that Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, and King George have adopted “to position and ensure the region’s competitiveness in attracting this industry.”
The resolution states that it is the goal of Council and city staff to pursue data center development that “adheres to the most environmentally sustainable build-out and ongoing operations” and “ensure[s] the continued protection of the Rappahannock River.”
Council and staff will pursue end-users who “have identified and stated 100% renewable energy goals which align” with those of the city, according to the resolution, and data center development “shall not exceed a total of less than 2% of the City of Fredericksburg total land area, or approximately 5 million total square feet.”
The resolution also lays out six investments that Council will be able to make with the estimated $45 million per year in new annual tax revenue from data center development. These include
reducing the real estate tax rate
recruiting and retaining teachers and public safety workers
paying debt service on fire station #3 and school construction
making progress towards green initiatives and historic preservation goals
eliminating the business, professional, and occupational license (BPOL) tax
supporting initiatives such as affordable/workforce housing, childcare, and trail networks
Devine said the potential data center development is “a generational economic development opportunity” that will allow the city to “accomplish so much of the community’s goals, hopes, and dreams.”
Councilor Jon Gerlach, Ward 2 representative, addressed the environmental concerns raised by some residents and groups.
“I am an environmentalist, but I am also a pragmatist,” Gerlach said. “I think I speak for a lot of folks who are concerned about environmental impacts that this is not a binary choice. Technologies are improving and can reach the point where the impact is manageable.”
During public comments earlier in the meeting, representatives from local branches of electrical and elevator constructor trade unions spoke about the benefits to their members of data center development.
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