Stafford Board of Supervisors December 2 Meeting Preview
The agenda includes a joint public hearing with the Planning Commission on whether approved data center projects should be grandfathered.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
The main item on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is a joint public hearing with the Planning Commission on regulations permitting grandfathering of “certain previously approved data center projects.”
The meeting will be called to order at 5 p.m. and the joint public hearing is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., according to the agenda.
Consent Agenda
There are 16 items on the consent agenda, including:
Suspending by-laws to vote on a resolution to authorize budget appropriation and execute a task order for preliminary design services for Warrenton Road widening project and U.S. 1 at Foreston Woods intersection project.
Approve proclamations recognizing outgoing supervisors Meg Bohmke and Monica Gary.
Endorse the Virginia Association of County’s 2026 legislative agenda.
Authorize an additional four hours of holiday pay for county staff.
Joint Public Hearing with Planning Commission
The boards are considering an ordinance that would grandfather data center projects that received conditional use permit approval from the Board of Supervisors or site plan approval from staff on or before October 21, 2025.
Grandfathered projects would be exempt from the new regulations approved by supervisors on that date—which, among others, require 750-foot setbacks between data center buildings and residences.
According to the staff memo, if the grandfathering ordinance is approved, it would apply to five projects:
Stafford Technology Campus
Potomac Church Tech Center
Centreport Gateway/Pemberton
Vantage VA-4 (aka Melrod)
Cranes Corner Data Center
Closed Session
The board will hold a closed session for “(1) discussion of the salary of a specific public officer; (2) consultation with legal counsel regarding a proposed electric transmission line project, which is a specific legal matter requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel; (3) and discussion concerning the recruitment for a specific employee of the Board and the performance of a specific employee of the Board,” according to the closed meeting resolution.
Meeting Details
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Excellent coverage of this critical zoning decision. The grandfathering proposal you've outlined raises an interesting tension between regulatory consistency and economic continuity.
When jurisdictions tighten rules mid-stream like the 750-foot setback requirement, they essentially force a choice: honor prior commitments or apply new standards retroactively. What's particularly notable here is the October 21 cutoff date, which creates a bright-line rule for developers who had already secured approvals. This approach prevents the regulatory whiplash that can freeze investment, but it also means communities near these five grandfathered projects won't benefit from thenew residential protections.
The real question becomes whether this carveout undermines the intent of the October regulations or simply acknowledges the practical reality that projects like Vantage VA-4 and Cranes Corner were already deeply into planning. It would be intresting to see how neighboring jurisdictions handle similar mid-course corrections in their data center policies.