Stafford Planning Commission to Hold Public Hearing on Proposed Development with "Data Center Option"
The "Market at Austin Ridge" would include retail in one portion and either a hotel or data center, or more retail in a second portion.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford Planning Commission on Wednesday will hold a public hearing on a rezoning and conditional use permit (CUP) request for a development off Courthouse Road in the Garrisonville district which could include a data center.
The applicant, Courthouse West, LLC, is requesting to rezone 25.04 acres at the intersection of Courthouse and the future Austin Ridge Drive from agricultural to a mix of urban commercial and heavy industrial.
The CUP would allow for multiple drive-through facilities and vehicle fuel sales in the urban commercial zoning, and for multiple drive-through facilities and low- and medium intensity commercial retail uses in the heavy industrial zoning.
The development, known as “Market at Austin Ridge” would include “various commercial and retail uses such as, but not limited to a grocery store, multiple restaurants, a child care center, and a convenience store with fuel sales within the [urban commercial district], and a data center, brewery, distillery, mini-storage warehouse, a hotel, offices, and other low and medium intensity commercial retail uses within the [heavy industrial district].”
According to the analysis of the application prepared by county planning staff, there are single-family residences on abutting properties to the west; a warehouse and distribution center to the south; and a shopping center to the north. The land to the east is undeveloped.
There were five single-family dwellings and assorted outbuildings on the property which were “razed following submission of the initial zoning reclassification application” in 2024, according to the staff analysis. There is a pond in the middle of the site, but “no known environmentally sensitive features or resources present.”
The applicant is proposing three options for the heavy industrial zoned portion of the site—a retail option, a hotel option, or a data center option.
The retail option would include a one-story restaurant and a potential mini-storage warehouse with multiple buildings up to two stories, but not taller than 65-feet, in height.
The hotel option would include a 100-room hotel up to four stories in height, and the mini-storage warehouse.
The data center option would include one 420,480-square-foot, two story data center building. According to the narrative, the generator yard for the data center faces west “towards abutting residential uses and A-1 zoned properties.”
Stafford’s zoning ordinance requires data centers to be set back a minimum of 750 feet from property lines abutting or across from residential uses or property zoned for residential use; and a minimum of 100 feet from property lines abutting commercial zoned properties.
The applicant is asking for a modification to these required setbacks—specifically to reduce them to 150 feet from residential uses to the west, 40 feet to the east, and 50 feet to the north. Additionally, the application would reduce the setbacks for accessory structures to 35 feet.
The applicant is also asking to reduce the vegetated buffer required along property lines between data centers and residential uses from 200 feet to 60 feet.
County staff do not recommend accepting these reduced setbacks and buffers.
The proffers proposed with the application include construction of a sidewalk along Courthouse Road and Austin Ridge Drive; “transportation improvements” to Austin Ridge Drive; limiting trip generation to 11,576 daily trips for all uses; limiting “the amount of potable water usage permitted for data center cooling purposes to [1 million] gallons per building, per year;” and a one-time contribution of $100,000 to county fire and rescue.
The registered agent for the applicant, Courthouse West LLC, is Andrew Garrett, who is also the registered agent for Augustine South Associates.
Augustine South Associates has another data center application in review with the county for a project known as “GWV Data Centers” in the Hartwood district.
In July of 2025, a Stafford Circuit Court judge ruled that Garrett was clear-cutting on a portion of the Hartwood property in violation of the county’s zoning ordinance and proffers associated with the parcel and issued an injunction against further such activity.
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Thank you for the comprehensive reporting that shows the company has been proven to be untrustworthy due to its prior violation of county ordinance and proffers and its disregard for court orders.