Stafford Planning Commission to Hold Public Hearings on Two Data Center Projects
Staff recommend deferral of one project and denial of another.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford Planning Commission on Wednesday will hold public hearings on two proposed data center projects—one known as the Potomac Creek Campus and one known as Accokeek Center.
Both projects are requesting rezoning from agricultural to heavy industrial; conditional use permits to allow for electrical substations; and amendments to the county’s comprehensive plan to support “higher density commercial development” on the subject parcels.
County planning staff recommend deferral of the Potomac Creek project until a number of issues are addressed, including noise mitigation measures, trip generation data, and comments on the historical and cultural resources located on the site (specifically, a cemetery containing the remains of “18 or more” enslaved individuals).
Staff recommend denial of the Accokeek project, finding that it is “not compatible with the existing residential development, and does not meet Comprehensive Plan land use recommendations, or many of those specific recommendations related to electric utilities,” according to the report prepared for Wednesday’s meeting.
Potomac Creek Campus
The Potomac Creek project is proposed for a 99.3-acre parcel on the south side of Eskimo Hill Road, “approximately 1,300 feet east” of the end of Potomac Creek Drive. The applicant is the owner, Joseph Metts of Metts, LLC.
The parcel has been zoned agricultural since 1978 and is undeveloped, though a site plan for 24 single-family residences was approved in 2007.
The proposal is construct three two-story, 325,000-square-foot data center buildings, and the applicant is asking for a conditional use permit in order to exceed the maximum height limit of 65 feet to reach 70 feet.
There is also a proposal to construct electric substation on the northeast corner of the property, which would connect to high voltage power line that runs through the site. The substation requires approval of a conditional use permit and a review of the county’s Comprehensive Plan, which the applicant is also requesting.
The staff report notes that a “load letter” from Dominion Energy, confirming that it has the capacity to serve the development, “has not been provided by the applicant due to confidentiality requirements and proprietary information associated with the end user.”
The site contains the Seddon Family Cemetery, “one of the most significant historic cemeteries in Stafford County due to its age and gravestone characteristics,” according to the staff report. Along with four marked graves of members of the Seddon family—Falmouth merchants whose home was known as Oakland—it includes “18 or more” unmarked graves of people enslaved by the family, according to the staff report.
The applicant has proffered to demonstrate that the site plan complies with the county’s cemetery ordinance, which states that cemeteries must be “preserved, set apart, protected and maintained in perpetuity” or “relocated pursuant to state law.” by the owner of the parcel upon which the cemetery is located.
Removal of the remains is contingent upon a ruling by the circuit court, and the staff report notes that, “While relocation may be desired by the applicant … it is not a foregone conclusion. A Virginia circuit court can deny permission to remove human remains from a cemetery. While state statute 57-38.1 allows for relocation, courts consider the historical significance, the wishes of descendants, and public interest, treating removal as a ‘last resort.’”
The staff report also notes concerns that the number of estimated vehicle trips per day is inconsistent with the development; that the buffers proposed will not provide adequate screening for nearby properties; and that the sound study provided does not include an evaluation of low-frequency noises.
Accokeek Center
This project would be located on 121 acres west of U.S. 1, near the intersection with Eskimo Hill Road. The current zoning is a mix of agricultural, rural residential, and office, and the applicant and owner—Stephen W. DeFalco of Falmouth Tech, LLC—is requesting to rezone all of it to heavy industrial to allow for construction of “up to 690,000 square feet of data center and accessory use.”
There would be three total data center buildings, each 230,000 square feet large and no more than 65 feet high.
The applicant is asking to reduce the required 750-foot setbacks to the south along Buttercup Lane, where there are single-family residences, to 288 feet. The staff report notes that “there would be a distance of approximately 420 feet between the proposed data center buildings and the nearest residential structure (not property line) to the south.”
The staff report also states that the general development plan does not show “proposed transmission line corridors … [which] may be located in areas identified for the preservation of forests and sensitive environmental resources.”
Proposed proffers commit to providing sound mitigating measures including “retaining walls, earthen berms, landscaped buffers, and mechanical screening enclosures,” but the staff report states that “the actual noise impacts and appropriate mitigation measures for the project are not fully known” and that the mitigation efforts could us “additional clarifications.”
The staff report concludes that the project promotes economic development and fiscal responsibility goals, but is not consistent with land use recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan and doesn’t adequately mitigate on adjacent properties.
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