Stafford Planning Commission Votes to Defer Potomac Creek Data Center Project for One Month
Commissioners asked the applicant to address potential cultural and historic resources on the property, in addition to other issues.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
The Stafford Planning Commission last week voted unanimously to defer for one month a suite of applications related to a data center project known as Potomac Creek Campus.
“There are eight things we discussed ad nauseam that are either confusing or missing [from this application] … so I think a deferral is probably the best way forward,” said Falmouth representative Marcus Oats, who made the motion to defer. “I want to commend you for showing up, for your candor, and for talking us through” the history of the parcel and the project.
The property-owner, Joseph Metts of Metts, LLC, is seeking to rezoning a 99.3 acre parcel on the south side of Eskimo Hill Road from agricultural to heavy industrial in order to construct three two-story, 325,000-square-foot data center buildings, as well as a conditional use permit to allow an electrical substation.
The package also includes a request to amend the county’s comprehensive plan to designate the parcel as one supporting “higher density commercial development.”
Commissioners last week agreed with county staff’s recommendation that the applications be deferred to give time for a number of issues to be addressed.
Staff pointed out that the sound study conducted did not include an evaluation of low-frequency noises; that the general development plan did not include required noise mitigation measures or required visual screening from the residential properties to the south; that application needs a letter from Dominion confirming the availability of energy to support the data center use; and that more information is needed about the known and unconfirmed historic and cultural resources on the property.
There is a known cemetery on the property, containing the remains of four members of the Seddon family and possibly up to 16 enslaved individuals. This is potentially not the only cultural resource on the parcel.
“There has been some research done that reveals the potential for additional cultural resources that may be impacted by this project,” said Nancy Kotting, the county’s cultural resources planner at the April 22 Planning Commission meeting. “There’s a high potential for unrecorded Native American sites… The project area is also thought to be the home of the Oakland plantation, the Seddon family’s plantation. But we have not received an archaeological study so we do not have confirmation. There are a lot of unknowns.”
The applicant is proffering to remove the burials, which are located on the site of one of the proposed data center buildings, in accordance with state and local code regarding the relocation of cemeteries. Since the remains are not located in a recognized public cemetery, relocation is overseen by the state Department of Historic Resources (DHR) and requires an order from the Circuit Court, Kotting said.
“It is not a foregone conclusion that they will be granted permission,” she said.
The judge is required to consider historical significance, public concern, and the interest of any surviving descendants.
“Given that these are suspected to be slave burials, the identification [of descendants] and the ability to obtain their input is going to be challenging,” Kotting said. “The applicant will be required to do their best to find descendants of the Seddon family and those enslaved by them. That input will be very important to the judge.”
Whether or not the burials are permitted to be relocated, there will need to be a professional delineation of the size of the cemetery. If the remains stay onsite, the county’s cemetery ordinance dictates that the applicant will need to establish a 35-foot buffer around the cemetery and ensure public access via a public throughway, Kotting said.
“I would like to see more about how the applicant will handle either scenario,” she said.
Mark Looney, an attorney with Cooley, LLC, representing the applicant, said the subject parcel is landlocked and the only access is through the Stafford Technology Campus to the north.
“There is a proffer [with the STC application] that says [access to our site] can be by right-of-way or through an easement,” Looney said. “One of the things we’ve suggested is that [the county] request them to dedicate that land as opposed to providing an easement, in part so that we have access to a public street.”
He also said that the applicants are “aware of what we [need] to do with the cemeteries and the cultural analysis,” and that “if the cemetery remains, we would provide access.”
Looney said a plan to build 24 single-family residences on the parcel has been approved. However, given that the parcel is within the airport overlay district, and is isolated with the Stafford Technology Campus to the north, a pump station for the reclaimed water system to the west, and a pending rezoning for a data center to the east, “residential use is incompatible,” he said.
Commissioners asked for the project to be brought back at the May 27 meeting.
The Commission was to have considered a second suite of applications for another data center project, known as the Accokeek Center, at its meeting last week. The public hearing on this project was deferred by request of the applicant made the day before the meeting, Planning Director Mike Zuraf said.
Attorney Charlie Payne, representing the Accokeek project, said in an email to the Advance that the team asked for a deferral because “there were material conflicting findings in the staff report, and there was also last minute submission materials from us that did not seem to make it in the staff report.”
“Thus, given what we read in the County’s staff report, we felt best to make any necessary revisions to the application prior to a formal public hearing,” Payne said. “Otherwise, we felt it may add to some confusion about the project’s details, especially as to the requested modifications to the most recent development standards.”
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