Stafford Supervisors Approve Stafford Technology Center
Data center campus will generate approximately $127 million in annual tax revenue and will use recycled water for cooling.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
The Stafford Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a comprehensive plan amendment and a rezoning resolution to pave the way for development of the Stafford Technology Center, a data center complex of up to 23 individual buildings.
The massive project is projected to generate $127 million in tax revenue annually at full buildout—the equivalent of an approximately 45-cent increase on the current real estate tax rate, budget director Andrea Light said.
The Board approved two resolutions related to the project on Tuesday. The first amended the county’s comprehensive plan to expand the “urban service designation” area to include the entirety of the property, which is located on both sides of Eskimo Hill Road off U.S. 1 across from the intersection with Sage Lane.
That resolution also altered the future land use map to designate the area as being in a targeted development area for business and industry, rather than designated for agricultural and rural use.
The second resolution rezoned the 500-acre parcel from agricultural to heavy industrial and accepted the proffers.
The Board approved both resolutions by a vote of 6-to-1, with Rock Hill district representative Crystal Vanuch voting against them.
Vanuch said she’s worried that the development will negatively affect the county’s access to drinking water. She said she wants the project’s proffers to include phasing for when the project will cease using county drinking water for cooling and switch to reuse water provided through a new system that Amazon Web Services will construct.
Construction of that system is described in a water services agreement with AWS, which is constructing a data center off Old Potomac Church Road, north of the Stafford Technology Campus near Stafford Hospital. The Board approved that agreement in July.
It states that Amazon will build a water reuse facility and distribution system at the Aquia Wastewater Treatment Facility in North Stafford and will use the reuse water to cool the data center buildings at the Potomac Church site.
That system will also provide reuse water to the Stafford Technology Campus. According to the proffer statement approved Tuesday, “The Applicant agrees that all public water demands required to be used for industrial cooling for data centers will utilize reuse water as the sole primary water source once the Reuse Water System is completed and extended to the Property boundary.”
County utilities director Chris Edwards said staff have been working closely with AWS on the design of the reuse water system. He said the design process is “about 30%” completed and that ground-breaking on construction of the system is expected to take place in July of 2025.
Until that system is operational, the proffers approved Tuesday state that the Stafford Technology Campus can use a maximum of 1 million gallons per day of potable drinking water for cooling and will fund water and sewer infrastructure improvements to allow for that.
The “bridging” water and sewer improvements, which will be constructed by the applicant or “others”—not the county—include a new pumping station along Centreport Parkway; a waterline connecting Centreport Parkway to the existing waterline along U.S. 1; upgrades to the Potomac Creek Sewer Pump Station to increase capacity; and upgrades to the receiving sewer force main exiting that pump station.
Charlie Payne, representing the Stafford Technology Center developers, said these upgrades will not only bring the 1 million gallons of water the project needs until the reuse water is available, but will bring an additional 4 million gallons to current and future other users.
Deputy County Administrator Mike Morris said the proposed bridging water and sewer improvements were in the county’s capital improvement plan and estimated to cost $58 million.
Vanuch said she thinks the proffers as presented give the development unlimited access to the county’s drinking water, but Payne said that is not the case.
The proffers state that the county “shall” approve a water services agreement, which “shall include a capped maximum capacity for bridging water and bridging sewer until reuse water becomes available.”
In addition, the proffers state, “The Water Service Agreement shall be approved prior to the issuance of the first occupancy permit (temporary or final) on the Property.”
According to the proffers, the water service agreement will be submitted to the county within 60 days of approval of the rezoning.
The approved proffers also include language stating that if construction of the reuse water system has not begun by December 31, 2028, the Stafford Technology Center applicants “shall undertake reasonable good faith efforts to assume the responsibility of constructing [the system]” and if that does not happen, the applicants shall either construct themselves or provide money to Stafford to construct “improvements that would provide sufficient potable water capacity upgrades to Stafford County’s water infrastructure that would allow for the use of potable water for permanent data center cooling.”
Byron Counsell, the county’s chief director of infrastructure, said Tuesday that staff have “analyzed all the impacts we could imagine [and] worked with them to develop language in proffers and the water services agreement to mitigate risk.”
“We believe the language mitigates the risk to very, very small,” he said. “No project has zero risk.”
County staff and the Planning Commission both recommended approval of the resolutions, which the Board did on a motion by Chair Meg Bohmke, who represents the Falmouth district where the project is located.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit our website at the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past month, our reporting was:
First to report on a Spotsylvania School teacher arrested for bringing drugs onto campus.
First to report on new facility fees leveled by MWHC on patient bills.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Provided extensive coverage of the cellphone bans that are sweeping local school districts.
And so much more, like Clay Jones, Drew Gallagher, Hank Silverberg, and more.
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article does not even mention the enormous amount of electricity this project will consume. Who will pay for the infrastructure to build the capacity needed? Will it return Dominion to the use of coal or gas for generation?