Stafford Supervisors Request Review of Data Center Regulations
The county Planning Commission is charged with reviewing regulations and recommending changes. There will be a joint work session and public hearing late this summer.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to direct the Planning Commission to review existing data center regulations and recommend changes, either in the form of a zoning ordinance, comprehensive plan amendment, or both.
The motion that passed in the end—by a vote of 6-to-1, with Rock Hill representative Crystal Vanuch dissenting—was a substitute motion made by Deuntay Diggs, Chair of the Board of Supervisors. It asks the Planning Commission to provide recommendations for the Board to consider in August.
Supervisors and commissioners will then hold a joint work session and there will be a joint public hearing in September.
Vanuch made several attempts to get potential new regulations on the books by August, first suggesting that Hartwood representative Darrell English amend his original motion to give the Planning Commission a 35-day timeline, and then making her own substitute motion that waived the request for a joint work session and asked for recommendations from the Planning Commission by July 1.
This substitute motion failed 4-to-3, with Vice Chair Tinesha Allen and supervisor Monica Gary joining English and Diggs in voting against it.
Vanuch said there is “a huge risk” in waiting to implement new regulations. She referenced the nine data-center related rezoning applications that Planning and Zoning Director Mike Zuraf said are under review by staff.
One of these rezoning requests will come before the Planning Commission on June 11 along with a proffer amendment for the Potomac Church Tech Center project, Zuraf said. It could potentially come to the Board of Supervisors by August, he said, but that doesn’t mean the Board is obligated to vote on it.
Diggs stressed that none of the data center projects currently being reviewed by staff will be constructed before August. He agreed that there is “a sense of urgency” and a need to review the regulations—especially as they relate to set-back and buffer requirements between data centers and residences—but said, “I’ve been on the board long enough to know that when we rush, we make mistakes.”
Gary also said she wants to see the regulations reviewed, but that there’s no need to rush.
“I think we all have concerns [about data centers] that we are going to talk about,” she said. “I just want everyone to be aware that there are a lot of hands on the wheel of this ship and sometimes there are some who are pushing harder.”
Gary said it’s important that any recommendations from the Planning Commission be based on “peer reviewed studies and actual data,” rather than on fear and “pseudoscience.”
Many county residents shared their concerns about data centers during the public comments portion of the meeting, several of them noting that they’ve never been motivated to address the Board on any topic before.
“I wish I had known about data centers before they got started here in Stafford—I would have been here sooner,” said Abby Carter. “My house will be affected by the one going in on Eskimo hill. There’s no way it can’t be. It’s one mile from there, and they clear-cut the trees almost down to Potomac Creek.”
Another speaker said they would be just 240 feet away from a data center building if the GWV project—proposed for a parcel of land between Interstate 95, Ramoth Church Road, and Courthouse Road—is approved, and asked for the regulations to require larger set-backs and thickly vegetated buffers.
Bart Randall, who earlier this month announced his candidacy for the Garrisonville seat on the Board of Supervisors, said the county anticipated only five or six total data center projects when the existing regulations were approved in 2023.
“Now we have four approved and nine rezoning requests—when is enough enough?” he asked.
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