Stafford County’s Planning Commission is recommending some of the most stringent regulations for data centers in Virginia, including increasing the space required between data center buildings and residential property lines by a factor of five.
On Wednesday night, the panel voted 6-0, with Aquia District Commissioner Kecia Evans absent, to recommend the Board of Supervisors adopt the new rules. The supervisors, who had asked the commission to study data center regulations, are expected to take up the matter on Aug. 19.
The commission’s recommendations came from a subcommittee it formed to scrutinize data centers, facilities that house computer systems used for data storage and processing, which are often controversial.
One of the most significant recommendations is to increase from 100 feet to 500 feet the distance between primary data center structures and the property lines of abutting homes.
The rule governing the distance between primary data center buildings and the property lines of abutting commercial properties, however, would be dropped from 200 feet to 100 feet under the commission’s guidance.
In addition, current rules call for a 50-foot vegetative buffer between homes and data centers. That required buffer would be increased to 200 feet wide under the new regulations.
“We currently are proposing the most significant setback and buffer in the entire state,” Commission Chairman Steven Apicella said Wednesday.
Some data center critics have suggested that the setback be increased all the way to 1,000 feet, and Commissioner Laura Sellers of the Garrisonville District suggested she and her colleagues take that additional step.
Apicella, however, said that would be a move beyond the commission’s authority. Virtually none of the data center projects proposed for Stafford could abide by a 1,000-foot-setback requirement, he said.
“Well, that’s basically administratively killing data centers, and that’s not what the board asked us to do,” Apicella said.
Other new regulations would include:
- No accessory data center structure, parking area, loading area, drive aisle, outdoor storage area, refuse collection area or electric substation facility could be located within 300 feet of any property line abutting a home or undeveloped property zoned for residential use.
- No primary data center structure, accessory structure, parking area, loading area, drive aisle, outdoor storage area, refuse collection area or substation facility could be located within 300 feet of any property line abutting an existing or approved school, assisted living facility, nursing home, park or child care center.
- A tree-preservation plan would have to be provided by a data center developer that would detail measures taken to save existing trees on a property. Existing mature, healthy trees within a required buffer area would have to be preserved, except where removal was required to provide access to the site or for required utility connections.
- Fencing around a data center site would have to be 8 feet tall, an increase from the current 7 feet.
- Generator use at a data center, which some say can be loud, would be limited to backup/emergency use only.
- Post-development noise at the site would be evaluated and compared to local code requirements within 90 days after the issuance of the occupancy permit for each phase of the project, and annually thereafter for a period of 10 years. And if sound exceeds the maximum allowable decibel levels, all legal avenues available to obtain compliance would be pursued.
Planning commissioners also voted 6-0 to recommend changes to the county’s Comprehensive Plan regarding data centers. The Comprehensive Plan is a blueprint for development in Stafford.
Apicella said the commission’s proposals incorporate lessons learned and best practices from over the past few years, the most significant one being that the county has received far more data center proposals than originally anticipated, “over three times as many, and a good number of these projects were proposed and sited in places we hadn’t expected, including near densely populated communities and adjacent county treasures, like the Rappahannock River.”
The proposed, updated rules are good but not perfect, the chairman said.
“I hope everyone will agree that these proposals are more informed, and ultimately better, than the Stafford County data center provisions in place now,” he said. “No doubt there’s more work to do.”
Erin Sanzero, president of the data center watchdog group Protect Stafford, on Thursday commended the Planning Commission subcommittee’s work in examining the issues and listening to community feedback.
In an email, she wrote that it is crucial that the standards be promptly enacted and applied to pending projects so as to “rightly calibrate our policies to balance progress with needed protection.”
“While we had hoped for further enhancements in certain areas, it is reassuring that almost all of the provisions align with those found in other municipalities across the Commonwealth,” Sanzero wrote. “We believe this will provide Stafford with a more informed and improved framework to guide responsible data center development in our county.”
