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Amazon Web Services pulled an application for a 7.2 million square foot data center in Louisa County last week, after a surge of resident opposition. Concerns remain, however, over the impact of the county’s three other data centers that are in different stages of development, none of which were required to go through the conditional use permitting process that allows for more community input.
“We have heard the community and appreciate the desire for more robust input in any future projects that may be brought forward in the county, and we are confident that this is a goal that can be accomplished.” said Charles W. Payne, Jr., an attorney representing AWS.
Residents gathered Thursday night in the community center of a Baptist church in the rural town of Mineral. Many said they felt lighter knowing one project is, at least for now, off the table. Some people passed out stickers that read “Don’t Loudoun my Louisa” — a reference to the proliferation of data centers in Northern Virginia — and yard signs urging the board of supervisors to say “no” to more data centers.
Stickers that read “Don’t Loudoun my Louisa” are passed out at a public meeting against a data center development. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
“We’re letting or even entertaining the idea of a billion dollar corporation coming around and messing with our drinking water. I think it’s pretty humiliating,” Louisa resident Brittany Carroll said.
Loudoun County has one of the highest concentrations of data centers in the state. Conversely, winding roads cut through pockets of forest and farmland that stretch far and wide in Louisa. Some Louisa residents fear Loudoun’s level of development would destroy the rural nature of their community.
The county has been open to the digital industry since 2018 when the Technology Overlay District was developed, Lousia County Supervisor Duane Adams said.
A few dozen community members attended the informal meeting about the data centers already in the works, one of multiple held since the third AWS application was announced. The crowd audibly grumbled during discussion of the AWS campuses already approved with by-right permits.
AWS proposed the third data center to be one of the largest in the area by far. The 1370-acre plot near the Northeast Creek Reservoir prompted concerns about construction near schools in the area and how much water would be needed to cool the systems inside the building. The land is currently zoned for agricultural use and is used for timber production, adding to concerns of losing the rural land.
A woman in Louisa County passes out signs that urge the board of supervisors to stop approvals of data centers in the area. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
After the latest application was filed, community members took to social media and local meetings to share worries and debate over possible sound pollution, loss of agricultural land, and the rapid rate of development. Some people went so far as to say they felt betrayed by the board of supervisors for agreeing to the initial two AWS sites. Adams sees the tension as an opportunity for community collaboration.
“We threw the nets out, we went fishing and we landed two big fish. So we accomplished our goal. [We shrank] the technology overlay district,” Adams said. “Then let’s be very deliberate as we move forward with this, and that’s when we added the CUP process, which is why you see the engagement with the community. I think that’s really positive.”
AWS already has two data centers in the works in the county’s Technological Overlay District (TOD) that allowed the facilities to be permitted by-right, meaning the public had less of a say in the project. In 2024, the county Board of Supervisors revised the TOD to be smaller and to add the conditional use permit for future projects to allow the public to be part of the process.
Amazon has invested $35 billion into the commonwealth, with $11 billion of that being in Louisa county for the two AWS data centers.
Adams has been very supportive of the two data centers in the county. A third proposal is being considered as EdgeCore recently purchased 697 acres in the Shannon Hill business park to build a 3.9 million square foot facility. However, that proposal includes a closed loop cooling system and does not have as heavy of impacts on community water sources. Some at the public meeting felt the project was far enough away from residences that light and sound would not be a major concern.
“We’re going to see one of the data centers on the existing campuses come online (by the end of the year). So we’re going to see some of the things that we’ve talked about in the abstract actually become hard base facts, and that’s water usage, employment opportunities, tax revenue …I’m taking a long view of this. I don’t think there’s a rush,” Adams said.
The town Council of Mineral, which lies to the east of the TOD, published an opposition to the new proposed AWS project in June over concerns of traffic from construction, noise pollution, water use, and other concerns brought to their attention by residents.
The Piedmont Environmental Council, who presented facts about data centers at the meeting, acknowledged the draw of building data centers is the tax revenue for the county through personal property tax and real estate taxes. But the computers inside of data centers rapidly depreciate, decreasing that revenue for the county.
“More folks need to be concerned about putting all their eggs in the data center revenue basket because it can be a really risky move. Loudoun County at the height of the pandemic had a $60 million budget shortfall because two of their data centers were not able to refresh their computing equipment as scheduled due to supply chain issues,” said Sarah Parmelee, land use field representative with the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Parmelee went on to say while data centers are essential for internet use, the demand has exploded due to the growth in AI technology. There are now questions about how long that demand will last and if all the proposed data centers will come to fruition. Microsoft recently canceled two gigawatts worth of data center leases across the U.S. and Europe, claiming their existing data centers have them on track to meet the current demand. It leaves Parmelee and other Virginians with more questions.
“We need to slow down, we need to start really looking at these things and asking how many of them do we actually need? How many of them can we actually support without throwing away everything that makes Virginia an awesome place to live, work and play?” Parmelee said.
Louisa resident Savannah Walker works in the data center industry with nearly 20 years of experience. She said the third AWS site was too large of a facility without the proper infrastructure in the county in place to support it. She had taken charge in the community effort to get educated on the project and speak out about concerns.
“We have to have them. It is what it is. It’s today’s world. However, there’s a time and a place for them,” Walker said.
Some residents floated the idea of putting a moratorium on data centers in Louisa County.
Adams said with the revisions to the TOD that now required a conditional use permit and heavy public involvement, it will already be more of a challenge for future proposals to get through. He said it is a positive thing to see the public involved in the process and that residents get to have more of a say in what is allowed to be built.
The letter from the attorney representing AWS didn’t specify if the company would ever come back with a future application in the county. Some residents are gearing up for another round.
“They’re going to be back; we have to control how it happens,” Walker said.
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the Virginia Mercury and is being republished here with permission.
