Stafford County supervisors took another step Tuesday night toward instituting stricter regulations for data centers.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to schedule a joint public hearing with the Stafford Planning Commission for Oct. 21 on proposed new rules for the technology businesses, which house servers used for data storage and processing and are often controversial.
Planning commissioners voted to recommend approval of the regulations last month, and the supervisors discussed them for the first time last week.
The most talked-about recommendation would increase the space required between data center buildings and residential property lines. Commissioners recommended this distance be upped from the current 100 feet to 500 feet, and the supervisors discussed an even larger increase — to 1,500 feet.
On Tuesday, the supervisors settled on officially advertising a distance of 1,320 feet, which they said would match a regulation in neighboring Prince William County.
They noted, however, that the final figure approved may be less than that. They wanted to advertise the highest rate possible that could then be lowered.
The board also seemed interested in an idea Vice Chairwoman Tinesha Allen brought up. Allen suggested a sliding scale for setback distances from homes that would depend on the size of the data center, something she said Prince William also does.
However, Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke said that her main concern is how close data centers are to homes.
“So for me, and I’d like to hear what my colleagues have to say, I don’t see where the size of a data center should dictate the setback,” she said. “I feel like that should be dictated by what is around it.”
It’s unclear, though, how increasing the setback above 500 feet would affect current proposed data centers. Planning Commission Chairman Steven Apicella said last month that virtually none of the data centers proposed for Stafford could abide by a 1,000-foot setback requirement.
Board Chairman Deuntay Diggs also cautioned his colleagues about setting setback regulations too high. That might sound good to those who are against data centers, he said, but it could also drive data center development to rural areas because they contain more open land. That would likely mean Hartwood, Widewater and areas in the George Washington District that Diggs represents.
“If we start advertising these big setbacks, it’s going to push it to the areas where we don’t want it, because we don’t have much land left,” he said.
Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary said she was worried about advertising one regulation while saying that it likely wouldn’t be the final figure.
“I’m a little concerned that we’re doing this, and it’s going to feel like a win to the public, but there’s also a stated pseudo-intention that we’re not really going to do that, and it’s already come down from the [1,500 feet],” she said.
Gary eventually voted with her colleagues, though, later saying that she supported other changes to the commission’s recommendations.
Bohmke, who seconded a motion for the changes by Rock Hill District Crystal Vanuch, said she was concerned about Stafford residents.
“I wouldn’t want to personally be by any of these data centers, and I don’t think anyone on this board or in our community wants them on top of their homes,” she said.
After the meeting, Kevin French, vice president of the data center watchdog group Protect Stafford, said he was pleased with the supervisors’ vote.
“So I think it’s absolutely a step in the right direction,” he said. “And I can’t interpret it as anything but a positive move. Still a lot of work to be done, but overall, I think it’s the best they could have done, given the timing and the circumstances.”
