Members of the data center watchdog group Protect Stafford gathered in the lobby of the county Government Center early Wednesday like a baseball team victorious after nine innings.
Well, it was more like an extra-inning win — because it was after 2:30 in the morning.
Still, clad in their organization’s light blue T-shirts, they celebrated the fact that the Stafford Board of Supervisors had just instituted what is believed to be the most stringent data center regulations in Virginia.
After a more-than-nine-hour meeting, the supervisors voted 4-2-1 for new rules, the most significant of which would require data center buildings to be 750 feet from adjacent homes, schools, or the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers. That’s an increase from the current setback of 100 feet.
The supervisors discussed increasing the distance to 1,320 feet, and Protect Stafford called for a figure of 1,000 feet, but its members were pleased with the eventual outcome.
“All things being equal,” said Protect Stafford President Erin Sanzero, “I think it’s important to celebrate what happened tonight.”
“And I think the board was able to step up and find a compromise position,” added Protect Stafford Vice President Kevin French.
Data centers, facilities that house computer systems used for data storage and processing, are necessary for phones and other devices, proponents say. But opponents fear their possible effect on nearby residents and the environment, highlighting concerns including those over water and power use and potential noise pollution.
But the technology businesses also promise ample tax revenue, which makes them attractive to local governments trying to make ends meet.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Deuntay Diggs cast the key vote for the 750-foot setback on Wednesday after first saying he was settling on a figure of 500 feet, which was what the county Planning Commission recommended previously.
After a joint public hearing with the supervisors that started Tuesday night and ended Wednesday morning, however, commissioners voted unanimously to recommend approval of 1,320 feet.
Diggs spoke at the meeting, as he has for several weeks now, about the difficulty of satisfying county residents’ desire for services and community amenities while trying to keep taxes low. He also noted another wish of some residents: to prevent any agriculturally zoned land from being rezoned for data centers.
“If you want to save farmland, then buy it,” Diggs said. “When the farmer doesn’t want to farm anymore, or the families don’t want to take care of the land anymore, who’s going to pay the taxes on the land?”
The chairman clearly struggled with a decision on the data center rules, literally right up until he cast his vote.
The action wasn’t lost on Sanzero, however.
“There was leadership,” she said, “and I really do commend Supervisor Diggs for staying with this.”
Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke, who has been cautious about data centers for some time, voted with Diggs and Supervisors Darrell English of Hartwood and Crystal Vanuch of Rock Hill for the 750-foot setback Vanuch proposed. Bohmke said data center revenue won’t be an end-all, be-all fix for Stafford.
“Personally,” she said, “I’ve never been a believer that one thing is going to solve all of the problems, OK? I think all of us in this room would agree — and the board — that you do everything in moderation, right? And whenever you go one horse and you take a direct right and you think that’s going to be the perfect way, it never is. It never happens that way.”
Vice chairwoman Tinesha Allen and Aquia District representative Monica Gary cast “no” votes. Garrisonville District Supervisor Pamela Yeung abstained from the vote after pushing for not just one maximum figure for setbacks but a sliding scale depending on certain conditions, which would have had to have been worked out.
Though Protect Stafford was appreciative of the supervisors’ eventual action, group members were incensed earlier in the meeting over the fact that the joint public hearing on data centers — the most substantive item on the agenda — wasn’t taken up until almost 11 p.m. The meeting began at 5 p.m.
Several people who wanted to speak at the hearing went home before getting their turn at the lectern, Sanzero said. Others complained about a change in the agenda proposed by Yeung that called for other agenda items to be taken up before the data center regulations.
Despite the Stafford vote, data centers will continue to be a hot topic in the Fredericksburg area. Spotsylvania County, for example, had explored implementing 1,000-foot setbacks, but the locality’s board of supervisors backed away from that proposal last week.
And although it wasn’t held until late Tuesday night, Stafford’s joint public hearing still drew 44 speakers, most of whom were adamant in their concern about data centers.
Carolyn Whittaker, who lives in south Stafford, implored the supervisors to make the best moves they can for the county.
“We could say you have the authority to destroy Stafford, or make the correct decisions to bring in revenue with some data centers correctly placed in the county and deny others that will not enhance our county and protect your residents,” she said.
Ahmad Hotaki, who also lives in southern Stafford, brought up something that no one else did: What happens if data centers become obsolete?
“We need to think long-term to protect our rivers, our watersheds, our historic lands and our community from large tech corporations that are only pursuing their own interests,” he said. “And, frankly, we don’t even know if these companies or their data centers will be needed 10 years from now.”
Only Charlie Payne, an attorney who represents several data center developers, and an applicant who wants a data center built, spoke in favor of the businesses.
