When the Spotsylvania County Planning Commission met Wednesday night, Director of Planning and Zoning Kimberly Pomatto didn’t waste much time getting to the point.
The only item on the agenda was a public hearing to discuss design standards for data centers. But while the ordinance is lengthy, Pomatto noted there was one issue that primarily needed to be addressed.
“Buffers and setbacks had been the subject of a great deal of discussion,” Pomatto said.
The board of supervisors voted to recommend a 300-foot buffer and 400-foot setbacks from structure to structure for data center developers looking to build near residential properties, hospitals, childcare facilities, public and private schools, parks and places of worship.
The planning commission voted 4-2 to uphold that recommendation and send the ordinance back to the supervisors for final approval. Commissioners Tim Gronau of the Courtland District and Scott Phelps of the Lee Hill District — who both sought stricter requirements — voted against the motion. Commissioner Jennifer Maddox of the Berkeley District was absent.
The next board of supervisors meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, and the data center standards are on the agenda. It’s the final meeting before newly elected Berkeley District Supervisor David Goosman, who defeated development-friendly incumbent Kevin Marshall in November, takes office. Goosman is a proponent of special use permits for data center development, and will likely have support from supervisors Lori Hayes, Jacob Lane and Chris Yakabouski to form a majority.
During the planning commission meeting, Gronau attempted to make a substitute motion to recommend denial of the standards, but the commission deadlocked 3-3 on whether to allow him to introduce it. Gronau said his motion was to “deny and send it to the board and let them handle it the way they want to handle it anyway.”
The board of supervisors initially suggested 1,000-foot setbacks before some members changed their positions. The board ultimately supported the standards the commission approved on Wednesday.
Kyle Crosby, owner of the Crossroards Tech Campus, said the board’s change of direction slowed down the development of his projects and cost his company money in engineering expenses.
“We’ve tried to be a good partner throughout and want to continue to be a good partner,” Crosby said. “When the standards evolved, we returned to our engineers to redesign the site. After the joint work session, we went back to the engineers to ensure we could meet the updated direction. Adapting to these shifting targets has cost our company well over a million dollars on engineering alone on top of the millions already spent investing in commitments for equipment and power. These are real tangible investments that show we are real and committed to Spotsylvania.”
Crosby said the proposal that was approved provides “clear guidelines” that will help his company complete its project.
The motion to approve the ordinance included a line that all pending projects would be grandfathered and not subject to the updated requirements.
That was a point of contention for Nicholas Cumings, a land use attorney from Northern Virginia representing the Spotsy Tech Campus, which was approved at Patriot Highway and State Route 632, but developers have not yet completed a site plan.
Cumings said the ordinance as originally presented stated that any project with “vested rights” would not be subject to the new requirements, but he said that term leaves room for debate.
Cumings implored the commission to add a line that states: “This ordinance shall be in effect upon adoption but does not impact parcels approved for a reclassification or a rezoning on or before” the date the ordinance was initiated.
“There’s a risk all these new requirements would apply to us, and if so, they might require us to go back through a public process that looks a lot like what we just did in 2023,” Cumings said.
Logan Brunette, an attorney with the Hirschler law firm that represents data center developers in the Fredericksburg area, pushed for grandfathered approved or pending projects, and requested that county staff clears up the definition of an accessory structure. The ordinance stipulates that an accessory structure can be less than 400 feet from other properties but a principle structure such as the data center itself must be 400 feet away.
Brent Hunsinger, a county resident, requested county staff follow direction from the board of supervisors to review prohibiting direct withdrawals from the Rappahannock River to supply water for data centers.
“I would like an answer from staff about this because it was tasked by the board of supervisors to the staff,” Hunsinger said … “‘We can’t’ is not a valid answer.”
