The developers nixed the data center part of their proposal, but Stafford planning commissioners and speakers at a public hearing Wednesday night still had concerns about a project slated for the central portion of the county.
The commission voted 6-0 to defer discussion on the mixed-use development called the Market at Austin Ridge, which would be on more than 25 acres at the corner of Courthouse Road and the future Austin Ridge Drive extended. Commissioner Gregory Goldstein, who represents the Garrisonville District, was absent from the meeting.
The Market at Austin Ridge would have a variety of retail and commercial uses, including an Aldi grocery store, a Sheetz gas station, a Texas Roadhouse restaurant and a Flagship Carwash. It would also contain a mini-storage facility and maybe a hotel.
And commissioners and the crowd at Wednesday night’s meeting seemed to be fairly supportive of those businesses coming to the area across the street from the Embrey Mill Town Center.
What was more concerning, they said, was an option the developers considered that called for a data center.
“I want the applicant to really understand that, yeah, that we’re pushing back on some of these things, but, by and large, we’re thrilled,” Commission Chairwoman Kristen Barnes said. “We are very, very thrilled that you all pulled that data center.”
Data centers, facilities that house computer systems used for data storage and processing, are attractive to local governments because they promise to generate lots of tax revenue. But they’re also criticized in Stafford and in other places by some residents regarding concerns over issues such as water use and noise pollution.
To develop the Market at Austin Ridge, the land would need to be rezoned from an agricultural use to either a business use, or a business use and an industrial use.
To place the data center in the development, heavy industrial zoning would have been necessary, but the developers resubmitted their county application earlier this week and asked for a rezoning to business and light industrial, which wouldn’t allow a data center.
Some commissioners and public-hearing speakers expressed concern about the quick change of plans, but representatives from the development company, Courthouse West LLC, said they were serious about a data center being included until public opinion in Stafford seemed to turn against the technology businesses.
“We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Mark Bowman of Courthouse West LLC said. “We actually had a contract that was pending for this particular site.”
However, that didn’t sway April McCarthy, who lives in the Aquia District. She was one of 27 speakers at Wednesday’s public hearing and even brought with her a satirical tourism ad for Stafford that balked at data centers coming to the county.
She shot back at the notion that the developer lost money on the pursuit of a data center, estimating that the company still would make plenty of money.
“Like, cry me a river,” McCarthy told the Planning Commission. “This is where we live. This is our home. So I think it’s important for us to take our time and be considerate and thoughtful about the application, so I ask you to defer.”
Karen Fox, who lives in the Hartwood District, told the commission that, like Barnes, she’s concerned about having any industrial zoning at the Market at Austin Ridge.
That’s not the right area of the county for industrial businesses, she said, and she seemed to remind the audience of O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran — or “Seinfeld” character Jackie Chiles — when she used a rhyming couplet.
Cochran famously said, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
Fox: “When it does not align, you must decline.”
The commission’s eventual deferral of the rezoning request — and an associated conditional-use permit — was aimed at least partially at seeing if the developer could do the entire project under business zoning, eliminating the change from agricultural to industrial altogether but preserving what many liked about the project.
For example, another Courthouse West LLC representative, Jeff Harvey, a former Stafford County Planning Department chief, said the development would generate 367 permanent jobs and nearly $3 million in tax revenue annually.
Commissioners are expected to discuss the project again next month. The Board of Supervisors has the final say on the development.
Free-standing ER
Also Wednesday, the commission voted 6-0 to recommend the supervisors approve a free-standing, hospital-type emergency room on U.S. 17.
The ER would be run in conjunction with the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center and would be similar to a stand-alone ER now on State Route 3 in Spotsylvania County.
Besides aiding patients, the ER would create 44 permanent jobs and generate about $400,000 to $500,000 in annual tax revenue for Stafford, Charlie Payne, an attorney for the project, told commissioners.
