A split Fairfax County Planning Commission voted last night (Wednesday) to recommend requiring future electrical substations to be built at least 200 feet away from residential property lines.
The commission narrowly supported a 200-foot setback as one of four options on the table. County staff had recommended 100 feet, while some commissioners proposed 150 or 300 feet.
It was Dranesville District Commissioner Alyssa Batchelor-Causey who cobbled together the 6-5 majority in favor of 200 feet, prevailing over the 150 feet sought by commission chair and at-large member Phil Niedzielski-Eichner.
“I still think 150 feet is too close … taking into consideration all the feedback we’ve heard,” Batchelor-Causey said.
Earlier in the evening, a 300-foot setback requirement proposed by Mason District Commissioner Alis Wang got voted down 6-5.
Fairfax County began considering updates to its zoning regulations for electrical substations last fall after the Board of Supervisors adopted tighter rules for data centers, an industry whose growth has pushed the limits of Virginia’s power grid.
Among other changes, county planning staff had proposed requiring a 20-foot setback for substations from commercial properties, which Niedzielski-Eichner suggested increasing to 30 feet. His recommendation was adopted without discussion.
The planning commission also recommended that the Board of Supervisors adopt staff’s proposals for a minimum 50-foot setback from streets and landscaping and fencing requirements.
Most of the final recommendations were supported unanimously by the voting planning commissioners. At-large member Timothy Sargeant didn’t participate in the discussion and abstained from voting, as he is a retiree of Dominion Energy and perceived that as a possible conflict of interest.
Last night’s votes came after a 2.5-hour public hearing on Oct. 16 that drew both supporters and opponents of stricter regulations for power substations.
Among those supporting more local restrictions was Alicia Campos, who urged county leaders to “put residents first by enacting strong protections for neighborhoods.”
Campos supported a 300-foot setback requirement for new substations adjacent to or within residential neighborhoods, and did not want any of the substations currently in the development process to be exempt from the new rules.
But speaker George Landrith said there already was enough regulatory oversight of new substations.
The current process “can already take more than six years and up to 10 years,” Landrith said. “The proposed change would only add additional and unnecessary bureaucracy to the process, making it harder, slower and more expensive.”
On the question of grandfathering five substation proposals currently in the pipeline, the commission approved Niedzielski-Eichner’s proposal to recommend, in effect, giving those projects one year from the date of adoption of the new rules to win approval under the less stringent regulations currently in place.
Otherwise, the new regulations would guide the approval process for those projects, unless supervisors agreed to an extension.
A proposal by Wang to cut that to six months was defeated on a 7-4 vote. She was the lone vote against Niedzielski-Eichner’s grandfathering clause.
Commissioners split 6-5 in support of a proposal by Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina to remove existing by-right approval of substation projects in I-5 and I-6 (heavy industrial) zoning districts when they abut residential property.
Cortina convinced a majority of her colleagues that those sites deserved special attention, given the potential impact on neighborhoods.
That recommendation came after commissioners voted 11-2 against a motion by Sully District Commissioner Evelyn Spain to maintain the existing by-right authority for power substations in I-3 and I-4 (light industrial) districts. Instead, the commission recommends requiring projects in those districts to obtain special exceptions.
Currently, Fairfax County is home to about 80 operating substations that connect transmission lines, move bulk electricity and “step down” power levels before electricity is distributed to homes and businesses.
Proposed substations are among the public facilities required to undergo what’s known as a “2232” review to assess their compatibility with the county’s comprehensive plan, and in some zoning districts, a special exception approved by the Board of Supervisors is mandated.
On top of the local zoning process, the State Corporation Commission is required to review applications for electrical transmission lines above 138 kilovolts, which also may entail reviewing plans for substations along the route.
Much of the increase for electrical power in Northern Virginia is being driven by data centers, but “smart” homes and electric vehicles are also straining the system.
“We all use a lot of energy this days,” Franconia District Commissioner Chris Landgraf said.
Dozens of additional substations may be needed across Northern Virginia in coming years to meet the demand, according to estimates.
“We must ensure our infrastructure can keep up,” said Ronald Wilcox, one of the speakers at the Oct. 16 public hearing.
