The Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations is backing neighbors in their fight against the planned Plaza 500 data center campus and its associated electrical substation in Lincolnia.
The federation voted at its membership meeting last Thursday (Aug. 27) to oppose the 34-acre data center campus at 6295 and 6299 Edsall Road proposed by Starwood Capital Group and a substation proposed by Dominion Energy.
When explaining its opposition, the federation’s resolution cites the data center campus’ location 67 feet from the closest residential property line, a resource protection area that borders Turkeycock Run, and the economic and environmental impacts of data centers.
While Starwood’s data center is allowed by right under the county’s zoning rules, an electric substation planned on Edsall Road faces a public facilities 2232 review by the Fairfax County Planning Commission at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2.
The hearing had been delayed from Sept. 24, as requested by Dominion Energy to conduct more research.
The State Corporation Commission has already approved nearly a mile of new transmission lines between the proposed Edsall Road substation and existing Van Dorn substation.
Tyler Ray, founder of the Save Bren Mar coalition and president of the Bren Pointe Homeowners Association, told federation members the proposed substation is less than a mile from the Van Dorn Street Metro station and is within a two-mile radius of about 85,000 residents in Fairfax County and Alexandria. Spanning about five acres, it is expected to power 176 megawatts for the planned data center.
“The amount of energy that this would produce would be enough of a rough estimate to power between 40,120 homes based on its load,” Ray said. “So, it’s not your small substation that you see tucked into residential neighborhoods. It is a massive hyperscale.”
Ray noted that, while the Plaza 500 site is zoned for industrial development, past uses have included offices and warehouses.
“The visual appearance for this project is heavy industrialization, and it will not be in keeping with the character of either the past, current, or future planned uses, facilities, or buildings of this area,” Ray said. “It would replace a current 35-foot-tall brick and glass building and a tree-lined parking lot that has [been] occupied [by] multiple commercial enterprises since 1976 when it was built and will bring with that instead much more noise and light pollution.”
Although Save Bren Mar coalition members supported new protections in the Board of Supervisors’ 2024 adoption of stricter zoning rules for data centers, it exempted pending applications like the one for Plaza 500.
But now, the coalition believes it has growing public opposition to data centers on its side.
“Even in 2024, when the board rejected applying the standards to us, the tide has really shifted,” Ray said. “I think we’re in a different ball game in terms of public perception, political calculus, and all those factors.”
Ray touted the neighbor-led group’s efforts to get elected officials to oppose the substation.
Officials who have opposed the substation include Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez, Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and Alexandria City Council, state Sen. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-39) and House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-4). Del. Vivian Watts (D-14) has also voiced opposition to a data center at the location.
“We still have work to do to encourage our other Board of Supervisors [members] to oppose this,” Ray said. “We are hopeful that the Planning Commission will recommend denial, but then leaves itself to potentially be appealed to the board.”
Along with formally opposing the Plaza 500 data center project, the group of citizens associations passed a resolution requesting that the Virginia General Assembly phase out the data center sales tax exemption.
The resolution calls on legislators to move the sunset date of June 30, 2035 to Jan. 1, 2028. The latest state budget kept the tax exemption, but added a new data center electricity consumption tax.
