Fairfax County is requiring future electrical substations to be built at least 100 feet away from residential property lines.
At its meeting last week (Dec. 9), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a zoning ordinance amendment governing substations.
The new regulations have been developed over the past year since the Board of Supervisors tightened its regulations on data centers. The facilities, which house the hardware to make the internet work, have become a key economic development factor throughout Northern Virginia in recent years and are putting strains on Virginia’s power grid.
A particular point of discussion among county officials is just how far away the regulations should require the facilities to be from residential property lines. The Planning Commission narrowly voted in October to recommend that the county adopt a 200-foot setback, twice as much as recommended by county staff.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn sought to split the difference between the staff and planning commission recommendations. He made a motion to have the setbacks at 150 feet.
“That distance doesn’t always offer meaningful mitigation for concerns around noise, visibility and neighborhood character,” Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez said of the staff recommendation for 100 feet.
Alcorn’s motion only got the support of Jimenez and Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, failing 3-6.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity said the 100-foot setback will allow existing substations to get needed upgrades.
“Virginia and Fairfax County face a looming energy crisis. I’d say we’re already in one, and upgrading existing substations is one of the key ways we can improve our electrical performance and reliability,” he said.
Other measures required under the new regulations include solid, 12-foot walls surrounding facilities, a 50-foot landscape buffer from residential areas, formal noise studies and strict adherence to the county’s noise ordinance.
Dozens of people spoke at a nearly three-hour public hearing prior to the board vote.
Nicole Riley, director of Virginia government affairs for the Data Center Coalition, said the regulations would “make it significantly harder to deliver the electrical infrastructure the county needs.”
“Substations already involve long complex development timelines and the new requirements would further shrink the number of feasible locations and introduce uncertainty into an already demanding process,” she said.
Resident Angelia Long urged the county to adopt the regulations. She said rising energy costs mean residents need protections.
“I am paying for these substations and I should benefit from the best zoning rules,” she said.
Drainesville District Supervisor James Bierman noted that the substations would be allowed by-right in industrial areas, meaning they won’t need to go through public hearings to get the county’s approval.
“We are making it more likely that they get put into industrial areas and making it less likely they get put into residential areas,” he said. “I think that’s how we should be doing things.”
