Nearly a third of Virginia’s data centers are located within 200 feet of residential areas, with Fairfax County leading the state, according to a new report released Monday (Dec. 9) by the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).
Assessing the impact of data centers throughout Virginia, the JLARC report found that 55% of Fairfax County’s 20 data centers are within 200 feet of residential zones, and 70% are within 500 feet.
Fairfax County supervisors will advocate for data center regulation to be a primary focus of the General Assembly’s 2025 legislative agenda.
Board members expressed support this week for several new recommendations from county staff aimed at granting state agencies and local governments broader authority to regulate data centers, including increased oversight of their environmental impacts.
Amazon is looking to add an industrial park near Dulles International Airport to its network of Northern Virginia data centers.
Amazon Data Services has applied for air pollution control permits from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to allow data center facilities at 13860 and 13876 Redskin Drive in Renaissance Technology Park, a warehouse complex just east of Route 28 in the Floris area of Herndon.
After a lengthy and contentious debate, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved a revised zoning ordinance that imposes strict regulations on data center development in the county.
Yesterday’s 8-2 vote followed over a year of community input and revisions to the proposed ordinance, which tightens restrictions on where and how data centers can be built in Fairfax County.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has postponed all public hearings set for today (Tuesday), including a pivotal vote on proposed data center regulations, to Sept. 10 due to a staff error.
The delay will also affect public hearings held at the board’s last meeting on July 16. It stems from a “regulatory oversight” related to new rules for advertising public hearings that the Virginia General Assembly passed earlier this year, the county announced.
The future of data center development in Fairfax County remains in limbo after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to delay their decision on a contentious zoning amendment another two weeks.
The supervisors said they needed more time to consider the input provided by 65 residents, attorneys, environmental activists and other community members during a public hearing that lasted nearly five hours.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is gearing up to vote on landmark zoning regulations for data centers, potentially making this a pivotal week for the industry’s future in the area.
The board will hold a public hearing tomorrow (Tuesday) on zoning ordinance amendments that, if approved, would bar data centers from being built by-right in commercial and medium industrial districts and remove over a dozen heavy industrial districts from potentially allowing data centers.
One of the top data center construction firms in the nation recently opened a new office in Fairfax County.
Last week, Suffolk Construction announced the relocation of its data center construction management team, Mission Critical, to 2303 Dulles Station Blvd in Herndon, positioning them near the Innovation Center Metro station and the heart of the world’s largest data center market.
New regulations on the construction of data centers in Fairfax County cleared their first major hurdle last week.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously endorsed zoning amendments on Thursday (June 6) that aim to restrict the size, location, equipment screening and design standards of any new data centers in the county.
Google plans to invest $1 billion to expand data center campuses in Northern Virginia this year, including two Loudoun County sites and a newly opened site in Prince William County.
Ruth Porat, the president, chief investment officer and chief financial officer of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, announced the funds on Friday (April 26) at the company’s Reston headquarters. They will bring Google’s total investment in the state to more than $4.2 billion to date.
