Two New Data Center Projects on Tonight's Board Agenda - Right Down the Street

Tonight, the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on two industrial infrastructure applications located just down the road from our community. We wanted to make sure you were aware of what is being proposed.

What Is a Special Exception?

Some types of development in Loudoun County are allowed "by right" - meaning the property owner can build without needing the Board of Supervisors to approve it. Other types require aSpecial Exception, which means the Board must specifically vote to allow it. A Special Exception is not automatic. The applicant has to demonstrate that the project meets certain criteria, including consistency with the County's General Plan and consideration of impacts to public services, utilities, and infrastructure. The Board reviews the application, hears from the public, and decides whether to approve or deny it. This is one of the few points in the process where the community's voice can directly influence the outcome.

Both of tonight's applications require Special Exceptions. That means the Board has a choice.

What Is Before the Board

Two projects right down the street from the entrance to our community, at Loudoun County Parkway and Shellhorn Road.

Item 6 ( LEGI-2025-0015 ) is a Special Exception application to expand a data center building footprint by 39% - from 14,386 square feet to 20,000 square feet. The Special Exception was triggered because a portion of the new desired footprint extends only approximately 832 square feet beyond the limits of the original rezoning. But the application before the Board is for the full 20,000 square foot building - not just the portion that triggered the Special Exception. The Board is voting on the whole project, and the approval criteria apply to the whole project. This is for a building the applicant previously removed from its site plan in 2023 and is now bringing back at a larger size.

Item 7 ( LEGI-2025-0010 ) is a Commission Permit and Special Exception application by Dominion Energy to construct the Barrister Substation - a new utility substation at 22190 Loudoun County Parkway. The staff report's own vicinity map shows multiple existing substations within a quarter mile of the proposed site. The Shellhorn Substation was approved in 2012. The Stratus Substation is currently under construction immediately adjacent. Now we are being asked to accept another. No assessment has been conducted of the cumulative impact that this concentration of utility infrastructure has on the surrounding community.

This Is Not What This Area Is Supposed to Become

We waited years for the promise of the Metro - and the walkable, mixed-use community that was supposed to come with it. This area was supposed to be walkable from our own neighborhood. Loudoun County invested over $270 million of taxpayer money in the Silver Line. The 2019 General Plan created a 2,600-acre Urban Policy Area around the Metro stations. In March 2025, the Board reinforced that commitment when it redesignated this area to the Urban Transit Center Place Type - a vision for the kind of neighborhood where people live, work, shop, and walk to dinner. Instead, what was promised is becoming a series of large concrete boxes.

The Board's own staff says neither of these applications is consistent with that vision. On Item 6, Community Planning staff said across four reviews that data center use "is no longer consistent with the Place Type and as such, should not be expanded upon further." On Item 7, staff found the substation "does not align with the Urban Transit Center Place Type" and stated in two reviews that they "cannot support the Special Exception." Neither applicant held a single community meeting.

Why This Matters

These projects are down the street - and that street has been oversaturated with the wrong type of development and we cannot absorb any more. When the County's own planners say an application is not consistent with the General Plan - across multiple reviews, without ever withdrawing that finding - it should be considered.

And you have to ask: what is the point of the plan in the first place?

These applications come to the Board as dense, technical documents - often 50 pages or more. The Board gets briefings from staff and has still expressed that it is a lot to take in. It is not easy for residents to find them, review them, and do the analysis. This is not a level playing field. The Board should ensure outreach to impacted communities and actively seek their input on applications in areas like ours, where the volume of industrial infrastructure development has been significant and the sensitivity is high.

What Could the Board Do?

A Special Exception is not an entitlement. The Board does not have to approve it. We can ask the Board to deny both applications solely on the basis of the land use record before them. Staff's own findings support that result.

At a minimum, the Board could defer action on these applications to allow adequate time for community review and input. Applications of this significance, in a corridor of this sensitivity, should not be acted upon without meaningful community engagement.

How You Can Be Heard

The public hearing is tonight, Wednesday, May 13, at the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg. You can participate in person or by phone.

To sign up to speak in advance, call 703-777-0200 by noon today. You can also sign up in person starting 30 minutes before the meeting, or call 703-880-8534 during the hearing to speak by phone.

If you are unable to attend, an email to the Board of Supervisors (bos@loudoun.gov) expressing your views on Items 6 and 7 will be entered into the public record.