Tuesday, Oct. 6: End Data Center Grandfathering

Tuesday night the Board of Supervisors takes up data center grandfathering

The ask is simple: end grandfathering

Take each application still in review and look at it on its own, with a public hearing and a Board vote like every other new data center.

The Board needs to hear from residents in every district - by email before Tuesday, and in person Tuesday night. Here is the meeting info and how to sign up to speak. The deadline to sign up in advance is noon Tuesday (call 703-777-0200), but you can also sign up at the meeting starting 30 minutes before it begins. More details and key points are below.

What grandfathering is

For 25 years, data centers could be built by right in Loudoun's industrial areas. By right means no public hearing and no Board vote. If the plans met the code, the county had to approve them.

In March 2025, the Board changed that. A new data center in those districts now needs a special exception, which means a public hearing and a Board vote.

At the same time, the Board adopted a grandfathering resolution. Any data center site plan the county had accepted for review by Feb. 12, 2025, could keep going under the old rules, as long as the buildings and equipment are more than 500 feet from existing homes. No public hearing, no Board vote. Those projects have until Feb. 12, 2028, to submit plans that meet the code.

On Sept. 1, Supervisors Juli Briskmanand Laura TeKrony asked the Board to end it.

The Board asked the County Attorney for a legal opinion and asked staff for a public list of every project still in line. That opinion and staff's public list is on Tuesday's agenda.

How much is still in queue

Since March 2025, the county has approved 14 grandfathered applications with 25 data center buildings.

Staff's report lists 15 or 16 more still in review, with 30 or 31 buildings and about 10.5 million square feet.

Ending grandfathering would only reach the projects still in review.

What the pipeline means for power

Dominion CEO Bob Blue said in 2024 that a new data center building asks for 60 to 90 megawatts or more, and things have only accelerated since then. At that size, 31 buildings need about 1.9 to 2.8 gigawatts.

Everything in Loudoun that is not a data center - every home, school, store and office - uses about 0.9 gigawatts. That number has barely moved in 20 years. The growth has all been data centers. The buildings still in line could need two to three times what everything else uses.

That power comes on new transmission lines and new substations: Golden-to-Mars, Valley North, the Golden Substation.

Every vote for a data center is a vote for a substation and a power line. Grandfathered data centers never get that vote.

Lawsuit costs vs. property losses

Staff says ending grandfathering could cost the county $45 million to $60 million if developers sue.

The county has put a number on the other side too. In the Golden-to-Mars case at the SCC, the county's own appraiser estimated that homes within a half mile of the route the SCC approved would lose about $181 million in value. He said it could be more than double that.

That is one power line. And there will be more.

Staff's report puts a price on lawsuits from developers. It puts no price on what residents lose when more data centers bring more power lines.

Grandfathering and special exceptions

Grandfathering has also been cited as the reason the Board can't ask more of data center developers when they come in for a special exception. That is how a special exception for about 832 square feet turns into a data center almost 50% bigger than what had been planned, plus a substation. What the community got in return was a better diesel generator. That helps, but it isn't enough.

Ending grandfathering could also change how applications start. Developers might be incented to bring their best effort up front instead of having to be pushed every time. Several supervisors have made that point. In July, Supervisor Koran Saines told Dominion to "come with your best foot forward the first time."

We need to hold developers to a higher standard. Ending grandfathering would be a start.

Staff's reputation argument & business

Staff also warns that ending grandfathering would hurt Loudoun's reputation for keeping its word with business. Loudoun has been as friendly to data centers as a county can be. Staff did not ask what that has cost every other business.

In Sterling, a pending application would tear down three hotels, a conference center and an aerospace company to build three data center buildings. Long term, how many jobs will be lost?

Planning Commission Chair Clifford Keirce said land that can be built for data centers is the most valuable land in the county, and that is why other businesses are being torn down. Data centers compete with every other business for land, power, equipment and construction crews.

Non-data center businesses are worried about these projects too - but for different reasons.

With Golden-to-Mars, Dominion intends to take easements through several business properties instead of going through land zoned for data centers. The owners have not been told how it will affect them.

These businesses employ more people than a data center. Yet they are the ones being sacrificed.

How are they supposed to plan?

Why would they stay in Loudoun ?

Key points

• Grandfathering lets data centers that were in line by Feb. 12, 2025, skip the public hearing and Board vote every new data center now needs.
• Staff lists 30 or 31 buildings still in review. Those buildings alone could need two to three times as much power as every home, school, store and office in Loudoun combined.
• Every data center means more substations and power lines.
• Staff priced lawsuits at up to $60 million. The county's own appraiser priced the home value lost to one power line at about $181 million.
• Staff's own report does not agree on how many data center buildings are in line: 30 or 31.
• Being business-friendly has to mean more than being data center-friendly.
• End grandfathering. Every application still in review should get a public hearing and a Board vote.

What to do

• Before Tuesday: email the entire Board (bos@loudoun.gov) or leave a voicemail on the Board's comment line, 703-777-0115. Pick two or three key points, say where you live, and put it in your own words.
• To speak: call 703-777-0200 by noon Tuesday to sign up, in person or remotely by phone. You can also sign up with the clerk in the Board Room starting 30 minutes before the meeting, first come, first served. Speakers typically get two minutes.
• Come out Tuesday night: Board Room, Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison St. SE, Leesburg. Public comment begins as early as 6 p.m. About two dozen residents and community leaders from across the county plan to speak. Can't attend: watch live.

Please forward this to your neighbors. See you Tuesday.