Eric Gagnon

Protect Fauquier asked: “What is your view on data centers in Warrenton and Fauquier? If the Amazon data center were to come to a re-vote, due to the litigation or other reasons, how would you vote? Also, what is your view of the process followed by the Warrenton Town Council to approve the Amazon data center? Was that an appropriate process, or would you work for reforms?”

Eric Gagnon’s response: I oppose any data center project in Warrenton or its immediate environs. Data centers pose a public health risk and adversely impact quality of life owing to unacceptable noise and low-frequency vibration; they also pose a property value reduction risk due to their proximity to many homes in our Town's compact environment. I generally oppose the spread of data centers as an enormous drain on our electric grid certain to result in higher electric bills, and likely future energy rationing or brownouts.

Data centers provide very few jobs, and consume opportunities for smart development that creates real jobs, a more reliable tax base, and business development that benefits citizens (for instance, the mixed-use project previously proposed for the Blackwell site). These warehouses are not businesses, but hulking fortified data bunkers; they will never join the chamber of commerce nor integrate into the community.

Neither of my two opponents oppose data center projects in or around Warrenton. Town Councilman Jay Heroux was the infamous swing vote in approving the Amazon Data center application, despite massive citizen opposition, and he voted even as he has a conflict of interest that violates our Town Code of Ethics. He will be a repeat performer if the application gets a revote. Karen Lavarnway, with zero history of opposing the Amazon project, has just released a video in which she explicitly declines to take a position against data centers in town generally, and refuses explicitly to rule out voting for Amazon’s application if it comes back to Council.

For months, I’ve been actively involved in opposing and mobilizing citizen action against the data center project in Warrenton. If elected, I can be counted on with complete certainty to vote to block this and any other data center project in or around our Town. While there are other consequential issues facing Warrenton and its citizens – and I have taken positions on these as well, it is stopping data centers in the town that motivates my candidacy—period.

If elected, and if the Amazon data center project on Blackwell Road comes back to the Town Council for a re-vote, I would be a solid, emphatic NO vote on the Council, and would encourage others to join the new majority (which my election will create) to block it energetically. The special use permit (SUP) for the Amazon Blackwell site was rejected by the Town Planning Commission, and should have never been approved by the Town Council in the first place. The process by which it was originally approved—in the face of overwhelming opposition—demonstrated to all Warrenton residents just how unresponsive our Town government has become, and how unconcerned with the interests of the citizens they swore to represent.

Meaningful reforms to Town Council practices and procedures are critical and urgent. If elected, I will work with the other like-minded Town Council representatives to adopt reforms increasing accountability and responsiveness, and restoring the trust and transparency the current majority has destroyed.

The first step would be a vote for immediate release of the 3,100 e-mails and related communications on the Amazon data center zoning process currently being withheld by the Town under the claim of “executive privilege,” and the second step a work session on considering a formal end to the use of this privilege entirely in all but the most sensitive situations. I will also vote to repeal the zoning text amendment for data centers that was adopted under questionable circumstances in 2021 in order to advance the then-secret Amazon data center project.

I will also join with other Town Council representatives to order an investigation into the chain of events by which former Town Manager Brandie Schaeffer was hired by Amazon Web Services while she was working with them on their zoning application with the Town.

A few final thoughts: A lot of the discussion around data centers has focused on taxes and money. While these issues are important, they are by no means the most important thing. Living in Warrenton and Fauquier County has given us all the gift of a very unique and rare environment that's beautiful to live in, supportive of agriculture, family, and healthy living.

Children thrive in this special way of life. They develop an independence and strength of character that they wouldn't get if they grew up in a suburb or a city. Preserving small-town Warrenton means preserving and protecting our homes, our families, and our community. It’s our heritage, our foundation, and our future—and that’s what this election is really about.