Ike Broaddus

I have been deeply involved in the Data Center (“DC”) issue over the last year, participating in dozens of meetings with leaders from PEC, CFFC, and Protect Fauquier as well as public hearings (at which I regularly shared my prepared remarks) and separate meetings with Dominion engineers and DC experts. While DC tax benefits are significant, the challenges they present are huge. At this moment I am not in favor of approving any rezoning for a data center site until our comprehensive plan is re-written to address all the issues and concerns.

The biggest threat is energy demand and the resulting transmission lines, which we will have no ability to stop or regulate once a site is approved. We’re already under significant threat of additional 230KV and 500KV lines being constructed across our County to serve the data center demand in Northern Virginia, which is expected to require another 10GW of power over the next decade. The Dominion engineers told me they expect to seek permission from the SCC to place a line along I-66 to bring power from West VA. into Northern VA. How we treat data centers in Fauquier may influence how the SCC treats us when we ask them to find other routes for the new lines needed for NOVA. We’ll need to work closely with our state legislators to ensure we have the tools to get ahead of these battles, which will certainly become major issues in the next 5 years.

Unlike transmission lines, we can control distribution lines and substations. At a minimum, we must ensure DCs are located near existing transmission lines, that any new substations or modifications to existing substations are appropriately sited and screened, and that developers pay to have the distribution lines for each DC placed underground.

The second biggest challenge DC’s present is where to site such massive buildings. It’s hard to hide a 220,000 square foot 50’ tall building, and there are few places that might be appropriate. They should not be too close to residential areas, historic areas, scenic areas, or main roads. They should be set back far from any property line or road, should be height limited (including all equipment) based on their visibility, and should be well screened outside of their fenced perimeter.

Other concerns around water-use, diesel generator pollution, noise from rooftop cooling units, and what to do with the buildings when technology makes them obsolete are all serious, but solvable, and must be addressed during the rezoning, or no later than the SUP, SEP, or Site Plan application process.

From a tax perspective, it is tempting to allow dozens of these buildings; however, we don’t want to be too dependent on a single tax category windfall. Everyone will want a piece of the revenue (schools, CIP, fire & rescue, staff, parks & rec, etc) and when the revenue source dries up (which it inevitably will), it will be impossible to undo those increased expenses. I would suggest we limit our revenue from data centers to a maximum 10% of the total County budget, which might well be achieved by the sites that are already zoned.

Lastly, we want to be fair in selecting sites since we would be creating instant multi-millionaires and leaving those properties around them to suffer a loss in value. If we eventually decide to allow additional DC’s, perhaps landowners who wish to convert their properties to DC’s should be required to contribute to a fund that would compensate all other impacted landowners. Those contributions could help the county purchase easements on nearby properties to create a hard-edge prohibiting future expansion of developed areas.