Read a Protect Fauquier Member’s Response to Warrenton Town Council Member’s Allegations and Erroneous Assumptions
The following is a letter written by Protect Fauquier’s Cindy Burbank in response to misinformed comments made by Councilperson Brett Hamby at the September 2023 Warrenton Town Council meeting.
Mr. Hamby,
Please check your facts before you speak. Your remarks at the 9/12/23 Council meeting were factually wrong on many counts.
You made sweeping allegations, based on erroneous assumptions. You maligned the County Board of Supervisors, you maligned PF, PEC, and CFFC, you maligned candidates for the County Board of Supervisors, you maligned County citizens, and you maligned your own Town residents, all based on errors of fact.
You charged that PF and PF's allies have ignored the threat of overhead transmission lines in Vint Hill to serve the proposed Cyrus One data center (DC). But overhead transmission lines -- or distribution lines -- are not allowed to serve a DC in Vint Hill or anywhere else in the county. The County, in its foresight, enacted a condition that no data centers will be approved unless all new lines -- transmission and distribution -- are buried. The Vint Hill developer has acknowledged that condition and will not build without undergrounding the lines. Recently a data center developer for Catlett retracted a request for an exemption from this prohibition after running into implacable opposition. Check out the County code before you make allegations that PF and its allies are ignoring the threat of overhead transmission lines for DCs in the County. (Before you cite the SCC authority, keep in mind that the VA Supreme Court has upheld the authority of local governments to exercise land use authority -- such as for approval of data centers.)
You raised the specter of excessive water usage in Vint Hill by the pending DC proposal. Again, check out the County code. It includes a condition that if water is used for cooling, it must be recycled water. The Vint Hill developer has acknowledged this and committed to abide by it.
PF is not ignoring the Vint Hill DC proposal. We have been monitoring it and will be scrutinizing the Site Development Plan when it is submitted. We may well take exceptions to parts of it and ask for protective measures. But the appropriate time for that is when the SDP is submitted.
You made broad allegations that DCs are allowed by right in the County. DC's are allowed by right in only 2 specifically zoned locations in the county: the PCID in Vint Hill and the Business Park in Remington. Only there. These zonings occurred years ago, through an open public process, and were properly adopted, consistent with the County Comp Plan. This is quite the opposite of the secretive 2021 Town process, snuck through in the dark, to adopt a ZTA to allow data centers in Warrenton, in clear conflict with the Town's Comprehensive Plan -- a ZTA that was written hand in hand with Amazon -- a ZTA that notably omits the protections for residents that the County adopted.
You seem to think if Town and County residents oppose a data center on the entrance to Warrenton, we should oppose every data center everywhere in the Town and County.
PF, PEC, and CFFC always emphasized they are not opposed to all data centers. They cited the existing OVH DC in Vint Hill as an acceptable location for a data center, of modest size, designed to avoid noise (unlike AWS/Blackwell), sited away from residences, visually unobtrusive.
PF, PEC, and CFFC oppose the AWS/Blackwell data center because it is a terrible site, close to hundreds of moderate income residences, looming over the entrance to a small historic Town. They oppose it because AWS, with the complicity of the Town Council, submitted an incomplete application, withheld critical information on noise and other matters, and CONTINUES to the this day to withhold that information, with the complicity of the Town government. As I noted in my remarks Tuesday night, AWS's latest site development plan has 45 pages of sweeping redactions, including all information on noise emitting equipment, contrary to the spirit and letter of FOIA law. These redactions were all promptly condoned by Town of Warrenton, without exception and without explanation.
PF and others opposed the AWS/Blackwell data center because the Town and AWS advanced it through an indefensible process that violated the Comp Plan, was rife with nondisclosures and secrecy, ignored the Town Council's Ethics code against conflicts of interest, steamrolled the Planning Commission, and ignored the overwhelming opposition of residents of the Town and County.
This is not happening in the County process. Let me repeat: This is not happening in the County process. PF and CFFC and PEC have met repeatedly with individual Supervisors and County staff. We have our concerns and differences, but they have been open and professional at all times. Contrary to your allegations, PF and CFFC have submitted multiple FOIAs to the County, just to be sure we are not missing something. PF, PEC, and CFFC have spoken at many BOS meetings about data center concerns. The BOS has been listening to and working with us. They may not always agree with us or go along with us, but they listen to us, they meet with us, they explain their views to us.
Contrary to your comments, PF and its allies have formally submitted policy recommendations to the BOS on data centers. Most recently, on 9/4/23, PF, CFFC, PEC, and Protect Catlett joined together in submitting detailed suggestions for a new Data Center Policy that the BOS asked staff to undertake. Copy attached. Read it. If you are going to criticize us, at least know what these citizens groups stand for and have been doing with the County.
NOTE: These citizens groups are not special interests. They are residents and taxpayers and voters in this Town and County. Amazon is a special interest.
Mr. Heroux, you voiced many of the same uninformed allegations as Mr. Hamby did. I won't take the time to rebut them here. But you are similarly off base on your facts and your allegations.
Cindy Burbank,
Warrenton VA