Data center proposals keep coming up in Prince William County.
But you have to wait a little longer to move forward.
In its meeting on Wednesday evening, the planning commission unanimously a Request for a data center on vacant land in Gainesville.
Owned by Southview 66 LLC and Gainesville JM LC, the 102-acre property is located between Interstate 66, US Route 29, Virginia Route 55, and Catharpin Road. It’s near George Tyler Elementary School.
The proposal, known as I-66 and US 29 Technology Park, envisages six rectangular data centers with a 15 m long landscape buffer around the property. An entrance is planned on Virginia 55 or the John Marshall Highway.
The company is aiming to convert a 5 acre portion of the property from agricultural to commercial, along with a special use permit to allow the use of data centers outside the overlay district of the county’s Data Center Opportunity Zone. The land is approximately 2,500 feet outside of the overlay district.
Gainesville Commissioner Richard Berry made an initial motion to postpone the proposal until the county completes an ongoing assessment of its Data Center Opportunity Zone overlay district. The request failed 4-4, as did a subsequent request for consent.
The board of directors elected in May Spend $ 120,000 to hire a consultant to investigate areas for expansion of the data center district along power lines. The overlay district is currently 10,000 hectares and was designated in 2016 to support the development of data centers by removing regulatory hurdles.
The consultant examines possible areas for expanding the quarter, but also takes into account necessary changes to the building standards, the overall plan and the building regulations as well as other effects of data centers. The study is expected to last six to nine months.
Eventually, the commissioners agreed to postpone the request with an update and preliminary information on the district overlay study until October 20 at the latest.
The company also plans to change the terms of an earlier rezoning of the entire property to allow data center usage of up to 2.89 million square feet. The existing conditions allow a permitted commercial use of up to 1.13 million square meters.
The developer would give the county $ 1.78 million for its water quality impact and emergency services.
One of the reservations of the proposal is that the developer has agreed not to get building permits if at any point the project would require the construction of electrical transmission lines from the west.
The developer estimated the construction would create 7,600 to 14,200 jobs and generate $ 30 to 57 million in tax revenue. Upon completion, the project is expected to support 500 to 630 jobs and $ 34 to 65 million in annual tax revenue.
Commissioners who were not convinced by the proposal raised concerns about energy consumption and its compatibility with surrounding uses, in addition to the fact that the development had no intended use.
“This would be a huge data center complex,” said Berry. “I believe that such a development is incompatible with the surrounding uses”
At-Large Commissioner Don Taylor believed the proposal should be pushed forward, but eventually admitted to deferring the request.
“We want to be careful here that the perfect does not become the enemy of the good,” he said.
Woodbridge Commissioner Cynthia Moses-Nedd said the commission should take time to gather more information before making its recommendation.
“If it comes back and we need to move forward, at least we’ve done our due diligence,” she said.
The post "Massive" data center complex proposed in Gainesville | Headlines first appeared on Daily Florida Press.
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