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James City supervisors require special-use review for data centers, direct staff to write policy
Summary
The Board of Supervisors voted to remove data centers as a by-right use in multiple zoning districts and to permit them only by special-use permit in the M-2 district while directing staff to develop comprehensive policy and performance standards.
James City County’s Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to amend the county zoning ordinance so that data centers are no longer permitted by right in several industrial and mixed-use districts and instead require a special-use permit in the M-2 (General Industrial) district, while directing staff to develop a comprehensive policy for future reviews.
The change, adopted as ORD-25-0002, removes “data processing centers” from M-1 (Limited Business/Industrial), M-2, MU (Mixed Use) and EO (Economic Opportunity) as by-right uses and adds data centers as a specially permitted use in M-2; the planning commission had recommended excluding the EO district before the board’s vote.
Staff said data centers are large facilities that “store, manage, process digital data,” and that rising demand from artificial intelligence and cloud services has increased local interest. Christie Parish, county…
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