Planning commission continues deep dive on Industrial Research zoning and data center standards, focusing on water and power

Leesburg’s Planning Commission spent the bulk of a work session reviewing draft Article 2 district rules, focusing on the Industrial Research (IR) district and how the town’s zoning rewrite treats data centers.

James David, Director, Department of Community Development, told the commission that data centers remain a specific use limited to the proposed IR district and that “As of today's staff is comfortable with those use standards as is since they were recently adopted” in August 2023. He said the use standards — addressing bulk, massing, screening and accessory structures — are located in Article 3 under use standards in the draft ordinance.

Commissioners and staff discussed multiple operational impacts that arise during project review. Brian Stone, Deputy Director, Department of Community Development, described the utility-review process: the applicant must provide projected water demand and system modeling, and utilities staff present those results to the Town Council when the project requests town water service. “We present information to them to to allow them to make an informed decision about water consumption or water use at the data centers,” Stone said.

Commissioners repeatedly pressed staff about capacity and risk. A commissioner cited an example that a previously approved data center near Wegmans uses about 9,000 gallons of water per day; staff said that…