Planning commission recommends Concord Industrial Park rezoning to supervisors after last-minute proffer memo; commissioners split

The Loudoun County Planning Commission on July 10 voted to forward the Concord Industrial Park rezoning and related special-exception requests to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval after the applicant provided a memorandum committing to several revisions to the application.

Erin Fisher, senior planner with the Department of Planning and Zoning, told commissioners the 17.2-acre site at the terminus of Executive Drive in the Sterling Election District is currently zoned Planned Development General Industrial (PDGI) under the 1972 zoning ordinance and contains four flex warehouses totaling roughly 269,000 square feet. The applicant proposed to rezone the property to the Industrial Park (IP) zoning district under the current ordinance, and requested special exceptions to raise the maximum floor area ratio for data center use from 0.6 to 0.8 (data-center use only) and to permit a major utility use (a utility substation) in the IP district.

Fisher said staff analyzed the application in the context of an influx of similar Route 28 corridor proposals converting older flex warehouse buildings to data center and industrial uses. Staff raised outstanding issues related to compatibility, transportation, wildlife habitat mitigation, building heights, open space versus the 2019 general plan place-type expectations, and proffer administration. The application originally included up to seven development options; six options referenced a 12-year time frame tied to regulations in effect at the time of submission and one “option 5” allowed any IP use after that period. Fisher said the applicant’s July 24 memorandum removed the 12-year/IP-bubble option and committed to the four data-center/industrial options staff identified as supportable pending the clarified wildlife habitat and other commitments.

Molly Novotny of Curata Partners, speaking for the applicant, described the commitments in the memorandum: removal of the 12-year option and all references to it from the proffer statement; a commitment to 22% open space (the IP zoning district minimum is 20%); retention of 2,000 square feet of pollinator plantings with a single chosen planting area to avoid conflict with enhanced buffer plantings; moving and design commitments that pushed the substation wall to be within the 75-foot building setback; addition of ITE trip-generation codes to proffers to clarify traffic analysis assumptions; and a proffered lot consolidation requirement (the two parcels would be consolidated prior to site plan). "We have committed to address every one of them," Novotny said.

Commissioners took questions from staff, the applicant and Dominion representative Buddy Reiser about power availability, substation design, and displacement of existing tenants. Reiser said countywide planning assumptions for providing new power to data-center users have varied in public statements, but his office is operating under a working assumption that new power capacity could become available within seven years; he cautioned that actual timelines can change. Danielle Schleien, a Prologis representative, said Prologis is discussing relocation and other options with current tenants and noted Prologis is building new flex space nearby.

Key commitments discussed on the record included a minimum 12-foot conditioned substation screen wall and the applicant’s statement that Dominion indicated 12 feet was the maximum the utility would accept as a committed wall height in a deeded area; the applicant said Dominion would accept a 12-foot minimum but that taller walls are not Dominion's current standard. The applicant also committed to consolidate the two parcels before site plan and to add explicit ITE codes to proffers for traffic review.

Commissioner Myers moved to forward the rezoning (Lehi 20240002, Concord Industrial Park) and associated special-exception applications to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval, subject to the applicant’s memorandum dated July 24 and the findings read into the record. Commissioner Banks seconded the motion. On the roll call, commissioners split: multiple commissioners spoke in favor citing staff and applicant work to resolve outstanding issues, while two commissioners said they would oppose, citing concerns about substation screening height and long-term compatibility if development options or nearby uses change. One commissioner recused herself from the item because she is a stockholder in Prologis.

The clerk announced the motion carried; the transcript records commissioners saying on the record that the application will be forwarded with a recommendation of approval and indicates four votes in favor and two opposed, and it also records a recusal. The transcript contains inconsistent numeric tallies in the clerk's spoken totals; staff and the applicant both stated their belief that the July 24 memorandum resolved the outstanding issues for the four supported options and that the removed “12‑year/IP bubble” option would no longer be pursued.

Why it matters: the application proposes a significant land-use conversion in a Route 28 corridor location where the county is seeing multiple proposals to convert older flex warehouse product into data centers or other industrial uses. The application seeks a higher FAR for data center use and a utility substation; both have visual and compatibility implications along a major corridor.

Next steps: the application record, including the applicant memorandum and staff findings, will go to the Board of Supervisors for public hearings and final decision. Staff and the applicant agreed to continue coordination on wildlife habitat commitments, planting plans for pollinators and buffers, substation screening and traffic analysis for any option that may be pursued later.