Grove resident urges Planning Commission to oppose data-processing center, requests resident committee

At the Oct. 1, 2025 meeting of the James City County Planning Commission, resident Ryan Bonnie of 1714 Skiffs Creek Circle urged commissioners to oppose locating a proposed data processing center (DPC) in The Grove and asked the county to create a committee to give Grove residents a formal role in local land-use policy.

Bonnie told the commission that Grove residents “have been bearing a big share of industrial facilities” and said “not a single member of staff, planning commission, supervisors, managers, owners of available land, nor representatives live in The Grove.” He thanked the commission for requiring special-use permits for DPCs and said Grove residents deserve a similar committee-level voice in decisions that affect their neighborhood.

The request came during the meeting's public-comment period, which the commission set aside for topics not subject to a public hearing. Bonnie said he had emailed county leaders with an Associated Press article about rising DPC power bills and argued that residents who oppose government centers out of tax concerns should also be “against a DPC.” He said 121 people had signed an online petition asking that no DPCs be sited in The Grove.

Bonnie also raised development and river-access concerns tied to a separate property, the BASF site, saying the county had turned some riverside land over to industrial and private uses and that the BASF property represented “our county's final chance to retain access to the James River.” He said the core problem in The Grove was “the epidemic of lack of quality housing at affordable prices” and urged broader rezoning of remaining land.

Planning staff did not take action on Bonnie's requests during the meeting. The public-comment period closed and the commission moved on to committee reports and consent-agenda items.