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Culpeper Board approves rezoning for 69-acre Kaiser Road data center over opposition, 4-3
Summary
After more than two hours of testimony and debate, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors approved rezoning 69.19 acres on Kaiser Road from rural to light industrial for a planned data center campus, approving amended proffers but drawing sustained community concern about water, power and cumulative impacts.
The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors on July 9 approved a rezoning request that will allow a 69.19-acre parcel on Kaiser Road to be used for a multi-building data center campus, passing the measure 4-3 after extended public comment and board discussion.
The applicant (case Z-462-24-1) amended its proffers before the meeting to add a 50-foot landscape screen along Kaiser Road, reduce site lighting pole heights from 30 to 20 feet, increase a contribution to the Culpeper Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association to $0.28 per square foot, dedicate right-of-way for future road/pedestrian improvements, and provide one-time payments including $25,000 to the county’s perpetual development rights program and $75,000 toward a multiuse path on Kaiser Road. County staff said the parcel lies in the technology overlay and is shown in the comprehensive plan as a future industrial growth area; the Planning Commission recommended approval by a 7–1 vote.
Applicant representatives also provided an economic projection the board heard during the meeting. "Averaging about $16,000,000 a year in tax revenue," the applicant’s representative, Zach, said in his presentation of computer-equipment and real-estate tax projections; the applicant also described multi-hundred-million-dollar capital expenditures and server-refresh cycles that underpin those numbers.
Opponents at the public hearing urged the board to pause further approvals until the county studies cumulative impacts. "Culpeper County has over 10,000,000 square feet of approved, unbuilt data centers," Sarah Parmelee of the Piedmont Environmental Council told the board, saying the county lacks baseline commitments on water use and that the cumulative demand could strain municipal services, tourism and home values.
Neighbors recounted worries about drinking wells, grid capacity, construction traffic and viewshed changes. Scott Mitchell, whose planned house would face the site, said notice to directly affected residents should be improved and argued residents should be mailed direct notice rather than relying on newspaper or website postings.
On technical and mitigation issues, applicant counsel and staff described proffers intended to reduce visual and operational impacts and said the site would incorporate "then-current efficient water and power management strategies" at site-plan stage. Counsel also said the applicant had proffered funding for a graywater study and would use graywater "as the primary source of pooling water" if it proves feasible.
Board members were split. Those who opposed the rezoning cited uncertain water and energy impacts and said they wanted to see the effect of already-approved sites before allowing additional projects. Supporters said the parcel’s inclusion in the technology overlay and comprehensive plan justified approval and pointed to the proffers as stronger than prior applications. After debate, a motion to approve the rezoning passed 4–3.
The board did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the clerk announced the result as "4–3, carries." The decision closes a chapter in the county’s technology-zone rollout but leaves open questions staff and supervisors repeatedly raised about water availability, cooling systems and grid capacity as future site-planning proceeds.
