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Spotsylvania board directs staff to draft tighter rules for data centers amid rapid pipeline
Summary
After a lengthy briefing on water, power and land-use risks, the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted 6–1 to ask staff to draft zoning and performance standards — including setbacks, buffers and potential special-use permitting — to limit by-right data center development outside the primary development boundary.
Spotsylvania County supervisors voted to ask planning staff to prepare specific development standards for data centers after a detailed staff briefing on the projects already approved and those under review.
Planning Director Kimberly and utilities staff described an existing pipeline of confirmed and potential data center projects that together could total more than 10 million square feet on roughly 1,000 acres, plus an additional pool of by-right industrial land estimated at about 2,000 acres. Staff said approved rezonings have typically included proffers such as enhanced setbacks, buffers, noise studies and water-reuse commitments, but by-right industrial zoning lacks those additional protections.
Board members pressed staff on several technical points: whether the county’s reuse (wastewater) system will have capacity (Massaponics expansion to roughly 13.4 million gallons per day is scheduled for the 2027–2028 timeframe), how water reuse will be metered and billed, the risk of using potable water as a bridging supply, and how electrical-transmission corridors influence siting. Utilities staff said reuse has been prioritized for projects that commit to water-reuse systems, and that the county has limited bridging allowances and metering provisions to limit potable-water draw.
Supervisor Lori Hayes moved — and the board approved, 6–1 — a direction that staff return with draft amendments that would: define "data center" separately from a generic office use; apply mandatory setbacks and vegetative buffering where data centers may locate by right; require noise mitigation where projects abut residences; and make data centers a special-use permit in some zoning districts while keeping them permitted in core industrial zones. Staff said the requested stop-gap measures could be implemented faster than the full zoning overhaul (expected late 2025) and would be bundled into the larger ordinance update.
Why it matters: Board members and residents said they want to preserve rural character, protect potable-water supplies, and limit unanticipated impacts on schools, utilities and roads while preserving opportunities for large employers. Staff noted that large confirmed projects already under proffered rezoning include multiple Amazon sites and Hunters Ridge, and that decisions about where to allow data centers will shape land use and infrastructure needs for years.
Next steps: Staff will draft ordinance language and present proposed standards and any associated special-use procedures back to the planning commission and the board for consideration and public comment.
