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Chesapeake council asks planning commission to study tighter rules for data centers after public outcry
Summary
Following multiple public comments raising concerns about transparency, buffer distances and local impacts, Chesapeake City Council unanimously adopted an initiating resolution asking the Planning Commission to consider amendments that would make data centers a conditional use in certain zones.
Chesapeake City Council on July 29 voted unanimously to ask its Planning Commission to consider amending the city’s zoning ordinance to treat data centers as a conditional use in appropriate districts, a move prompted by sustained public concern about the projects’ local impacts.
Citizens and council members said the change is intended to increase transparency and allow the city to attach conditions when large-scale data facilities are proposed. Resident Lee DeMoure told the council the Etheridge Woods proposal was “a poster child for how not to do it,” and urged a public advisory committee early in the review process. Dennis Cashman asked for clarity on a staff memorandum about a 500-foot buffer and said: “It should be from the property line” rather than from rooftops.
The initiating resolution (new business A) — read into the record by the clerk and moved, seconded and adopted 9–0 — asks the Planning Commission to consider changes to tables of permitted and conditional uses so that data centers would be allowed only as a conditional use when specific criteria are met. Council members and speakers repeatedly emphasized the need for enforceable community benefits and clear notification early in project development.
Council members framed the action as a procedural step to ensure the Planning Commission studies potential ordinance language and public outreach, not an immediate prohibition. Several speakers at the microphone urged the council to require larger buffers, stronger community benefits packages, enforceable penalties and binding commitments for infrastructure improvements, workforce guarantees and protections against increased utility or energy costs passed to customers.
The initiating resolution passed without debate on final disposition and will return to council after the Planning Commission completes its review and issues recommendations.
Next steps: the Planning Commission will take up the request and make recommendations back to council; the resolution does not itself change the zoning code.
