Spotsylvania Board adopts new data-center design standards with 300-ft buffer, 400-ft residential setback

The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt Ordinance 23-190 on Dec. 9, establishing countywide design standards for data centers that set a 300-foot vegetated buffer from property lines, a 400-foot minimum setback from residential dwellings, a 50-foot streetscape buffer, and a 75-foot maximum building height for I-2 (industrial) zoned data center buildings. The ordinance also requires preservation of existing vegetation within buffers or, where gaps exist, installation of an eight-foot landscaped earthen berm; it restricts linear co-location of utilities through the 300-foot buffer and includes a staff-drafted "force and effect" clause to grandfather certain previously approved rezonings.

Planning staff summarized the major changes in the version advertised for adoption. "This is the version of the document that was advertised and considered by the planning commission and subject to your public hearing tonight," Planning Director Kimberly Romano told the board, and she highlighted the buffer, setback and berm rules as the principal revisions.

Supporters and critics alike spoke during the public hearing. "Data centers represent huge potential for the county, but also they have many pitfalls," resident Aviv Goldsmith said, urging stronger noise controls and caution about height and buffer efficacy. Developers and business advocates emphasized jobs and local economic benefits: "We appreciate staff's work on this," attorney Andrew Painter said on behalf of a property owner with a prior rezoning approval. Conservation advocates welcomed the changes but asked for stronger protections; Friends of the Rappahannock executive director Daria Christian said, "The 300-foot restricted buffer along its property lines is a good improvement," and urged a prohibition on direct withdrawals from the Rappahannock River and mandatory public disclosure of water-use estimates.

Several developers and site-plan applicants sought clarity on the grandfathering language and asked that pending site plans or vested rights be specifically protected. One developer, Armin Groschel, said his firm had "bought a 50-acre project in 2024" and asked for an exemption for pending site plans that had already been submitted for review.

During board debate members split over process and predictability versus case-by-case review. Proponents of the ordinance argued that a clear design standard gives the industry predictable rules to follow and provides objective protections for neighbors; opponents said the county should require special-use permits (SUPs) to allow site-specific topographic and proximity considerations.

Supervisor Kevin Marshall moved to approve Ordinance 23-190 as advertised with the staff-provided force-and-effect language; the motion passed 4-3. The meeting minutes record the three votes against as Supervisor Hayes, Chair Yankobowski (recorded in the roll call as "Yaktabowski" in one instance), and Supervisor Lane.

The ordinance text, as read into the record by staff, states that the ordinance goes into effect upon adoption and that properties with a zoning map amendment approved between Jan. 1, 2022 and the date of adoption are subject to the zoning regulations that were in place on the date of their zoning map amendment approval so long as the parcel develops according to its approved proffers. Staff told the board it would provide the draft force-and-effect clause language to the public following the meeting.

The board also directed staff to continue refining implementation details including the treatment of utilities and where berms may be placed within the 300-foot buffer. The ordinance adoption triggers a new permitting and review baseline for future data center site plans in Spotsylvania County.

What happens next: staff will publish the adopted ordinance and the exact uncodified force-and-effect language distributed at the dais. Projects with previously approved rezonings that meet the ordinance's grandfathering language will remain governed by the zoning rules in effect at the time of their rezoning approval; other pending applications and new rezonings will be subject to the adopted standards.