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Commission starts work on battery storage and data-center rules, votes to visit existing facilities

Southampton County Planning Commission · July 10, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Commissioners discussed battery energy storage systems and data centers, raised water, energy and safety concerns, and voted unanimously to task staff with arranging site visits and researching ordinances from nearby localities.

Commissioners spent substantial time discussing battery energy storage systems and data centers and directed staff to research standards and arrange field visits to existing facilities.

Chair introduced the topic referencing the Virginia Clean Economy Act and asked staff to elaborate. Planning staff (Mr. Randolph) and commissioners noted the county’s ordinance currently contains a brief industrial zoning reference for data centers (generally 30 acres or more) but does not have a defined category for battery energy storage systems. Staff said a zoning…

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