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Piedmont Environmental Council urges Rappahannock County not to add an explicit data-center ban to code
Summary
The Piedmont Environmental Council told supervisors the county's existing code likely already prohibits data centers and that an explicit local ban could invite state-level pushback; PEC recommended advocacy to state officials and careful control of transmission/substation language instead.
Sarah Parmely, representing the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), addressed the board about recent petitions and local debate over data centers and county code changes.
"We have reviewed the Rappahannock County Code of Ordinance and it is our interpretation that the code prohibits data centers already," Parmely said, explaining PEC’s view that data centers are not similar to existing permitted industrial uses such as breweries or warehouses and therefore should not be treated as allowed by analogy.
PEC advised the county against adopting an ordinance that explicitly bans data centers because, the organization argued, a stand-alone prohibition can be reversed in the future and could draw unwanted attention from the state legislature. Parmely cited other recent state action—legislation affecting solar siting—as an example of how state law can pre-empt strongly worded local controls.
She recommended that Rappahannock focus on tightening language related to substations and transmission-line siting (areas PEC said are more likely to be relevant) and encouraged county leaders to lobby state delegates and the governor to pause data-center tax breaks and approvals rather than change local code in a way PEC believes could be counterproductive.
Board members and members of the public said they are concerned about regional transmission needs and land-value pressures tied to data-center growth and noted that many localities are grappling with similar questions; some speakers urged leaving the code unchanged because it currently does not list data centers as a permitted use.
The board did not take formal action on the data-center issue at this meeting; members asked staff to continue monitoring legislative changes and noted prior work tightening substation language.
