King George residents, supervisors spar over data centers and water use as county seeks protections

Public concern over proposed and approved data centers dominated the public-comment portion of the King George County meeting, with residents urging stricter notification, questioning water use and warning of noise and health impacts, while supervisors emphasized legal constraints, proffers placed on rezonings and the county's stated position to protect potable water.

Residents raised specifics. Tudy Moncure, speaking as a citizen from the James Madison District, told the board that Stafford County data centers recently sought changes allowing the use of 217,000 gallons per day of potable water after failing to complete a purple-water reuse plant: "This amendment includes the use of potable water in the amount of 217,000 gallons per day," she said, and warned the board those kinds of amendments "will definitely be on future agendas." Kenny Morgan said the Dogwood West data center will sit about 83 yards from a backyard and described diesel backup generators and fan-based cooling that he said can carry noise up to two miles; he asked the board to reconsider approvals and improve resident notification.

Other speakers urged balance. Ana Maria Lovell thanked supervisors for lower tax assessments but reiterated the community's worry about water and electricity usage, noting "many of the data centers in northern Virginia use up to 5 million gallons of water per day." James Shaw, speaking as an Economic Development Authority member and local columnist, urged the county to welcome startups while requiring developers to be "good neighbors" through quieter, better-designed projects.

Supervisors and staff responded with a mix of caution and defense of past actions. Ms. Bender said the county has proffers in place tied to rezonings that address impacts: "We put those proffers in place because of the impacts that those businesses could have on the surrounding area," she said. Chair Davis (appearing in the transcript as Mr. Davis) said the board previously rejected only a performance agreement related to an Amazon deal, not the underlying zoning: "We rejected performance agreement," he said, and stressed protecting the aquifer and surface water from cooling withdrawals.

Service Authority and staff comments clarified water policy. A Service Authority representative told the meeting that, as a policy matter, "there's no data center that will take potable water to use to cool equipment. Period. As long as I'm on the board here, I will never vote for that." Later in the meeting, Ms. Bender and staff noted that Amazon Web Services (AWS) now owns a water intake on the Rappahannock River that had been purchased from Birchwood, underscoring limits on local control of some intake infrastructure.

How the county will proceed: planning staff recommended treating zoning changes carefully and folding ZOTAC recommendations into the forthcoming comprehensive-plan update before amending the zoning ordinance. That sequencing received board consensus. Several supervisors also encouraged improving developer notification requirements (for example, specifying a radius rather than only abutters) and making application materials easier to find online.

What's next: Supervisors signaled they will hold future hearings and possible ordinance work tied to the comprehensive-plan process. Developers and project proponents signaled continued activity: Isaac Luedtke of Hanwha Renewables told the board his company acquired the previously proposed Gibson solar project and plans to resubmit for a special-exception permit after the statutorily required waiting period expires in July.