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Wythe County schedules work session on land‑use ordinance after resident urges ban on data centers
Summary
The Planning Commission scheduled a June 22 work session to revise a proposed Land Use Classification Ordinance after resident Andy Kegley urged banning data centers from most commercial and industrial districts, mapping conservation easements and narrowing transportation‑corridor designations. Staff will produce a revised draft for review July 6.
The Wythe County Planning Commission agreed to hold a June 22 work session after receiving public comment urging tighter restrictions on data centers and clearer mapping of protected lands.
Resident Andy Kegley of 840 Rose Hill Road spoke during Citizens’ Time and asked the commission to prohibit data centers in Commercial and Industrial districts outside of Progress Park and to show conservation easements and agricultural and Forestal districts on official maps. “I would request that no data centers be allowed in Commercial or Industrial districts,” Kegley said, and later added that mapping protections “ought to be designated on the maps too just to show where there is some protection of land.”
Deputy County Administrator Matt Hankins told commissioners the Board of Supervisors referred the ordinance back to the Planning Commission for further consideration of public suggestions and asked staff to compile the suggestions into a spreadsheet. “The Board of Supervisors at their last meeting has referred this back to the Planning Commission for further consideration,” Hankins said. The Commission agreed a separate work session was needed and scheduled it for June 22 at 6 p.m.
Ex‑Officio Jesse Burnett said the Board wants the process to move forward without unnecessary delay. “The Board does not want to drag this process out,” Burnett said.
Commissioner Heidi Lyall asked about recent state legislation affecting the land‑use classification process. Hankins responded that the House bills remain active but have been pared down; local governments now retain more decision‑making authority over solar siting, and if the county denies a solar proposal it must report the denial to the state. “Yes, they were, but they are watered down compared to what they originally required,” Hankins said.
Kegley also recommended eliminating or narrowing the county’s transportation corridor designation, saying the current corridor buffers add complexity and may reduce public support for an overarching zoning ordinance. He framed zoning as a mechanism for public hearings and community voice: “What you really mean is, if you’re against zoning, is that you’re against the opportunity for a public hearing. And our voice, that opportunity for a voice in the public hearing, is the heartbeat of our democracy,” Kegley said.
County staff will prepare revisions based on the Commission’s directions and provide a revised draft ordinance for review at the Planning Commission’s July 6 meeting, the commission was told.
The work session on June 22 and the July 6 review are the next procedural steps; no final ordinance was adopted at the June meeting.
