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Residents tell planning commission data centers raise health, environmental and ownership concerns
Summary
Two residents urged the commission to require special-use permits for data centers, citing alleged 'snow hole' weather effects, EMF exposure, large water draws and opaque ownership structures; one resident said FOIA documents show a site was approved without public oversight.
Two residents spoke during the public hearing on PL-25-00 and urged the commission to place data centers under a special-use-permit process to preserve public oversight and protect neighborhoods.
"I am in support of it going back to special use permit," said Anne Parker, who gave her Lynchburg mailing address and said she lives in Rainbow Forest in Campbell County. Parker said she was concerned about what she called "snow holes," urban heat islands and electromagnetic field exposure near large data centers, and urged that data centers "be nowhere near residential." She also raised questions about opaque ownership records for proposed projects.
Sandy Glass, another resident, said she reviewed FOIA records and described what she called a timeline of approvals for a Mount Athos site she said took place even though data centers were not an approved use at the time. Glass said the special-use process had been "subverted," that county staff and the PEC approved a site plan, and that the public had limited notice. She also cited possible water demands for data centers, saying they could draw "up to 1,000,000 to 9,000,000 gallons a day," and warned of reliance on mobile generators if grid capacity is insufficient.
Both speakers asked the commission to support special-use permitting to allow public hearings and regulatory oversight before data centers are sited near communities.
