Land rezoning proposals for Virginia data centers stymied

Plans across three counties blocked-Land rezoning proposals for three data centers in the world’s largest data center market have been stymied.


Plans to change the use of land in Charles City County, Prince William County, and Fauquier County have been rejected or delayed.


Charles City County


On June 24, the Charles City County Board of Supervisors opted to delay voting on a rezoning proposal for a 515-acre land parcel. The parcel is located some 20 miles east of Richmond.


The data center project is called the Roxbury Technology Park.


The decision was made in the face of local opposition. According to Richmond BizSense, residents were concerned about “potential environmental impacts, noise and light pollution, the lack of an identified end user” and a lack of transparency from the developer, Kansas-based Diode Ventures.


The proposal, if approved, would rezone the land for ‘light ndustrial’ use. It was submitted by Diode Ventures last November, followed by a revised application in February. The county’s Planning Commission then recommended approval of the project in May. The deferral means that the proposal will likely be considered at the next meeting, which is scheduled for July 22.


Prince William County


On the same day, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors agreed to defer voting on a rezoning proposal.


A request for deferral was made by Stack Infrastructure, which submitted the proposal. This is the second time that Stack has requested a deferral – the first was made in May.


The Board eventually agreed to defer their decision to September 9.


Stack’s request to defer was made twenty-two minutes prior to the start of the board’s meeting, with supervisors speculating that the request was made because Stack feared that it would lose the vote.


The Board of Supervisors has the final say. If the application is approved, approximately 58 acres of land located between Nokesville Road and Piper Lane will be rezoned from agricultural use to a ‘planned business district’.


Prince William County is located southwest of Washington. Stack, which is owned by asset management company Blue Owl, has four other sites in the county.


Fauquier County


The Fauquier County Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of a land rezoning proposal on June 18.


The decision was made amidst concerns voiced by residents about the consequences on water quality.


The proposal now requires approval from the Board of Supervisors, which will likely consider it at its July 10 meeting. If approval is given, a 202-acre land parcel would be rezoned from residential use to ‘Business Park’. This is where the proposed 800MW, 2.2m sq ft (204,386 sqm) data center, known as Gigaland, would be built. According to the developer, Gigaland LLC, the facility would consist of seven two-story buildings.


An additional 157 acres of land would also need to be rezoned in order for a variety of proposed utilities.


The land is situated near Remington, a town southwest of Washington. It is bounded by Lucky Hill Road, Old Grassdale Road, and Strodes Mill Road.


Gigaland bought the 202 acres of land for $4m in October 2023.


Little information about Gigaland is available online. On its website, the company says it specializes in “transforming raw land in Northern Virginia into the most valuable land in the market.”


The company was founded by Art Lickunas and Roland Talasas. The former is a partner at Virginia real estate firm Keller Williams Realty Dulles, while the latter is CEO of window provider Intus Windows. This is seemingly the company’s first data center project.


Traditionally, Fauquier County has not been one of Virginia’s main data center hubs. But increasing interest led the county’s Board of Supervisors to adopt a series of guidelines designed to curb new developments to protect the area’s rural character.

Read Also
Regant Oy looks to develop data center in Mikkeli, Finland
330MW data center campus proposed in Cambridgeshire, UK
46MW data center planned south of Wrocław, Poland

Research