Data Center Campus Plan Hit with Community Power Concerns | News | loudounnow.com
Just a few weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors’ review of the Belmont Innovation Campus likely would have centered on the project’s extensive package of unprecedented environmental protections along Goose Creek and its special data center design elements.
However, following the community alarm over plans to build new power transmission lines through western Loudoun, the project is squarely enveloped in a broader debate over how county leaders should control data center growth in the face of power shortages.
During a Jan. 10 public hearing, supervisors said they are uncertain how to reconcile the concerns.
The project is led by Ron Meyer, a former county supervisor who worked extensively with environmental groups and nearby homeowners associations to design the project. Among the results of that effort are plans for a 500-foot buffer covering more than 30 acres along Goose Creek, construction of links in the planned regional trail system, a picnic pavilion, and a canoe launch. All of that is proposed just upstream from another data center construction site where the land has been stripped of vegetation and the creek protections are less robust.
“Data centers haven’t had a good reputation and what we’ve done is fix from the inside and say there are commitments we can make and there are things we can do to become better community partners,” Meyer said.
The application also proposes to erase plans for an extension of Gloucester Parkway that would cross the creek and link to Leesburg’s Kincaid Forest neighborhood. Eliminating the road is supported by environmentalists and area residents, but may require a months-long study and a formal change to the county’s Transportation Plan.
But the project’s impact on the environment and the transportation network were overshadowed by the concerns about the amount of power that would be required to operate the campus.
County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) said she was concerned about the power demand.
“Is there just no stopping at this point? I don’t know how to deal with this anymore,” she said.
“You’re not the only one,” Planning Director Daniel Galindo responded.
He said the staff looks at data centers on a project-by-project basis with a focus on the availability of electric substations nearby. He said the department does not have on-staff expertise to assess the broader power challenges.
Randall said, by itself, the project was a good one. “I think you are doing as much as you can do with this application,” she said.
But she questioned granting the special exception application to add 1.9 million square feet of data center space in addition to the 2.9 million square feet permitted by-right.
“What are we going to do about power? What are we going to do about a powerline coming through Waterford?” she said. “We don’t have power anymore. We don’t. I don’t know what we can do about this.”
Speakers at the hearing raised similar concerns, urging supervisors to better assess the power limitations, recognize that the cost of transmission lines will be borne overwhelmingly by area residents, and work to dictate where power lines may go.
Mavis Taintor said the planned western Loudoun transmission line is proposed to cut through her centuries-old farm and she was frustrated at being told nothing could be done at the local level to change it.
“If you don’t start saying no to these data centers, what is going to happen to the rest of us?” she said.
“You’re at the Rubicon,” said John Lovegrove, of the Loudoun’s Future political action committee. “This is by far one of the largest data centers ever proposed for Loudoun County.”
While calculating the project will increase Loudoun’s total data center space from 25 million square feet to 30 million square feet, and would require 500MW of power, Lovegrove noted that the staff report indicated the application would have no impact on public utilities.
He suggested the county establish a special commission to develop a comprehensive understanding of the power issues.
John Benedict urged denial of the project, which he said would consume more power than is needed for 150,000 homes.
“At some point you need to draw the line and get a handle on data center growth throughout the county,” he said.
Hamilton-area Richard Rasmus also supported the creation of a study commission. “We need to understand how deep of a hole we are digging,” he said.
“But there are very few opportunities this board has to have an effect—even an incremental effect—on dampening the voracious consumption of power that is coming from these hyperscaled facilities,” he said.
Supervisor Michael R. Turner (D-Ashburn) won board support for sending the project to a vote in March, with only Randall opposing his motion.
Turner said he struggled with the decision to approve a larger data center to achieve environmental goals that would be good for the community.
Although Turner said the benefits the Belmont Innovation Campus project likely would outweigh the costs, that might not be a high enough standard.
“I want the data center industry to beware: Things are going to change. Things are going to change in this county because we don’t have the power anymore,” he said.
Supervisor Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles) asked the County Attorney’s Office to prepare a full legal briefing on the authority local supervisors may have to regulate development within the power constraints.