Dear Supervisors,
YOU have the power to say "NO" to the Wellington Glen data center expansion.
It is time to pull back from this "unconstrained" data center proliferation. Only YOU have the ability to send a message that Virginians need a break to absorb what has already been approved. Prince William County has ALREADY approved more than double that of Loudoun's data center alley. The real impacts are only just now being felt, more 500kV transmission lines are coming, new 765kV transmission lines are coming, new gas plants are coming, and more and more communities are complaining.
Right now, by-right, the applicant could build to 70', a 235,000 sq ft data center building, with a .3 FAR.
They are requesting to go to to 90', with 1 million sq ft, and .73 FAR - for one data center building. This building, adjacent to residential, will be massive.
To put this in perspective, the NTT "Grove of Gainesville," across from Village Tech Park, some of the largest data centers on the East Coast, are 2.2M sq ft spread out over four buildings (600 MW total).
With such a significant size increase, is the County is getting back what makes this increase worth it, vs doing it by-right? We don't see that benefit. Most of what the applicant claims to be offering as benefits are already included in the original proffers:
Trails are already in original proffers
The road completion is also in the original proffered MZP
Design Elements are already bound by the design elements of the DCOZOD. The proffered version does not add much more.
Noise - will ultimately fall under the noise ordinance, and will be beholden to that.
Applicant could not confirm if 235,000 sq ft by-right would cause less noise than 1M sq ft with their "indoor generators." This is an important question/distinction.
A lot of the 'buffer' areas are in the original MZP as well, but there are major and valid concerns about transmission lines cutting through the buffers, further diminishing any noise screening or "buffer" benefit.<strong>VOTE "NO" ON MARCH 4 TO THE WELLINGTON GLEN DATA CENTER EXPANSION.</strong>
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