Fairfax County leaders plan to vote on regulations for data centers

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After being pushed back for two weeks, the vote to tighten regulations on data centers is once again up before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The focus of this latest debate focuses on "by right" construction. It comes out of Alexandria where residents near Plaza 500, off of Edsall Road, want to have input and further approval before projects can come so close to homes, and be built in urban areas.  In this particular case, the developer has already met the conditions for by right construction, though this is their second try.

The 400,000-square-foot project, planned to be approximately 70 feet high is going in about 250 feet away from homes, and not too far from the Van Dorn Metro station.  Proposed regulations would include a noise study and equity impact study. Anything out of the standards would require approval.  However, this doesn’t eliminate by right construction. In fact, in certain heavy industrial zones, it would still be fast-tracked.

Residents at the heart of this debate have been pushing their leaders to better regulate, if not stop, the construction. This is their second try. Neighbors won the first challenge, but the developer reduced the footprint to get by right. 

Since they helped to bring attention to the issue, the last meeting two weeks ago was packed.  Supervisors heard nearly five hours of testimony; mostly opposition, though some supporters see this as a way to defray property tax increases.

Now, the Fairfax County board is planning to take another vote Tuesday, and residents near Plaza 500 hope this latest project will be fall under the new ordinance, if passed.

"It would be a huge blow to this whole area and severely decrease our property values," a resident said.

"We do want to use by-right uses because that's important to steer these data centers in those districts that make sense. For the ones that fall in between, we want to have a say in those," Supervisor Jeffrey McKay told WUSA9.

Turn out once again is expected to be high, we'll keep you updated on the results of the vote.