Substation zoning restrictions would impact the Plaza 500 data center
On Dec. 9, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on more restrictive zoning rules for electrical substations.
If the board approves the recommendations adopted by the Planning Commission, it could thwart Dominion’s development of a substation serving the data center planned for the Plaza 500 site on Edsall Road in Bren Mar Park.
Related story: Residents concerned about Dominion’s substation project
HOA leaders, residents, and environmental advocates urge the supervisors to adopt the recommendations approved by the Planning Commission in October, which could prevent construction of Dominion’s Edsall substation next to the Plaza 500 data center.
The Planning Commission approved a recommendation advocated by the Save Bren Mar coalition that would expand the residential setback from 100 feet to 200 feet.
The commissioners also agreed with the coalition’s request to require all new substations next to residences to go through a zoning special exception process, which would require a public hearing, a noise study, and other restrictions.
The Planning Commission also adopted a recommendation calling for new substations to be co-located with existing substations to minimize adverse impacts to residential areas. If approved by the board, that means the substation serving the Plaza 500 data center might have to be relocated to another site away from people’s homes.
The commissioners, however, did not adopt the coalition’s recommendation to require the new zoning ordinance to apply to substations that haven’t yet been approved. Instead, they recommended a six-month grace period.
“This puts in limbo whether these new standards will apply to the Edsall substation needed for the Plaza 500 data center,” says Tyler Ray, president of the Bren Pointe HOA.
The coalition urges the Board of Supervisors to adopt the Planning Commission’s recommendations and to require unapproved substations directly adjacent to residents to comply with the new rules.
Related story: Bren Mar Park residents urge the BoS to act against a by-right data center
“Dec. 9 will be a major day for the future of data center projects in Fairfax County and beyond,” Ray says. “The Board of Supervisors will decide whether to put the interest of residents and ratepayers over Dominion Energy and data center developers as it votes on new standards for electrical substations.”
“Residents are tired of localities tipping the scales to the side of the data center industry and its stakeholders,” he says.
“As the largest county in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Ray says, “the decision of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will shape data center policy across the state and country as other localities look to the data center capital of the world in setting their own standards.”
The 460,000-square-foot data center planned by Starwood Capital for the Plaza 500 site doesn’t need to go through the special exception process. That’s because it was already accepted for review when the Board of Supervisors adopted new, more restrictive rules for data centers in September 2024. The county is currently reviewing the site plan.
Whether the data center will go forward if a substation cannot be adjacent to the project is an open question.
At this point, the data center industry seems positively aghast, aghast, that Fairfax County might finally stop playing doormat to the power grid.
Plaza 500 wants a substation practically spooning someone’s living room wall? No problem, right? Just wedge it between the azaleas. Residents adore the lullaby of transformers at 2 a.m. (that soothing hum, punctuated by the occasional squirrel flambé, complete with the passing aroma of something that smells suspiciously like burnt popcorn).
But now the Planning Commission dares to ask for setbacks, noise studies, even (brace yourself) a public hearing. The horror! If this keeps up, we might stumble into a world where you can’t industrialize an entire ZIP code just because your servers get peckish after midnight.
Industry voices warn these rules could “kill” the data center. Please. If survival depends on building substations close enough to borrow sugar from the neighbors, maybe it’s time to rethink the business model—or at least show up with cookies.
For years, Northern Virginia has been the Costco of data centers: giant windowless boxes, sold in bulk, with the assumption nobody will complain because “look at the savings!” Meanwhile, the grid is out back, chain‑smoking and questioning its life choices.
So if December 9 ends with Fairfax County saying, “Hey, maybe we don’t want to live inside a giant motherboard,” I’ll applaud. Let the industry discover a radical new concept: planning. Or better yet, locations not pressed up against someone’s patio furniture.
Maybe I’ll attend the hearing and offer a few recipe tips, after all, Dominion’s line-fried squirrel pairs beautifully with a light rosemary glaze.
The constant din of 1-495/I-395 traffic drowns any noise from data centers. The data centers are more aesthetically pleasing than the endless miles of warehouses and associated blacktop.