Community speaks out against Plaza 500 data center

Days before the Board of Supervisors’ hearing on data centers, Bren Mar Park residents and environmental activists staged a rally and press conference urging stricter rules to protect neighborhoods.

The July 10 event was held on Edsall Road next to Plaza 500, where Starwood Capital and Dominion Energy are proposing a massive by-right data center and a huge electrical substation to power it.

That project would be a stone’s throw from the Bren Mar Pointe and the Ridges at Edsall townhomes.

The board hearing is July 16. Sign up to speak here. The data center industry is lobbying extensively for lax regulations.

When the Planning Commission recommended new zoning guidelines for data centers in June, the commissioners approved a few concessions to address residents’ concerns, but didn’t go far enough.

Related story: Planning Commission recommends zoning changes for data centers

The rally organizers say “unchecked data center expansion is posing countless threats to Virginia’s water access, air quality, energy affordability, climate progress, and livable communities.”

They urged the Board of Supervisors to:

• Require data centers to be at least 1,000 feet from residences.  
• Require all data center proposals to go through a zoning special exception process, which means there must be a public hearing.
• Clearly state that the new rules would apply to data center applications that have been submitted but not yet approved.
• Prohibit any data center to be within one mile of a Metro station.
• Address issues not included in the proposed zoning ordinance amendment, such as noise, energy demand, cooling water discharge, and the siting of electrical substations.

The event was hosted by the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, an organization that works “to protect Virginians from the harms of climate change and pollution and to protect our natural resources,” said Ann Bennett, the group’s data center issues chair. “We believe this data center project [at Plaza 500] undermines all of those goals, and it frankly puts industry before people.”

Related story: Bren Mar Park residents urge the BoS to act against a by-right data center

When the Board of Supervisors announced that it wanted to encourage data centers to come to Fairfax County to provide tax revenue, Bennett said, “they made it clear that they wanted any data center to meet the highest environmental standards, even the highest standards in the nation! That vision seems to have gotten lost in the process of preparing recommendations that go to the board next week.”

“We understand that the county is seeking revenue, but requiring these companies to meet environmental standards is not inconsistent with that,” she said.

“We have a commitment in Virginia to the Clean Energy Act and the Clean Air Act, but whether we accomplish those goals is going to depend on decisions like this,” said Del. Vivian Watts.

“We’re now projecting a 5 percent annual increase in energy use statewide because of the increased energy required by data centers and AI,” Watts said. “What that will do to our clean energy goals is almost gut them.”

Related story: Residents concerned about Dominion’s substation project

Whitney Redding of the Friends of Holmes Run noted that nearly 80 percent of the Plaza 500 property has been designated a Resource Protection Area. A data center on that site would threaten the water quality of Backlick Run and Turkeycock Run and the wildlife that live there.

Julie Strandlie, a former member of the Planning Commission representing Mason District urged the Board of Supervisors to oppose “any zoning ordinance change that does not require a special exception and full public engagement for any data center application.”

Strandlie noted the “Fairfax County Park Authority just shut down a pickleball court because it was too loud,” and now the county is considering a much louder data center next to people’s homes.