Planning Commission defers hearing on substation
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has postponed the hearing on the substation for the Edsall Data Center to Dec. 2. The hearing had originally been scheduled for Sept. 24.
Tyler Ray, founder of the Save Bren Mar Coalition, called Dominion’s request for a deferral “a move that reeks of desperation.”
Staff at Mason Supervisor Andres Jimenez’ office told Ray that Dominion sought the delay to give the company time to submit “additional materials.”
“This is transparently a stall tactic meant to quiet public outcry,” Ray said. They’ve had plenty of time, as the application to the Planning Commission for a 2232 review was filed more than a year ago, on July 30, 2025.
Related story: Community members speak out against a substation at Plaza 500
The proposed substation would serve the data center to be developed by Starwood Capital Group on the Plaza 500 site on Edsall Road.
“Dominion is clearly on the defensive, scrambling to put a band-aid on a disastrous application that has already been soundly rejected by the community and its elected leaders,” Ray said. “They are also engaging in tactics to scrub the project’s data center purpose by removing any reference to the data center on the project’s website.”
The data center is a by-right project, so it doesn’t need to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. County planning staff already approved a site plan for the data center. Starwood submitted a building permit application in July. The State Corporation Commission last year approved a transmission line to connect a future substation next to the data center to the Van Dorn substation.
The only avenue left by opponents of the data center is to urge the Planning Commission to deny Dominion’s 2232 application for the substation. A 2232 process is used for public facilities; it doesn’t require action by the Board of Supervisors.
Opponents cite the location of the proposed substation, a mere 67 feet from homes in the Bren Pointe community, the noise and air pollution it would generate, and the degradation of the Resource Protection Area on the site.
Related story: Jimenez urges Planning Commission to reject substation
Dominion recently sent mailers to Bren Mar Park residents who live near the project about pre-construction work on the transmission line to serve the as-yet unapproved substation. The mailers warn residents about “crews or contractors accessing the right-of-way corridor to complete soil borings” for the “Edsall 230 kV Electric Transmission Improvement Project.”
“It’s hard to interpret this as anything but a poor attempt at intimidation – this project is happening so we all should just give up,” Tyler said. “We Won’t!”
“This attempt to buy time will ultimately backfire,” he said. “Rather than fading away, our movement will use this window to intensify our research, strengthen our grassroots organizing, and ensure that by December, the opposition is louder and more coordinated than ever. Dominion can try to hide from the public, but they cannot hide from the facts.”
On Aug. 27, the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations passed a resolution opposing the project.
Jimenez, Rep. Don Beyer, Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins, the Alexandria City Council, House of Delegates Majority Leader Charnielle Herring, Del. Vivian Watts, and state Sen. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker have also urged the Planning Commission to deny the substation.