Loudoun Supervisors Try To End By-Right Approval For Last Exempted Data Centers
Two Loudoun County supervisors are planning to introduce legislation to end the county's 2025 Data Center Grandfathering Resolution. This action aims to require over 20 previously exempted data center applications to undergo public hearings and a full Board of Supervisors vote. Residents have expressed concerns about unconstrained data center growth and its impact on the community.
Loudoun County Supervisors Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian) and Laura TeKrony (D-Little River) are set to introduce legislation on September 1 to repeal the county's 2025 Data Center Grandfathering Resolution. This move would compel over 20 administrative data center applications, previously exempted from updated requirements, to proceed through public hearings and require a vote from the full Board of Supervisors.
The original resolution, passed in March 2025, reclassified data centers in certain areas from "by-right" approval (staff-level review) to a "special exception" use, mandating public hearings and board votes. However, a 5-4 vote allowed applications received before February 2025 to bypass this new process. Briskman and TeKrony, who both voted against the original grandfathering, argue that residents have expressed significant concerns over the negative impacts of unchecked data center expansion, including strain on electrical infrastructure, increased utility costs, noise, air quality issues, and competition for housing and economic development space.
Loudoun County has seen its data center footprint double in the last five years, now hosting over 250 data centers and approximately 53 million square feet of development. While data centers generate over $1 billion in annual local tax revenue, the supervisors emphasize the need for greater public scrutiny on these projects. Approximately 27 applications, covering about 10 million square feet of data center space, are currently identified as qualifying for grandfathered by-right development. Separately, residents are also actively opposing a proposed 6.5-mile high-voltage transmission line intended to power the region's "data center alley."