Reston, Virginia, Data Centers Experience Little Controversy Despite Expansion
The article is a commentary piece arguing that Reston, Virginia's experience with six data centers, including an expanding CoreSite facility, demonstrates that community opposition to such developments is often overblown. The author, a long-time Reston resident, notes minimal controversy and highlights the economic benefits and quiet operation of these facilities. He advises other towns to be open to data centers, work with developers, and integrate them into town planning.
Paul Steidler, a senior fellow with the Lexington Institute and a long-time Reston, Virginia resident, writes a commentary piece arguing that Reston's experience with six data centers in its 16-square-mile community offers valuable lessons for other towns considering permitting such facilities. He asserts that the current opposition to data centers is often "widely overblown," citing his 27 years in Reston without a single complaint about the existing facilities, which he describes as quiet, visually integrated, and largely uncontroversial.
Steidler notes that three of Reston's data centers are owned by CoreSite, with one, VA3, currently undergoing a 30% expansion to 1.3 million square feet. While this expansion has generated "some community opposition," he emphasizes that it is "far from the sustained, dramatic opposition" seen in other data center proposals nationwide or other political issues within Reston itself. He observed that all six facilities operate quietly, blend into their business park surroundings, and often have repurposed buildings with few cars, indicating low on-site staffing.
Drawing lessons from Reston, Steidler advises towns to be open to data centers due to their substantial property tax contributions, which can fund public schools and reduce residents' taxes, and the good-paying construction and trade jobs they provide. He encourages communities to respect and collaborate with data center developers, integrate these facilities into overall town planning, and reject what he calls "fear and demagoguery" surrounding data center development. He urges town leaders to visit successful data center communities like Reston to see the reality firsthand.