Strasburg VA Defends By-Right Status for Project Tallmadge
Strasburg Town Manager Mellanie Shipe defended the town's decision to classify Takanock's $4 billion to $4.5 billion Project Tallmadge as a by-right use under the town's former zoning ordinance. Residents continue to question the project's accessory structures, environmental impacts, utility demands and lack of a public approval vote, while the town reviews revised site plans and applies newer data center regulations to future projects.
Strasburg Town Manager Mellanie Shipe told the town council that Project Tallmadge qualified for by-right approval because the former Unified Development Ordinance allowed electronic data-processing services in the property's commercial and industrial districts. She said the classification was an administrative determination made in September 2024 and did not authorize construction or resolve separate infrastructure, stormwater, utility and environmental requirements. Takanock's site plan remains under review, with revised generator information expected for another review round.
Residents Kaylee Tanner and Sara Santmier questioned whether the project's substations, generators, gas facilities and other accessory structures require special-use permits and whether the large campus has satisfied traffic, noise, environmental, water and utility requirements. The 87-acre project could include 400 megawatts of on-site natural-gas generation, average water demand of 6,673 gallons per day and peak demand of 164,194 gallons per day. Strasburg adopted more specific data center rules and binding industrial design standards in 2025, while Virginia separately moved to limit by-right approvals for data centers using more than 25 megawatts; those newer rules do not change the 2024 determination for Project Tallmadge.