Chesapeake considers stricter data center regulations

Data centers are sprouting up across Virginia, and Chesapeake‘s government is exploring ways to keep the facilities in check.

Last summer, after Chesapeake City Council rejected a rezoning request that would have allowed a 350,000-square-foot data center near the Etheridge Lakes residential community, city officials decided it was time to establish regulations governing data center development. In January, council members asked staff and the Chesapeake Planning Commission to draft zoning ordinance amendments for council consideration so that data center development would be considered on a case-by-case basis, as appropriate for specific locations.

Currently, data centers do not require council’s approval. Chesapeake City Council has the power to approve or deny rezoning requests, while data centers
are allowed by-right in areas zoned for industrial, business, office or institutional development.

The city says there are more than 27,000 residential-zoned parcels in Chesapeake within 500 feet of property that could be developed for future data center use.

“We have many examples from Northern Virginia localities where data centers have gone into places and have had some negative impact on quality of life, in particular for residents nearby,” says Chesapeake Planning Director Jimmy McNamara.

In the case of Etheridge Lakes, residents expressed concerns about potential environmental impacts and strains on the city’s infrastructure from the proposed data center.

Since January, Chesapeake planning officials have been doing research, speaking with officials in several Northern Virginia communities, including Prince William and Loudoun counties, to learn how those areas govern data center development, McNamara says.

Known as the data center capital of the world, Loudoun is home to the globe’s largest concentration of data centers in its Data Center Alley area.

Council member Daniel Whitaker says it is the council’s job to consider the merits of all land-use requests and to make decisions that will mitigate impact to the community. Having guidelines to make data centers a conditional use allows the city to be “more proactive than reactive,” he says.

Still, a timeline for presenting council with a new zoning ordinance is not yet set, McNamara says. “We’re letting the process go as it does. We want to make sure that we’re vetting things thoroughly.”

So far, the city hasn’t received any other requests from data center developers, but McNamara expects more to come.

“It’s setting the groundwork,” he says.