Proposed $8.8B+ Pittsylvania data center campus hits roadblock

So many Pittsylvania County residents turned out to voice their — predominantly opposed — opinions regarding a proposed $8.8 billion-plus data center campus and natural gas power plant that a county planning commission meeting ran about five hours Tuesday, ending around 11:40 p.m.

As the meeting neared its end, Steven Gould, the attorney representing Balico, the Herndon development company behind the project, implored the commission’s members to hold off a month before making a decision on whether to recommend that the Pittsylvania Board of Supervisors approve or deny the developer’s rezoning request. “There is no harm in receiving more information,” Gould said. “There is no harm in additional consideration.”

Instead, Colette Henderson, vice chair of the planning commission, made a motion to recommend denying the project, a move supported unanimously by the commission members. “The reason is because I feel there has been a lack of transparency,” she said.

Balico, a development firm with seven employees, pulled an initial rezoning application for the data center campus and power plant on 2,233 acres in Pittsylvania’s Chalk Level area in November after facing vocal opposition from residents at public meetings as well as a statement by a county supervisor that the project didn’t have enough local political support to get the rezoning passed.

The initial application for the project would have included up to 84 data center buildings and a 3,500-megawatt natural gas power plant in a rural area. That development would have created 700 jobs, according to Balico founder and CEO Irfan Ali.

The scaled-back project reviewed Tuesday would be built on less than 750 acres in the same area and  would include 12 spec data center buildings, each two stories tall and 396,000 square feet.

As with the initial application, the project would include building a 3,500-megawatt natural gas power plant, which would be owned and operated by Balico. About 40% of the acreage would be open space.

Gould, president and CEO of PLDR Law, which has offices in Danville and Lynchburg, said the Chalk Level site is the best suited parcel in Pittsylvania for the project because it allows for tapping into  Mountain Valley Pipeline for gas. While the Southern Virginia Mega Site at Berry Hill has available gas, he said, “it is not nearly what is available at this site.”

The cost of building the data center campus would ultimately be $8.85 billion, according to Gould. The cost to create the mobile turbines, which would serve the site prior to permanent turbines being constructed, would be $360 million. Balico also would pay to build a new fire station that would serve the site and eventually be turned over to the county.

The proposed power station would create 150 jobs with an average salary of $90,000, while the data centers would create about 240 jobs with an average salary of $105,000, according to the Balico presentation.

Gould acknowledged Balico would ultimately “still like to pursue a project” of the size in the application submitted last year, but noted that would require the company to return to Pittsylvania County for additional rezoning.

Data centers require water for cooling servers. Ali said in November that he hoped to tap into a source of nonpotable water in Chatham, and that he’s talking with officials in Hurt about building a pipeline to carry water about 19 miles from Staunton River to the data center campus.

The pipeline, Ali said, would be able to deliver up to 18 million gallons of water a day. The data center campus would only require 2 million gallons a day, he noted, so the remaining water could be used by homes in that area that rely on individual wells.

Opponents of the project expressed concerns about noise, traffic and the project destroying the area’s rural character.

Chatham Mayor Alisa B. Davis, the first member of the public to speak about the project at Tuesday’s meeting, noted that in November the town council approved a resolution stating opposition to the project. She also said no one from Balico had spoken with Chatham’s staff or council about using its water.

Lisa Shorter, a veterinarian and founder of Chatham Animal Clinic,  asked the commission members to keep the county’s agricultural areas zoned agricultural. “We have already had enough land destroyed by solar and continue to do so,” she said.

Shorter went on to quote “Gone With the Wind,” stating “Land is the only thing in this world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.”

On Feb. 18, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors will consider the commission’s recommendation and deliver the final say on whether the project can be built in the county.