Amazon cancels data center in Louisa County

Amazon Web Services has withdrawn its application to build a third data center in Louisa County, following backlash from county residents against the project.

Attorney Charles W. Payne, representing Amazon, sent a letter to the county’s senior planner, Tom Egeland, informing the county that the tech giant is withdrawing its applications for a conditional use permit and other zoning actions that would allow Amazon to build a 7.2 million-square-foot data center campus on 1,370 acres in the county.

The site would have been located in the Mineral area, south of Davis Highway (Route 22) and north of Jefferson Highway (Route 33), surrounding Northeast Creek. Wooded land, vacant land and scattered residential areas surround the site.

Amazon decided to withdraw its proposal due to feedback received at a June 11 county community meeting, Payne said. At that meeting, roughly 100 residents gathered to raise concerns about the proposed campus, fearing that the center would bring noise, traffic, strain the electrical grid and lower property values.

County resident Jennifer Davis said she lives on a farm near the site and enjoys gazing at the stars and appreciating the peace and quiet. She said she wouldn’t be able to do that with the data center.

“I’m telling you, I don’t want you here,” she told Amazon representatives at the June meeting. “I haven’t heard anybody in this room … that wants you here. Does anybody here want them here? I haven’t heard of it. So please go back and take it somewhere else, because you’re not welcome in Louisa.”

Given the feedback, Payne said Amazon believed it was best to “reevaluate the proposed project” and withdraw the zoning applications.

“We have heard the community and appreciate the desire for more robust input in any future projects that may be brought forward in the county, and we are confident that this is a goal that can be accomplished,” Payne wrote.

At the June 11 meeting, Amazon representatives said the now-canceled project could have generated $115 million annually for the county.

Had the project gotten county approval, it would have been the third AWS data center in the county. Two AWS data center campuses are already under construction, with one being built at the Lake Anna Technology Campus and the other at North Creek Technology Campus, both of which are in the county’s Technology Overlay District.

County spokesperson Cindy King noted that when the projects were initiated, the facilities were permitted by right. However, she said the board of supervisors has since changed the district so that new data center applications require a conditional use permit, which in turn requires public input. For that reason, Amazon’s proposed third data center project in the county faced more scrutiny.

Amazon has announced plans to invest a total of $35 billion in Virginia by 2040, with $11 billion of that total allocated to the two data centers in Louisa County that are currently under construction. In Payne’s letter, he thanked the county for its ongoing support for the Lake Anna and Northeast Creek Technology Campuses.

“Your recognition that these planned investments will expand the tax base to support schools, first responders, parks and infrastructure reflects a shared commitment to strengthening core public services while protecting the natural beauty and community values that define Louisa County,” he wrote.