The Chesterfield EDA is seeking to rezone 970 acres (within the dotted lines) for a data center project on a portion of the Upper Magnolia Green site. The black line is the proposed Powhite Parkway extension. (County documents)
Hundreds of acres in the western part of Chesterfield would be dedicated to data center projects under a pair of zoning proposals put forth by the county’s Economic Development Authority.
The EDA this week filed rezoning requests that would tee up two data center campuses, one near Westchester Commons and the other on a portion of the Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley.
The EDA also submitted a zoning request that would create a conservation area on Upper Magnolia Green’s eastern side, which is currently zoned for residential development.
More than 1,300 acres are subject to the two data center rezoning requests, which have been spurred by conversations between county staff and an unidentified prospective data center operator.
“With the increasing reliance on digital services, data centers are a critical component of modern infrastructure. These rezoning efforts will enable us to secure a top-tier operator with a strong track record of supporting communities and practicing efficient operations globally,” Chesterfield Economic Development Director Garrett Hart said in a prepared statement.
Data center cases
The data center developments are proposed for areas where light-industrial development has been projected by the county, and the sites were selected because of their proximity to existing and planned electrical infrastructure and public utilities, according to a county news release.
The data center project near Moseley is proposed for a 970-acre assemblage that includes northern portions of the Upper Magnolia Green site rezoned in 2022 for a technology park, in addition to other land. Land for the project site in the latest rezoning request is either owned by the EDA or is under contract to be sold to it.
Among the proffered conditions for an 870-acre piece of the project site, dubbed Tract A, would be an agreement to limit the development’s principal use to data centers and related accessory uses, such as offices, research-and-development facilities, warehouses and substations.
The site’s nearly 100-acre Tract B, as a proffered condition, would be limited to data centers, offices, labs, pharmaceutical products manufacturing and R&D facilities, and a few other principal uses. The restriction is the same as the rules that govern the Upper Magnolia Green site zoned for economic development that borders Tract B on three sides and is not part of the latest rezoning proposal.
The project would include buffers and a 150-foot limit on building heights. Transportation proffers include a plan to build a two-lane road that would connect Mount Hermon Road and Westerleigh Parkway, according to application filings.
To the north and near Westchester Commons, the EDA is seeking to rezone 345 acres for a data center project dubbed Watkins Centre South.
A data center project is proposed for more than 340 acres near Westchester Commons. (County documents)
The EDA is under contract to acquire the multiparcel assemblage it wants to rezone. The site would be limited to data centers as a principal use along with related accessory uses, according to the case filings.
Proffered transportation improvements include a traffic signal, roundabout or something similar, if deemed necessary, at the Route 288 interchange with Watkins Center Parkway. Also proffered are buffers and a 150-foot building height limit.
The EDA is seeking to rezone the project sites to Industrial (I-2).
Portions of the Upper Magnolia and Watkins Centre sites are already zoned for data center development, but the newly filed requests are seeking to bring other parts of the project sites into alignment to allow the data center facilities to be built.
County officials declined to comment on the anticipated total square footage or number of buildings that would be established at the two data center facilities. It was unclear whether one or more firms would operate at the sites.
Conservation case
The Chesterfield EDA is seeking zoning approval to create a conservation area on the eastern portion of the Upper Magnolia Green site. The black line is the proposed extension of the Powhite Parkway, and light gray lines are other proposed roads. (County documents)
Alongside plans for data center development, the EDA also envisions leaving several hundred acres untouched in the Upper Magnolia site.
A separate zoning proposal would create a “Swift Creek Preserve” conservation area of at least 350 acres that would be managed by Chesterfield. It would eliminate the possibility of residential development on the site referred to as Upper Magnolia East.
The conservation areas, intended to provide outdoor recreational and educational opportunities, would be established around the school facilities being built between Westerleigh Parkway and Duval Road.
While initiated by the county’s EDA, the zoning requests will still go through the typical rezoning process. The Planning Commission is expected to consider the requests, and ultimately the Board of Supervisors will render a final decision on the requests at a future meeting. Both meetings would include public hearings.
Two community meetings about the projects are planned this month. A meeting on the Upper Magnolia Green projects will be held 6:30-8 p.m. Feb. 19 at Cosby High School, 14300 Fox Club Parkway. A meeting to discuss the Watkins Centre project is slated for 6:30-8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Midlothian High School, 401 Charter Colony Parkway.
The trio of zoning requests come after the Board of Supervisors voted several years ago to rezone the 2,400-acre Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley. At that time, supervisors rezoned a 1,700-acre portion of the site to permit a new technology park. They also approved a separate, concurrent request to rezone 700 acres on the eastern side of the property for public facilities and hundreds of single-family homes. The residential component would be eliminated under the latest rezoning request. Both rezoning requests were initiated by the county.
Chesterfield has received state grant funding in recent years to finance infrastructure at the Upper Magnolia property. The county received $13 million through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program in 2024 and got $25 million through the same program the previous year.
The Chesterfield EDA is seeking to rezone 970 acres (within the dotted lines) for a data center project on a portion of the Upper Magnolia Green site. The black line is the proposed Powhite Parkway extension. (County documents)
Hundreds of acres in the western part of Chesterfield would be dedicated to data center projects under a pair of zoning proposals put forth by the county’s Economic Development Authority.
The EDA this week filed rezoning requests that would tee up two data center campuses, one near Westchester Commons and the other on a portion of the Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley.
The EDA also submitted a zoning request that would create a conservation area on Upper Magnolia Green’s eastern side, which is currently zoned for residential development.
More than 1,300 acres are subject to the two data center rezoning requests, which have been spurred by conversations between county staff and an unidentified prospective data center operator.
“With the increasing reliance on digital services, data centers are a critical component of modern infrastructure. These rezoning efforts will enable us to secure a top-tier operator with a strong track record of supporting communities and practicing efficient operations globally,” Chesterfield Economic Development Director Garrett Hart said in a prepared statement.
Data center cases
The data center developments are proposed for areas where light-industrial development has been projected by the county, and the sites were selected because of their proximity to existing and planned electrical infrastructure and public utilities, according to a county news release.
The data center project near Moseley is proposed for a 970-acre assemblage that includes northern portions of the Upper Magnolia Green site rezoned in 2022 for a technology park, in addition to other land. Land for the project site in the latest rezoning request is either owned by the EDA or is under contract to be sold to it.
Among the proffered conditions for an 870-acre piece of the project site, dubbed Tract A, would be an agreement to limit the development’s principal use to data centers and related accessory uses, such as offices, research-and-development facilities, warehouses and substations.
The site’s nearly 100-acre Tract B, as a proffered condition, would be limited to data centers, offices, labs, pharmaceutical products manufacturing and R&D facilities, and a few other principal uses. The restriction is the same as the rules that govern the Upper Magnolia Green site zoned for economic development that borders Tract B on three sides and is not part of the latest rezoning proposal.
The project would include buffers and a 150-foot limit on building heights. Transportation proffers include a plan to build a two-lane road that would connect Mount Hermon Road and Westerleigh Parkway, according to application filings.
To the north and near Westchester Commons, the EDA is seeking to rezone 345 acres for a data center project dubbed Watkins Centre South.
A data center project is proposed for more than 340 acres near Westchester Commons. (County documents)
The EDA is under contract to acquire the multiparcel assemblage it wants to rezone. The site would be limited to data centers as a principal use along with related accessory uses, according to the case filings.
Proffered transportation improvements include a traffic signal, roundabout or something similar, if deemed necessary, at the Route 288 interchange with Watkins Center Parkway. Also proffered are buffers and a 150-foot building height limit.
The EDA is seeking to rezone the project sites to Industrial (I-2).
Portions of the Upper Magnolia and Watkins Centre sites are already zoned for data center development, but the newly filed requests are seeking to bring other parts of the project sites into alignment to allow the data center facilities to be built.
County officials declined to comment on the anticipated total square footage or number of buildings that would be established at the two data center facilities. It was unclear whether one or more firms would operate at the sites.
Conservation case
The Chesterfield EDA is seeking zoning approval to create a conservation area on the eastern portion of the Upper Magnolia Green site. The black line is the proposed extension of the Powhite Parkway, and light gray lines are other proposed roads. (County documents)
Alongside plans for data center development, the EDA also envisions leaving several hundred acres untouched in the Upper Magnolia site.
A separate zoning proposal would create a “Swift Creek Preserve” conservation area of at least 350 acres that would be managed by Chesterfield. It would eliminate the possibility of residential development on the site referred to as Upper Magnolia East.
The conservation areas, intended to provide outdoor recreational and educational opportunities, would be established around the school facilities being built between Westerleigh Parkway and Duval Road.
While initiated by the county’s EDA, the zoning requests will still go through the typical rezoning process. The Planning Commission is expected to consider the requests, and ultimately the Board of Supervisors will render a final decision on the requests at a future meeting. Both meetings would include public hearings.
Two community meetings about the projects are planned this month. A meeting on the Upper Magnolia Green projects will be held 6:30-8 p.m. Feb. 19 at Cosby High School, 14300 Fox Club Parkway. A meeting to discuss the Watkins Centre project is slated for 6:30-8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Midlothian High School, 401 Charter Colony Parkway.
The trio of zoning requests come after the Board of Supervisors voted several years ago to rezone the 2,400-acre Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley. At that time, supervisors rezoned a 1,700-acre portion of the site to permit a new technology park. They also approved a separate, concurrent request to rezone 700 acres on the eastern side of the property for public facilities and hundreds of single-family homes. The residential component would be eliminated under the latest rezoning request. Both rezoning requests were initiated by the county.
Chesterfield has received state grant funding in recent years to finance infrastructure at the Upper Magnolia property. The county received $13 million through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program in 2024 and got $25 million through the same program the previous year.
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What is driving this speculation? DeepSeak reveals the possibility of doing much more with much less. So much so, that US lawmakers are looking to ban it. Wouldn’t want to pump the brakes on the mindless “AI” gold-rush. Since everyone wants a piece of the grift, we will tear down forests, consign our waters, and standby as these glorified server warehouses siphon off as much electricity as possible off of a grid ill-equpped to manage the demands (look into Loudon county appliance damage). And this only touches the surface of the effects because these “data centers” will take your jobs,… Read more »
Chasing the trend. While not a one to one comparison it reminds me of the evolution of the intersection corner. From a gas station on every corner in the 80s, to pharmacies in the 90s, car washes in the 2000s and now the data center. In 10 or 20 years, what are we going to do with these large data center warehouses when what they’re being used for now can be done in something the size of a closet?
Would be nice to use some of them as new manufacturing facilities once we bring more production back to the states. Most data harvesting needs to stop anyways. Especially our personal data needs to be more heavily protected.
Couldn’t agree more, George. The County is using our tax dollars to become a developer and it will self-deal this into fruition against our wishes. Sometime in the future we’re all going to regret wasting prime real estate and power on this nonsense. And the FAR is terrible. These things can be built much more vertically but they will commit hundreds of acres to low-rise buildings.
Alot of counties right now are pretty bad at land usage. Need to tear up all the solar farms and give them back to our farmers too!
I understand the attractiveness of Virginia to host these data centers, but it’s unfair to us citizens and ratepayers to foot increasingly inflated electric bills and diminishment of natural resources (land, water) for the benefit of the entire country. The JLARC report is alarming!
I remember seeing on my favorite youtube channels that Deep Seek is not as great as they say it is in that it was really made by a company that was worth around 9 to 10 billion dollars vs 6 million. And the Chinese Government did help out in the building of it.
Just the mention of the CCP should make it a big NO.
“…These rezoning efforts will enable us to secure a top-tier operator with a strong track record of supporting communities and practicing efficient operations globally…” If this statement is true, then why are the data center operators concealing themselves?
To make something like this more palatable, examples of data center operators supporting communities and practicing efficient operations should be provided.
These data centers will be a Tidewater and Western Narrow Gauge Rail bed nightmare in that you can still see the former 40 foot easements left over from the Tidewater and Western Railroad bed on the mega site that run though this land. Chesterfield County needs to preserve a 40 foot wide easement for the former railroad and proffer the developer to link it to the Fall Line Trail.
I’m all for adding a crap ton of more trails for long range bike travel.
Dominion Power is building a new 230,000 volt transmission out from their main line to this area.
Public hearings don’t mean Jack. This is all pre-ordained by the state’s financial incentives and the Chesterfield EDA’s involvement. Does anyone expect the Planning Commission to thwart projects put forth under those 2 auspices? And sure as heck the BOS will only nod in agreement. So the hearings serve only to inform the public that they can either get pissed off and shut up, or just shrug their shoulders and shut up.
Pure and simply warehouses are not a good match for data centers. Truck traffic is a no-no. In my opinion, based on experience, the EDA should remove the warehouse use from its rezoning proposal.
To the nay sayers data centers are Hugh taxpayers. Henrico county can attest to that. If the use changes in 20 years they can convert them to other uses. The interiors of data centers are similar to a storage unit, without the solid walls. Each user gets an assigned space that they rent, unless a single user uses the entire building. It’s really easy to reconfigure the interior of the building if needed.
The average citizen does not realize the massive scope you are referring to in the added tax base. The Tract development in Hanover is supposed to add $90M a year in tax revenue when it’s fully developed. That’s a staggering number for a county that has two High Schools that were built over 60 years ago. Yes they are energy hogs and large water uses, but they add almost no traffic and create no crime. I am not saying they are great and should all be approved, just pointing out why the counties are falling all over themselves trying to… Read more »
Data centers offer few jobs (20-50 depending on the size) as they are run by small crews. I doubt the increase in tax revenue will impact the growing hunger for cash from the citizenry. The expected incoming money will not likely be used to offset property taxes. As western Chesterfield continues to bloat with high density housing and poor planning at least these data centers will not contribute to overcrowding schools and increased traffic in the long term. I’m glad someone mentioned Laudon County data centers because the nose in the tent metaphor does apply. There’s no such thing as… Read more »
At least until they decide they don’t like the amount being charged & sue the county to have them reduced. https://www.fauquier.com/news/prince-william-county-spending-nearly-500k-to-fight-data-center-lawsuits/article_1d8a39e2-3d41-53ad-abec-7fb5a72e4ec3.html