The Chesterfield EDA is seeking zoning approval for two data center projects that would be built in the western part of the county, as well as a conservation area project. (BizSense file)
Rezonings to allow a pair of data center projects in western Chesterfield are working their way through the county’s approval process.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to recommend approval of requests by the county’s Economic Development Authority to rezone more than 1,300 acres for two data center campuses, one on a site near Westchester Commons and the other on land that includes part of the western Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley.
For the Upper Magnolia Green site, the EDA filed an application to rezone nearly 980 acres that would facilitate a data center project on the planned technology park’s northern end. About 870 of those acres, known as Tract A, would be restricted to data centers and related accessory uses.
The nearly 100-acre Tract B would be restricted to the shortlist of industrial uses allowed under the 2022 zoning of western Upper Magnolia Green, which in addition to data centers includes offices, labs, pharmaceutical products manufacturing and R&D facilities, and a few other principal uses.
Tract A of the latest Upper Magnolia Green rezoning case would feature a data center project, while the Tract B area would be zoned for a wider range of industrial projects. (County documents)
The project would include 750-foot buffers between the site and nearby existing homes and a 200-foot buffer along Mount Hermon Road. It also includes the construction of a two-lane road that would connect Mount Hermon and Westerleigh Parkway, per a staff report.
The largely undeveloped project site consists of 4200 Moseley Road and other properties that are either owned by or under contract to the EDA. The site includes a portion of the Upper Magnolia Green property and adjacent land, and would expand the property where the technology park is planned.
Near Westchester Commons, the EDA wants to tee up a 350-acre site for another data center project under a separate rezoning proposal that was heard on Tuesday.
The project, referred to as Watkins Centre South, would limit development to data centers and related accessory uses such as substations.
The project site consists of multiple parcels, including 750 Watkins Centre Parkway. The EDA is under contract to acquire the multiparcel and mostly undeveloped assemblage.
The project’s proffered conditions include a traffic signal, roundabout or something similar, if deemed necessary, at the Route 288 interchange with Watkins Centre Parkway.
The EDA wants to rezone several hundred acres near Westchester Commons for a data center project called Watkins Centre South. (County documents)
Portions of the Upper Magnolia and Watkins Centre sites are already zoned General Industrial (I-2), which allows the proposed data center projects, but both sites also have areas that need to be rezoned to I-2 to allow the projects to proceed.
Maximum building heights would range from 100 to 150 feet, depending on their locations. The data center-specific sites would be bound by a proffer restricting noise levels to no more than 75 decibels between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. and 65 decibels between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to application materials.
Chesterfield officials have previously said the rezoning requests are being spurred by conversations between county staff and an unidentified prospective data center operator. The sites are in areas where the county has projected future light-industrial development and were selected for their proximity to existing and planned electrical infrastructure and public utilities.
The projects have restrictions on water usage for the data centers’ cooling needs, which Planning Commissioner Gib Sloan felt confident were designed well to protect the county’s resources.
“(That staff) have brought forth some of the most advanced and complex water proffers that we have seen, ever, in a case, and should cause people to feel pretty darn good that we’re not putting anything at risk on these projects,” he said.
Commissioner LeQuan Hylton said that while data center projects have their detractors, he felt the proposals endorsed this week stood to be funding sources for school and transportation needs, through the tax revenue they would generate.
“You can hear some negative things, but I think that there are some very positive things that could come to to county just like it has for other localities, they’ve received great benefits from having data centers,” Hylton said. “Kudos to our economic development team for attracting an end user that will hopefully bring revenue to the county.”
Main Street Homes President Vernon McClure voiced concerns at Tuesday’s meeting about the impacts of the Upper Magnolia Green data center proposal on the homebuilder’s Dogwood Creek residential project, which borders the data center site to the north. He said since it was unclear where the data center facilities would be located on the site, he had concerns about the visibility and other impacts of the project on the future homes.
“We don’t know what’s going on, and we don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” he said.
The scope of the data center facilities or where buildings would be located specifically within the project sites hasn’t been announced.
Kim Lacy of law firm Roth Jackson, who represented the EDA in its zoning requests, noted buffering would be further enhanced by building setbacks and other aspects of the project. She said the area is already densely wooded and the project would be required to do additional plantings if needed to screen the development.
Alongside the data center projects, the Commissioners on Tuesday also endorsed an EDA zoning request to create a new conservation area referred to as “Swift Creek Preserve” on land currently zoned for residential development on Upper Magnolia Green’s eastern side.
The request also includes the removal of residential uses from the overall 740-acre project site, which is owned by the EDA and where a trio of new county schools are under construction.
The EDA wants to establish a conservation area at the Upper Magnolia Green East site, and eliminate residential development on the property. (County documents)
The conservation area would be a minimum of 350 acres. The county would manage the conservation area, which would be utilized for outdoor recreation and educational programming.
The three zoning requests now head to the Board of Supervisors, which is slated to consider final approval at a future meeting.
The latest proposals for the Upper Magnolia Green site, filed by the EDA earlier this year, come after the Board of Supervisors zoned the 2,400-acre property in 2022. Supervisors zoned the 1,700-acre western side of the overall site for a technology park, and in a separate, concurrent request, also rezoned 700 acres on the east side for public facilities and hundreds of single-family homes that are now proposed to be eliminated.
The Upper Magnolia Green site is split by the proposed Powhite Parkway extension project. Chesterfield received $13 million in grant funding through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program in 2024 and $25 million via the same program in 2023 to finance infrastructure at the Upper Magnolia property, though not in the Tract A area of the latest rezoning project.
The Chesterfield EDA is seeking zoning approval for two data center projects that would be built in the western part of the county, as well as a conservation area project. (BizSense file)
Rezonings to allow a pair of data center projects in western Chesterfield are working their way through the county’s approval process.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to recommend approval of requests by the county’s Economic Development Authority to rezone more than 1,300 acres for two data center campuses, one on a site near Westchester Commons and the other on land that includes part of the western Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley.
For the Upper Magnolia Green site, the EDA filed an application to rezone nearly 980 acres that would facilitate a data center project on the planned technology park’s northern end. About 870 of those acres, known as Tract A, would be restricted to data centers and related accessory uses.
The nearly 100-acre Tract B would be restricted to the shortlist of industrial uses allowed under the 2022 zoning of western Upper Magnolia Green, which in addition to data centers includes offices, labs, pharmaceutical products manufacturing and R&D facilities, and a few other principal uses.
Tract A of the latest Upper Magnolia Green rezoning case would feature a data center project, while the Tract B area would be zoned for a wider range of industrial projects. (County documents)
The project would include 750-foot buffers between the site and nearby existing homes and a 200-foot buffer along Mount Hermon Road. It also includes the construction of a two-lane road that would connect Mount Hermon and Westerleigh Parkway, per a staff report.
The largely undeveloped project site consists of 4200 Moseley Road and other properties that are either owned by or under contract to the EDA. The site includes a portion of the Upper Magnolia Green property and adjacent land, and would expand the property where the technology park is planned.
Near Westchester Commons, the EDA wants to tee up a 350-acre site for another data center project under a separate rezoning proposal that was heard on Tuesday.
The project, referred to as Watkins Centre South, would limit development to data centers and related accessory uses such as substations.
The project site consists of multiple parcels, including 750 Watkins Centre Parkway. The EDA is under contract to acquire the multiparcel and mostly undeveloped assemblage.
The project’s proffered conditions include a traffic signal, roundabout or something similar, if deemed necessary, at the Route 288 interchange with Watkins Centre Parkway.
The EDA wants to rezone several hundred acres near Westchester Commons for a data center project called Watkins Centre South. (County documents)
Portions of the Upper Magnolia and Watkins Centre sites are already zoned General Industrial (I-2), which allows the proposed data center projects, but both sites also have areas that need to be rezoned to I-2 to allow the projects to proceed.
Maximum building heights would range from 100 to 150 feet, depending on their locations. The data center-specific sites would be bound by a proffer restricting noise levels to no more than 75 decibels between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. and 65 decibels between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to application materials.
Chesterfield officials have previously said the rezoning requests are being spurred by conversations between county staff and an unidentified prospective data center operator. The sites are in areas where the county has projected future light-industrial development and were selected for their proximity to existing and planned electrical infrastructure and public utilities.
The projects have restrictions on water usage for the data centers’ cooling needs, which Planning Commissioner Gib Sloan felt confident were designed well to protect the county’s resources.
“(That staff) have brought forth some of the most advanced and complex water proffers that we have seen, ever, in a case, and should cause people to feel pretty darn good that we’re not putting anything at risk on these projects,” he said.
Commissioner LeQuan Hylton said that while data center projects have their detractors, he felt the proposals endorsed this week stood to be funding sources for school and transportation needs, through the tax revenue they would generate.
“You can hear some negative things, but I think that there are some very positive things that could come to to county just like it has for other localities, they’ve received great benefits from having data centers,” Hylton said. “Kudos to our economic development team for attracting an end user that will hopefully bring revenue to the county.”
Main Street Homes President Vernon McClure voiced concerns at Tuesday’s meeting about the impacts of the Upper Magnolia Green data center proposal on the homebuilder’s Dogwood Creek residential project, which borders the data center site to the north. He said since it was unclear where the data center facilities would be located on the site, he had concerns about the visibility and other impacts of the project on the future homes.
“We don’t know what’s going on, and we don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” he said.
The scope of the data center facilities or where buildings would be located specifically within the project sites hasn’t been announced.
Kim Lacy of law firm Roth Jackson, who represented the EDA in its zoning requests, noted buffering would be further enhanced by building setbacks and other aspects of the project. She said the area is already densely wooded and the project would be required to do additional plantings if needed to screen the development.
Alongside the data center projects, the Commissioners on Tuesday also endorsed an EDA zoning request to create a new conservation area referred to as “Swift Creek Preserve” on land currently zoned for residential development on Upper Magnolia Green’s eastern side.
The request also includes the removal of residential uses from the overall 740-acre project site, which is owned by the EDA and where a trio of new county schools are under construction.
The EDA wants to establish a conservation area at the Upper Magnolia Green East site, and eliminate residential development on the property. (County documents)
The conservation area would be a minimum of 350 acres. The county would manage the conservation area, which would be utilized for outdoor recreation and educational programming.
The three zoning requests now head to the Board of Supervisors, which is slated to consider final approval at a future meeting.
The latest proposals for the Upper Magnolia Green site, filed by the EDA earlier this year, come after the Board of Supervisors zoned the 2,400-acre property in 2022. Supervisors zoned the 1,700-acre western side of the overall site for a technology park, and in a separate, concurrent request, also rezoned 700 acres on the east side for public facilities and hundreds of single-family homes that are now proposed to be eliminated.
The Upper Magnolia Green site is split by the proposed Powhite Parkway extension project. Chesterfield received $13 million in grant funding through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program in 2024 and $25 million via the same program in 2023 to finance infrastructure at the Upper Magnolia property, though not in the Tract A area of the latest rezoning project.
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What is the Return on Investment for Chesterfield County property tax payers?
The Powhite Extension is at least going to need 300 to $400 hundred million dollars in bonds. And that is on top of the 100 to 200 million in road improvements everything with in 5 to 10 miles is going to need to meet the demands of growth for this project.
The Upper Magnolia Green data center site is the place that contains the largest section of former Tidewater and Western Railroad be that is at leas 4 miles long. At the meeting I did mention it it to the planning commission about the railroad bed but it looks like nothing will be done to save the former railroad bed to turn it into a spur of the fall line trail. In that they didn’t officially give it a easement written down in the proffers. Unless the railroad bed it’s self is in a spot that the data centers themselves don’t… Read more »
Powhatan County has approved a Data Center off of Page Road – which will make 3 in a relatively small radius assuming each is built. It will be interesting to see if Dominion Power can handle the load requirements if they are all built – obviously, that’s a question which should be answered before permits are issued.
Powhatan County is really hoping it gets built in that the county officials have said it will bring in $20 million a year in tax revenue.