Augusta County’s new Comprehensive Plan, approved last October, calls for the immediate creation of a data center ordinance as a Year 1 action item, because of the alarming threat that in Augusta County “data centers are [currently] permitted by-right in General Industrial districts.”
Industrial zoned land accounts for roughly 6,000 acres in Augusta County (see map). Any of the areas in purple could see a data center built NOW with no public input and no appropriate guardrails.
As a reminder, “by-right” means that a data center could locate on any county industrial zoned land without any public input, special permits, reviews, or other guidelines beyond what the county code allows for any operation on industrial land.
In other words, it is entirely possible that neither our county residents nor our supervisors would find out about a data center project on a piece of industrial zoned land until after it is a foregone conclusion. That could happen tomorrow, and there would be nothing we or the Board of Supervisors could do to deny the application or add the restrictions necessary to safeguard the county’s resources and rural character.
However, this situation can be fixed! A year ago, county officials recognized our community’s vulnerability and the need for immediate action when it approved Comprehensive Plan language calling for a data center ordinance that will include: “Operational and design standards [that] address visual impacts, water usage, height limits, noise monitoring, and other factors to ensure data centers are safely and appropriately sited.”
Take Action Today:
If you live or own property in Augusta, contact your county supervisor immediately and ask them to move forward without delay on a public hearing for a data center ordinance that they gave support for a year ago. Be clear that the guardrails, protections, and public input that our community deserves—and that were articulated a year ago in our own Comprehensive Plan—need to be put into place in our Augusta County Code.
Call, write a letter, send an email, or speak at the next Board of Supervisors Meeting on October 14th. Let your supervisor know that the time to get a data center ordinance in place is NOW—not after development has begun.
Without an ordinance, none of the concerns being voiced by you, communities across the country, and by Augusta County’s own leadership can be addressed.