Chesterfield EDA secures zoning approval for two data center projects

The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors has approved two rezoning cases that set the stage for data center projects in the western part of the county. (BizSense file)

More than 1,300 acres in western Chesterfield are now teed up for development as data center campuses.

The county Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved rezoning requests filed by the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority to allow the construction of data center projects near Westchester Commons and on land that includes part of the western Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley.

For the Upper Magnolia Green West site, the board’s vote rezoned nearly 980 acres on the property’s northern end. Of that, about 870 acres known as Tract A would be restricted to data centers and related accessory uses.

Development of the roughly 100 acres of Tract B would be limited to 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.

The largely undeveloped project site consists of 4200 Moseley Road and other properties 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.

Development in Tract A would be limited to data centers and related facilities. The Tract B area could be developed along the same lines as the western Upper Magnolia Green property that was zoned in 2022. (County documents)

Since the case review by the Planning Commission last month, the project’s proffered conditions were tweaked to address concerns about the architectural design of data center facilities and lighting in Tract A. Data center facilities within 250 feet of property zoned or developed as residential are required to have the same or similar design on the side of the building that faces the residential property as the building’s front and entrance. Also added was a specified maximum light level at the property line and full cut-off lighting fixtures, according to a staff report.

Despite those changes, representatives of Main Street Homes, whose Dogwood Creek residential project is on the northern edge of the Upper Magnolia Green data center site, shared continued concerns about the project Wednesday evening after initially voicing unease at the Planning Commission meeting in April.

Main Street Homes President Vernon McClure worried about the impact the visibility and noise of the facilities would have on future homes in the subdivision. He said that while he appreciated being able to meet with county officials about the data center project, he ultimately felt not enough had been done to address the homebuilder’s concerns.

Kim Lacy of law firm Roth Jackson, who represented the EDA in its zoning requests, said the Upper Magnolia Green project’s buffers, requirement to preserve existing foliage, setbacks and other measures would minimize the project’s effects on nearby residences.

The project’s proffers include a minimum 200-foot buffer around Tract A. There would be a 750-foot setback between the project and existing homes on the western side of the project along Moseley Road.

Also included in the project would be transportation infrastructure, such as the construction of a two-lane road connecting Mount Hermon Road and Westerleigh Parkway.

The Watkins Centre South property, which is near Westchester Commons, would be home to a data center project.

Near Westchester Commons, the EDA secured zoning approval for a data center project called Watkins Centre South. It would rise on a 350-acre, mostly undeveloped site consisting of 750 Watkins Centre Parkway and other parcels, which the EDA is under contract to acquire. The development of the site would be restricted to data centers and related accessory uses, such as substations.

Lacy agreed during the meeting to maximum building heights of 110 feet for both the Upper Magnolia and Watkins Centre cases, which are proffered to be no larger than 100 to 150 feet, depending on their locations at the sites.

John Easter of ChamberRVA spoke in favor of the zoning cases, saying the data centers would be tax revenue generators and job creators and would drive economic development both in the county and the wider region.

The Watkins Centre site and Tract A of the Upper Magnolia site 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.

The Watkins Centre project’s proffered conditions also include a traffic signal, roundabout or something similar, if deemed necessary, at the Route 288 interchange with Watkins Centre Parkway.

Portions of the Upper Magnolia and Watkins Centre sites were already zoned General Industrial (I-2), which allows the proposed data center projects, but both sites also have areas that needed to be rezoned to I-2 to allow the projects to proceed.

The exact size and number of data center buildings planned for the two sites haven’t been publicly announced. The county also has not specified exactly where on the two tracts the data center buildings would be situated.

Chesterfield officials have said the rezonings were motivated 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 Supervisor Mark Miller said were substantial.

“We’re never, ever going to put at risk our water as a result of a data center,” Miller said during the meeting. “We have one of the most extensive water proffers in place to ensure that we are walking into this with our eyes wide open.”

Dominion’s preferred route for the proposed transmission line project is shown in orange, with alternative routes in blue and pink. Existing transmission lines are shown in purple. The Upper Magnolia data center site is shown in gray. (Courtesy Dominion Energy)

As the EDA secures the land-use approval needed for the projects, Dominion Energy is making moves of its own to handle anticipated demand for electricity in western Chesterfield.

Last month, the utility company filed an application seeking regulatory approval to build a pair of 230-kilovolt electric transmission lines that would stretch about 7 miles from the utility’s existing Midlothian Substation to a Duval Substation it plans to build.

Dominion said in its filing to the State Corporation Commission that the project is necessary to keep up with population growth and commercial development in western Chesterfield. The utility specifically mentioned the power needs of the data center project planned in the western part of Upper Magnolia as a consideration.

The transmission lines project is expected to cost $121 million. Dominion wants to start the project in February 2027 and complete it by early June 2028. A Dominion spokesman said the company hopes to receive regulatory approval from the SCC by February 2026.

The board approved a zoning request to create a conservation area at the Upper Magnolia Green East property, portions of which are home to upcoming new county schools. (County documents)

Supervisors also voted on Wednesday to approve a zoning request to establish a conservation area called Swift Creek Preserve on land currently zoned for residential development on Upper Magnolia Green’s eastern side.

The approval removed residential uses from a 740-acre site owned by the EDA, which had been teed up for potentially hundreds of homes. The planned conservation area would be a minimum of 350 acres and would be established around the sites of new schools set to open in the western part of Chesterfield. The county plans to manage the conservation area.

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