HHHunt Faces Strong Opposition to Data Center Plan

If you’ve driven on Ashland Road toward Hunting Hawk Golf Course lately, you may have seen the bright yellow “No Data Center” signs dotting the landscape. They’re there because Henrico County based developer HHHunt has proposed a hyperscale data center campus for the 410 acres adjacent to Wyndham and The Dominion Club, the neighborhood and golf club that HHHunt envisioned/developed as their flagship community.

The Applicant Meeting

On Monday, November 17, HHHunt hosted hundreds of residents of Hanover, Henrico, and Goochland counties at their Applicant Meeting, the first step in the process required by Hanover County to consider changes to the comprehensive plan and rezoning requests. This was the developer’s opportunity to show the community their plans and answer questions.

Matt Roberts of Hirschler law firm gave a short presentation about the basics of their proposal and addressed water usage, noise, light pollution, and traffic issues. For the first time, residents saw drawings that reflected the actual buildings planned and “viewsheds” that showed where buildings would be visible from Hanover roadways and from within Wyndham.

One change worth noting since the original application was filed:

• original: 100% well water for evaporative cooling and on-site waste water treatment facility
• update: well water and septic drainfield for “domestic” (bath/kitchen/janitorial) only and imported treated water/chemicals for a cooling system the engineer described as “chilling and dry cooling,” which will be a closed loop and recycle the same water.*

*Note: I was unable to ask a follow up question about the specifics of this system, but some internet research revealed that while these types of cooling systems do use significantly less water, they are also noisier and use more electricity than the evaporative systems more commonly used by data centers.

The residents of Hanover, Henrico, and Goochland showed up and shared their questions and concerns on a broad range of topics. A couple of themes emerged:

Don’t Change the Comprehensive Plan

Hanover residents were given the opportunity to speak first and it quickly became clear that they don’t want a data center or anything else that changes the rural character of this part of the county. The refrain was “Don’t change the comprehensive plan.” Janet Bins and Amy Mendelson Cheeley, both former members of the Hanover planning commission, spoke about the process and how hard the county has worked to keep Western Hanover rural, agricultural, and residential.

Several residents pointed out that Hanover County has already approved other locations for data center development that are much better situated and have the services necessary such as water, sewer, and good road access.

Dan Ryker, General Manager of The Dominion Club – an active tax-paying business in Henrico and Hanover counties – spoke about the negative impacts of both construction and operation of a data center on their business. “We want to go on the record tonight and express our opposition to the proposed data center.”

Have you really thought this through? And, are you being honest?

When asked how they will get the fiber needed to the site, the answer was “We haven’t gotten there yet.”

David from Hanover, who works in logistics, asked how they plan to get the necessary 18′ wide loads down a 12′ wide lane on Ashland road. He questioned who will be buying the new ladder firetrucks to deal with sixty-two foot tall structures. He didn’t get any good answers.

When questioned about how many of the diesel generators would be required, the answer was 300. Three hundred shipping container-sized generators, each of which must be tested for 15-30 minutes per month and are permitted to be run for up to fifty hours per year EACH. That’s 75-150 hours a month of generator testing. But the engineer onstage couldn’t seem to find the right numbers in his notebook and had to be corrected by the audience.

Steve Abbott from Parkside Village in Goochland was unhappy about the noise proffers offered. “I feel you all are being very disingenuous with your presentation of noise. We’re talking about noise levels that the county has set for dbA. You’re not mentioning anything about dbC [low level noise 120 Hz or below]. That’s the base noise that travels…It can go through your walls, through your windows. It causes your windows to rattle. You’re being very disingenuous. 57 dbA…That’s too loud.”

One Hanover resident pointed out that their description of a sixty-two foot tall structure as ‘2 stories’ caused him to “scratch his head a little…Sixty feet is much higher than two stories…”

What kind of neighbor are you?

John from Hanover pointed out that he had visited the HHHunt website and seen the slogan “We build a better way of life” and the CEO video statement “It’s how you live that matters.” He “can’t help but wonder what kind of community citizen you (HHHunt) really are?”

Wyndham Resident Maggie Winsler was the last to speak before the meeting closed with a long line of people still hoping to address HHHunt. She was at the meeting representing the parents of school children in the area and wanted HHHunt to know that their proposal was causing genuine stress and disruption for families now – not just in the future.

Hold your elected officials accountable in this process

Multiple residents addressed the audience or the Hanover officials in attendance instead of the applicants on stage. Their message: this decision rests with the Hanover Board of Supervisors and residents need to keep showing up, provide feedback, and let their officials know that the Hanover community does not want or need this project.

Next Steps for the Hunting Hawk Technology Park Application

Now that HHHunt has met their obligation to host an applicant meeting, they can be placed on the agenda for a future Hanover Planning Commission meeting. It’s our understanding that the soonest this will be is January 15, 2026. It’s imperative that we continue to show up in numbers to support our Hanover neighbors and represent our interests on the Henrico side of the county line.

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