Henrico Data Centers: What’s Next?

The topic of data centers is coming up regularly in Henrico County these days. Why are they proliferating in northern Virginia and eastern Henrico? What impact are they having on the residents who live near them? How are county leaders planning for and addressing challenges for the future?

What is a data center?

Data centers have become an integral part of modern life, but what are they, exactly? According to a study on data centers by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), data centers are specialized facilities that manage, process, and share large amounts of data. They enable the digital services that people rely on daily, including websites, electronic applications, and cloud-based platforms, such as email and media streaming.  Inside a data center, you’ll find row after row of servers, a sea of switches and cables, and the hardware needed to keep it functioning. Data centers are “the information backbone of an increasingly digital world.”

From farmland to technology hub: the evolution of data centers in Henrico County

Virginia is home to more than 300 data centers. While 80% are situated in Northern Virginia, the remaining are particularly clustered in Henrico and Mecklenburg counties.

This article, Henrico became a data center hub seemingly overnight, published by The Richmonder, provides some background on why/how Henrico is so well positioned for data center expansion.  Major infrastructure investment, access to a high-tech workforce and compelling tax incentives are all driving VA to be the data center capital of the world.

White Oak Technology Park in eastern Henrico spans one hundred-thirty acres. It gives computing power to platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.  Over time, it’s become clear that data center needs will continue to grow exponentially with the proliferation of artificial intelligence and its data intensive needs.  It’s also become clear that data centers have a significant environmental and resource costs to consider with enormous energy consumption, noise pollution, water usage/pollution, and the weight of these burdens falls unfairly on the communities nearby. This has been driving concerns and conversations about pros and cons and balancing needs at the local, state and federal level.

The pros and cons of data centers in Henrico County

Pros:

• Meets the rampant demand for cloud computing services
• Increased tax revenue for projects like the Affordable Housing Trust Fund
• Higher-wage jobs for residents
• Business-to-business purchases (e.g., security and HVAC services)
• Companies provide direct funding to grants and nonprofits
• Diversification of the local economy
• Higher economic output for Virginia (In 2021, that equaled $15.3 billion)

Cons:

• High resource demands – Increasing, potentially unsustainable water and energy usage, land depletion
• Lack of support for residents after construction
• Insufficient buffers between data centers and residential areas
• Increased truck traffic and traffic safety issues
• Environmental Injustice due to concentration in low-income/historically marginalized communities
  • Threats to historical sites and family cemeteries,
  • Risk of unethical tax income distribution – benefits go outside the community
  • Health risks from Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

The Unknowns

• Pollution regulation and monitoring – typically this has been the role of the EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, but with Federal Government cuts and elimination of regulations, will state and local air and water quality monitoring and reporting be sufficient?

Communities impacted by the rapid expansion of data centers are pushing back across Virginia

Inside Climate News reported that what was once quiet infrastructure is now a national flashpoint.  Some $900 million in projects in the state have been blocked, and $45.8 billion in projects have been delayed due to increased engagement by citizens and environmental organizations demanding answers and improved oversight.

Critics of unchecked data center expansion say that mitigating harm includes guiding business development with smart growth principles (i.e., balancing economic development with conservation strategies that benefit our health and communities; state regulation; limiting the number and concentration of data centers; distributing more tax revenue to the districts most impacted by data centers; and giving local government more oversight and enforcement over issues like water usage and sound ordinance. Dozens of bills were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly this year to enact development safeguards, but only a symbolic one about utility costs was signed into law by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

What’s next for data centers in Henrico County?

In Eastern Henrico around the White Oak Technology Park, there are concerns from residents about the impact on their communities and the distribution of tax revenue benefits, and the Henrico Board of Supervisors takes that seriously.  On May 15, following a public hearing, they voted unanimously to delay until June 10 votes on proposed amendments to the county’s zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan that would restrict hyperscale data center development to the White Oak Technology Park region in Sandston. They also directed planning staff to strengthen the proposed amendments so that they would require a provisional use permit be approved for any data center proposal in the county – even those planned within the White Oak Technology Park area, where the originally proposed amendments would have allowed them to be located “by right”, without a permit.

Bob Shippee, a member of the county’s Planning Commission, added further context: “As with all planning decisions, we balance factors like suitability of the proposed land use relative to current zoning and proffers, impacts on surrounding residents, and benefit to the county overall. Because data centers have become such an important area of development, Henrico is considering greater oversight of the process, potentially including additional procedural steps and restrictions, to foster the best possible outcomes.”

Data centers in Henrico County are inevitable and perhaps highly beneficial, but also demand vigilance and oversight by the state and local governments to protect residents and the environment.  Henrico County is taking action and we need next year’s General Assembly to do the same.