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Data centers play a role in the digital economy, but when they are built too close to neighborhoods, schools, parks, and trails, the impacts on our community are significant. Substations, massive buildings, round-the-clock construction, noise, and light pollution can permanently change the character and livability of Loudoun County.

 We are not asking to halt the future. We are asking to shape it.

Why your voice matters:

• Protect Homes & Families – Encroaching industrial uses can affect property values, health, and daily quality of life.
  
  

• Uphold the Comprehensive Plan – This is Loudoun’s long-term “roadmap” for growth and development. It lays out where and how housing, businesses, transportation, and public facilities should be built, and it sets standards for how land uses must relate to each other.
  
  

• Set the Right Precedent – Each application approved opens the door to more projects in sensitive areas. Speaking up now helps shape how the county grows.
  
  

Whether you write a comment, send an email, or attend a meeting, every action adds up. Together, residents can push for responsible planning that respects both community and growth.

A Smarter Path Forward: Protecting Our Community While Planning for Progress

Our county is at a crossroads. The demand for data centers is bringing promises of economic growth, but it also threatens the very character of our communities and the future of our farms. Unchecked development puts our peaceful neighborhoods, prime agricultural land, and natural resources at risk.

We are not against progress. We are for smart growth. It is possible to accommodate new industries without sacrificing our quality of life. The key is not to stop development, but to guide it responsibly.

Here is a reasonable, forward-thinking approach that protects our interests while allowing for responsible technological growth. This is the plan we must demand from our county leaders.

1. Plan Proactively with Smart Zoning

The most effective way to protect our farms and homes is to decide, as a community, where data centers and their industrial-scale substations belong—and where they don’t.

• Create Designated Tech Zones: We call on our county to update its Comprehensive Plan to create specific "Data Center Opportunity Zones." These zones should be targeted for areas with existing industrial infrastructure, far from our homes, schools, and prime agricultural soils.

• Establish Meaningful Buffer Zones: We must require wide, natural, and permanent buffers between any data center campus and adjacent residential or agricultural properties. A simple fence is not enough. We need dense landscaping and significant setbacks to genuinely reduce the noise and visual blight.

• Protect Our Farmland: Our county must enact ordinances that explicitly prohibit the construction of industrial facilities like data centers on land designated as prime farmland. Our agricultural heritage is a vital part of our economy and identity; it is not for sale.

2. Insist on Higher Standards for Development

If a data center is to be built, it must be a good neighbor. This means holding developers to strict, non-negotiable standards that protect our community from day one.

• Enforce Strict Noise Control: The constant hum from massive cooling systems can destroy the peace of a rural community. We must demand binding ordinances that require the use of the latest noise-dampening technology and mandate ongoing, independent noise monitoring to ensure compliance.

• Preserve Our Scenery and Dark Skies: Data centers should not be concrete behemoths that scar our landscape. Our county must require architectural standards that ensure these buildings blend in with their surroundings. This includes mandating "dark sky" compliant lighting to prevent light pollution that blots out the night sky.

• Safeguard Our Water: Data centers can use immense amounts of water for cooling. We must demand a comprehensive and public review of the impact on our local water supply before any project is approved. Priority should be given to facilities that use water-wise, closed-loop cooling technology.

3. Demand Real Community Partnership and Benefits

For too long, developers have reaped massive profits while our community shoulders the burden. It’s time for a new arrangement where developers are true partners in our community’s success.

• Require Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs): These legally binding contracts are essential. Before a single shovel of dirt is turned, developers must commit to tangible benefits for our community, such as funding for local schools and parks, investments in road and grid improvements for everyone, or contributions to preserve open space elsewhere in the county.

• Ensure Full Transparency: We demand an open and honest process. Mandatory public meetings must be held before any official applications are filed, giving residents a real opportunity to voice concerns and shape the outcome of projects.

• Establish a Citizen Oversight Board: A permanent community advisory board should be created for every approved data center. This board, composed of local residents, would ensure developers live up to their promises and provide a direct line of communication to address any issues that arise during construction and operation.

It’s Time to Act

This balanced approach allows our county to participate in the digital economy without destroying what makes it a special place to live.

We are not asking to halt the future. We are asking to shape it.

Join us. Share this vision with your neighbors. Most importantly, send this plan to your county representatives and demand they adopt a smart, responsible approach to data center development.