LEESBURG, September 18 — Loudoun County, the Virginia county the data center industry calls Data Center Alley, is moving to put the brakes on the business that made it famous. Two amendments are headed for the county board, and together they would pause new data center applications at least temporarily and permanently end by-right development of the power-hungry warehouses. The push is led by board member Juli Briskman, who is running for board chair.
One amendment could freeze the processing of all new data center applications while the county revisits the comprehensive plan’s zoning ordinances for data centers. County staff has been directed to draft a plan showing what such a pause would look like while those ordinances are written.
That report goes to the board at Tuesday’s business meeting. Briskman has been blunt about the reasoning. In a July interview, she said, “I decided it was time that we actually just pumped the brakes, listened to the community, and just put a pause on all of it until we can get our arms around some of these other standards that we’ve been working on.”
A second amendment targets the grandfather clause
Briskman and board member Laura TeKrony have advanced a resolution that could reshape existing data center applications. County staff are drafting an amendment to end the grandfather clause, which lets applications filed before the adoption of the March 2025 change that ended by-right permitting for data centers keep their by-right status. That March change followed the first phase of the county’s comprehensive plan review.
The newly proposed amendment would require data centers in that previously grandfathered group to obtain a special exception, a process that includes public hearings and a vote by the full board — steps already required for all new applications. TeKrony said the revamped process would give the public more opportunity to weigh in on data center permitting in their county.
In a statement, TeKrony said, “Data center applications should never be approved by-right without a public hearing and Board review. I did not support the grandfathering resolution in March 2025 and believe we need to do the right thing for the community and expire this resolution now.” She added, “We’ve given the data center industry 25 years to build by-right. There is no legal requirement for grandfathering.
It is a choice.” The grandfather amendment report will be presented at the Oct. 6 board meeting.
Fence-line complaints, and a widening state debate
In Loudoun, several neighborhoods sit against under-construction data centers, and that proximity has driven rising concern over sound, backup generator use and other complaints from the fence-line communities. Loudoun is not alone. Other localities including Suffolk, Chesapeake and Front Royal are also hitting the brakes on approving new data centers and taking a closer look at their zoning ordinances for the projects.
With election season ramping up, political ads have hit the airwaves from state Sen. Glenn Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, calling for a statewide moratorium on data center development. Gov. Abigail Spanberger has repeatedly said she believes the state should honor its commitments to the data center industry, which self-reported a total contribution of about $40 billion to Virginia’s economy in 2024 and 2025.
She has nonetheless pushed for more regulations on the industry, including measures to bolster environmental policies and require the industry to pay more for its energy infrastructure. Lawmakers have pledged to sponsor legislation in the General Assembly session that starts in January to continue cracking down on data centers’ environmental impacts and improve siting policies to help localities make application decisions, among other ideas. Del.
Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said earlier this year that the legislature could address potential loopholes in the Virginia Clean Economy Act, as the push for behind-the-meter power generation for data centers draws more scrutiny. For now, the immediate question sits with the Loudoun board, which hears the staff’s pause plan on Tuesday and the grandfather amendment report on Oct. 6.
