- Opposition to new data centers has grown stronger in the largest global hub, Northern Virginia
- Both residents and county officials are stepping in to push back on new builds
- Developers are already looking elsewhere, but the resistance could follow them
Is Northern Virginia closing the door on data centers? It certainly feels that way, with local officials and residents increasingly pushing back on new builds.
The area – which includes Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William and Fauquier Counties – has long been known as the data center capital of the world, with well over 300 data centers. As Synergy Research Group noted, Northern Virginia alone is home to more than 13% of global hyperscale data center capacity and 7% of the global colocation market.
Loudoun in particular became a hub for data center development after county officials in 2008 came up with a plan to diversify the tax base and began encouraging investments from technology companies.
Turning tide
But that’s starting to change. Until this year, data center developers enjoyed “by-right use” of land in certain zoning districts in Loudoun, meaning projects did not require review by the county’s Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors. In March, however, county officials voted to remove by-right development and require new projects to seek a special exception to move forward.
Loudoun isn’t the only county moving to reign in new developments. In September 2024, Fairfax County amended its zoning ordinance to limit the size of by-right developments, increase the setback from residential properties and require both pre- and post-construction noise studies.
In Prince William and Fauquier, meanwhile, residents are the ones taking action to curtail massive new build projects. For instance, the much-touted Digital Gateway project in Prince William – which would have allowed the development of 37 data centers alongside a preserved civil war battlefield - was halted by a judge after residents filed a lawsuit to stop it.
Another project, Gigaland in Fauquier County, withdrew its application for approval this week in a bid to avoid an unfavorable vote by the Board of Supervisors. The move came after the Fauquier County Planning Commission recommended denying the project following a wave of opposition from the public. The Fauquier Times reported that if the Supervisors voted against the project, the developers would be required to wait a full year before reapplying.
New hubs
With data center developers seeking to build larger and larger facilities, they’ve already had to look outside of Northern Virginia. Indeed, we previously noted hyperscalers are buying up hundreds of acres of land in areas like Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and Iowa and cities including Atlanta, Phoenix, Portland, Minneapolis, Denver and Boston.
But the fight seems to be following them, as residents push back with concerns about noise, water use, land preservation and more.
Data Center Watch, a research group funded by 10a Labs, found $64 billion worth of data center projects have been impacted by local opposition. Its report noted “As data center development accelerates elsewhere in the country, local pushback on data centers is likely to follow the same pattern seen in Virginia.”
Given data centers are poised to play an important role in the AI era and U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitions for the country to lead in AI, it remains to be seen whether federal intervention to push projects through despite protests might follow. It’s certainly an issue we’ll be watching closely.