At town hall, Adams says he opposes AWS proposal for data center complex north of reservoir; EdgeCore acquires Shannon Hill Biz Park for data center campus

Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan newsletter that keeps folks informed about Louisa County government. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.

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This week in county government: public meetings, June 30 through July 5

For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here.

Tuesday, July 1

Louisa County School Board, Central Office Administration Building, 953 Davis Highway, Mineral, 7 pm. (agenda, livestream)

Wednesday, July 2

Revenue Committee, Administration Conference Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 2 pm.

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Quote of the week

“I work for you. I don’t work for AWS.”

-Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams at a town hall last Thursday where he announced he opposes Amazon Web Services’ proposal to build its third data center campus in Louisa County.

Read more in the article below.

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At town hall, Adams says he opposes AWS proposal for another data center campus in his district

Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) plan to build its third data center campus in Louisa County’s Technology Overlay District (TOD) has run into a potential roadblock. The supervisor who represents the area where it’s proposed for construction says he’ll vote against the project.

Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams said at a town hall on Thursday night that he won’t support AWS’s request for a conditional use permit (CUP) to develop a sprawling data center complex just north of the Northeast Creek Reservoir in the heart of his district. (video)

Adams said that numerous constituents have reached out to him to voice concerns about the project—from the amount of traffic it would bring to narrow roads to its impact on the public water supply—and it’s his job to listen to them. He said he shares many of their concerns.

“My job as an elected representative is to vote to protect the citizens of the area that I represent and the citizens of Louisa County. I told you when we started that I was leaning toward no, so let me tell you now. I don’t support this project. When this proposal comes before the board of supervisors, I will vote no,” Adams said, adding, “I work for you. I don’t work for AWS.”

Data centers are large warehouse-like facilities that house the backbone of the internet, enabling everything from cloud-based services to artificial intelligence. They’re coveted by many localities for the tax revenue they generate, mostly from the value of the buildings and the pricey computer equipment inside. But they require a significant amount of power to keep the lights on and, often, large quantities of water for cooling.

Some residents in Northern Virginia—the global epicenter of the industry—have pushed back against the facilities, arguing they’ve brought noise pollution, marred their view shed with towering buildings and unsightly electrical infrastructure and otherwise degraded their quality of life. In search of greener pastures—cheaper, more plentiful land and welcoming local governments hungry for revenue—data center developers are looking south.

As proposed, the campus would include up to 7.2 million square feet of data center buildings and seven substations on 1,370 agriculturally zoned (A-2) acres, stretching from just south of Davis Highway (Route 22) to just north of Jefferson Highway (Route 33). It would nearly touch School Bus Road (Route 767) at its northwestern edge and Kennon Road (Route 665) at its southeastern end and abut the Louisa County High School/Middle School campus.

The tract is owned by former Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell, his sister, Virginia Purcell, and their father, attorney and developer Charles Purcell via Fisher Chewning, L.C. It’s historically been used for timber production.

If approved by the board of supervisors, the campus would be the county’s fourth data center development, joining two other AWS campuses currently under construction in the TOD, a special zoning designation adopted by the board two years ago and aimed at attracting lucrative tech sector development. Those projects are slated for 150 acres off Kentucky Springs Road (Route 652) adjacent to the North Anna Power Station and 830 acres of a 1,444-acre tract off Route 33 south of the reservoir.

Last week, the county welcomed a third data center campus, announcing the sale of the 697-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park to EdgeCore, a Colorado-based data center developer (See article below). The property, which was rezoned to accommodate tech sector development in 2019, is located just north of Interstate 64 in south-central Louisa.

Those projects are permitted by-right, meaning they didn’t require a public approval process. But supervisors last year tweaked the rules for the TOD, requiring a CUP for tech sector development in the district going forward. AWS submitted a 56-page application requesting the permit last month.

Adams’ announcement came at the conclusion of a town hall that drew nearly 200 people to Louisa County High School’s Alan Jackson Theater. Many attendees expressed opposition to the proposal.

As they did at a neighborhood meeting hosted by county staff and AWS three weeks ago, residents voiced concerns about how much traffic the project would generate; its impact on the local water supply and power grid; the potential for noise pollution; and the possibility that data center development won’t result in the economic bonanza county officials envision.

“Don’t think that the corporations behind data centers are going to be valuing your drinking water, your quiet neighborhood during the evening or at night, or [the amount of] your electric bills,” one community member said.

Some attendees acknowledged that there could be positives from data centers, including the potential for significant tax revenue, but they said there’s no need for the county to rush into another project right now.

“I’m not necessarily happy about this campus. I think we need to pump the brakes and see how the other ones work out,” one community member said.

Adams, who has been a proponent of data center development and trumpeted what he sees as its numerous benefits during his opening remarks Thursday night, sounded a similar note. He said that the county already has data center campuses in the works, and the time is right to slow down.

“Within the next 16-18 months, we will see two data centers come online, moving all of the economic projections and infrastructure estimates from the abstract to hard data. I believe it’s prudent to slow down, take a breath and continue to evaluate as we move forward,” Adams said in a follow-up email to Engage Louisa.

Adams also noted he’s particularly concerned about how much traffic the campus would generate during construction and some of the proposed entrances to the site.

According to a conceptual plan, the campus includes four entrances: a primary entrance off Davis Highway (Route 22) via Shortmans Road as well as entrances off School Bus Road (Route 767); Jefferson Highway, via Old CCC Road; and Kennon Road (Route 665), via Huntington East Drive.

AWS representatives have emphasized that four entrances would help disperse construction traffic and, following what could be a lengthy buildout process, the campus would generate less traffic than other industrial uses or a large residential development. They’ve also said the company would implement traffic mitigation measures during construction and work with VDOT to make road improvements.

Residents along Kennon Road attended the town hall to voice their opposition. One said that entering the site off the curvy road isn’t safe.

Adams agreed.

“You can’t go up and down Kennon Road. You can’t access this thing off Kennon Road. That’s ridiculous. That’s dangerous. The people that live there have a degraded quality of life,” Adams told the crowd.

Adams points to tax revenue as key reason for his support of AWS’s other campuses

While Adams made clear that he isn’t comfortable backing AWS’s latest project, he didn’t shy away from his support for the tech giant’s other campuses, which he’s touted as an economic boon for the county.

Adams cited an economic impact study from Mangum Economics, which projects that one data center building would produce $37.7 million in local tax revenue annually, from real estate and business personal property taxes (BPP), over a 15-year timeframe and create about 25 jobs. County officials have said the tech giant could build as many as 36 data center buildings across its two campuses. To date, it’s submitted site plans for 17.

“I often hear from my constituents that we want to maintain the excellent school system we have…we want more deputies to ensure our safety, we want adequate fire and EMS to respond to emergencies as quickly as possible, and, most importantly, we want to keep our taxes low. That’s why I have supported the two campuses currently underway,” Adams said.

Some residents argued that Amazon would benefit from significant tax breaks that would usurp potential revenue, including a lower BPP specifically for data center equipment and local grants for infrastructure. A couple community members noted that those perks aren’t available to mom-and-pop businesses.

To lure AWS, the board two years ago lowered the BPP for data center equipment to $1.25 per $100 of assessed value—down from the $1.90 rate that other businesses pay—and implemented an accelerated depreciation schedule that rapidly decreases the equipment’s taxable value over a five-year timeframe. County officials have said that AWS typically replaces its equipment every six years or so.

The company will also benefit from local grants to help offset the cost of its infrastructure, which includes a 10-mile water line that will link the reservoir to the campus by North Anna. The grants work in concert with a state grant fund, which the General Assembly approved in 2023 specifically to benefit AWS. Locally-funded grants will come solely from net new revenue generated by the campuses, not money from existing taxpayers.

Both Adams and Economic Development Director Andy Wade, who's played a key role in bringing data centers to the county, defended the perks. Adams said localities must compete to attract data center development.

Adams also emphasized that the Technology Overlay District is designed to protect neighbors from potential negative impacts from data centers, noting the district requires expansive vegetative buffers to screen the facilities, among other protections.

In crafting the rules for the TOD, he said the county had learned from problems in Northern Virginia where data centers sit next to residential neighborhoods with little screening.

In response to questions about noise from the campuses, particularly from backup diesel generators that require periodic testing, Adams said county rules cap the noise level at the property line at 65 decibels during the day and 60 at night. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 60 decibels equate to the sound of a normal conversation.

Regarding concerns about the facilities’ impact on residents’ power bills, Adams said the area’s electric providers are regulated by the State Corporation Commission, not Louisa County. He also noted that while power bills might go up because of increased demand on the grid, those hikes would impact customers across a utility’s service area, not just in localities home to data centers.

Some residents didn’t seem convinced that county officials know what they’re getting into with data center development.

Savannah Walker, a Louisa County native who serves as the senior director for regional data center engineering at CentersquareDC, according to her profile on LinkedIn, questioned the county’s revenue assumptions and asked for details about what “tier” the data center campuses would be. Tiers are essentially a way to classify data centers based on their infrastructure performance and redundancy. Walker said a facility’s tier would impact its draw on resources like the public water supply.

Neither Adams nor county staff provided any information about the tier level of the already approved facilities or AWS’s proposed project.

With respect to water, Adams emphasized that the Northeast Creek Reservoir, which will provide cooling water to AWS’s campuses, including the proposed project, if built, has a safe yield capacity of 3.2 million gallons per day, and its current users only draw about 300,000 gallons daily and 500,000 gallons at peak demand.

He said the AWS data center buildings currently under development are each expected to use, on average, 23,000 gallons of raw water daily, noting that both the Lousia County Water Authority (LCWA) and state regulators would ensure there’s ample water for residents.

If AWS built 36 data center buildings across its two campuses, as some county officials have suggested could happen, the facilities would draw, on average, 828,000 gpd from the reservoir daily with the heaviest pull in the summer and lowest in winter when the buildings rely on ambient air temperature for cooling.

It’s unclear if AWS’s proposed campus would use the same amount of water. Adams suggested the project’s potential water use is a key question mark.

“We would never be permitted to take any more than the safe yield,” he said.

After Walker noted her experience in the data center industry and pressed county officials for details about the projects being developed, some in the crowd insisted she get more time to ask questions. A few said they’d yield their time to her. Adams rebuffed those requests, pointing out that other attendees were waiting for their turn.

‘There are six other people on that board’

While Adams made clear he opposes AWS’s latest project, he reminded attendees that six other board members also have a vote. He encouraged residents to contact his colleagues and show up at board meetings.

“There are six other people on that board. You need to rally your neighbors…You need to come to board meetings. You need to talk to the board. You need to call the board. You need to email the board,” Adams said.

Only two other board members attended the town hall: Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow and Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter. None of Adams’ colleagues have publicly stated where they stand on the application.

In a brief interview after the meeting, Barlow said he hasn’t decided how he’ll vote. He’s been generally supportive of data center development in the past, voting to adopt the TOD two years ago.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, McCotter said he’d attended the town hall and listened to residents’ concerns. While he questioned whether the project is “viable,” he didn’t explicitly say where he stands.

“There were many concerns voiced from water use, to the power grid, tax revenue shortfalls to construction traffic. I’m not sure if this data center is viable as there are some questions, and this is an election year. We’ll see what happens when the BOS decides on the CUP application,” he said.

McCotter has been the board’s most skeptical voice on data center development. AWS is in the process of building the Lake Anna Technology Campus adjacent to North Anna in his district. At full buildout, the campus is expected to include 1.7 million square feet of data center buildings.

The construction process has rankled some neighbors, who’ve complained about traffic along Kentucky Springs Road and runoff from the site impacting Lake Anna. In social media posts, McCotter has repeatedly reminded his constituents that he wasn’t on the board when the TOD was adopted, which cleared the way for AWS’s entry into the county.

Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones said on Facebook Thursday night that she hasn’t decided how she’ll vote. She encouraged residents to reach out and share their thoughts, noting she hadn’t received any calls or emails from her constituents about the project. She said she’s only received two emails from Mineral District residents.

“I can assure you, on any proposed project, I only make decisions when I receive all the facts, and after citizens get to speak (or submit letters) at the public hearings, and our Planning Commission has reviewed the project and given their recommendation,” she said, adding, “I welcome citizen input as I shape my decision.”

In a brief interview after the board’s June 16 meeting, Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said he hadn’t dug into AWS’s application.

Neither Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes nor Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward have made any public statements about the company’s latest proposal.

Town hall shakes up Mineral BOS race

Adams’ decision to oppose the project has shaken up the race for the Mineral District board of supervisors’ seat—one of four seats on the ballot this November.

A Republican and the board’s chair for the last four years, Adams is facing independent David Rogers, who’s made opposition to a third AWS campus a centerpiece of his campaign. Adams’ announcement could make it more difficult for Rogers to gain traction in the race as he challenges a well-funded, two-term incumbent in a heavily Republican district.

Rogers weighed in at Adams’ town hall, voicing concern about traffic around the proposed campus.

“When school is in, it’s almost impossible to get from Louisa to Mineral. What do you think it’s going to be like when these data centers come in,” Rogers asked.

AWS’s application next heads to the planning commission for a public hearing and a recommendation to the board of supervisors. The commission must also determine if AWS’s plan to expand public utilities, including building water and sewer lines and electrical substations, conforms with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

The application then goes to the board of supervisors for a second public hearing and a final up-or-down vote. Neither public hearing has been scheduled.

Conceptual plan (Image courtesy of AWS)

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EdgeCore acquires Shannon Hill Biz Park for data center campus

Another data center campus is coming to Louisa County.

The county, via the Louisa County Industrial Development Authority (IDA), has sold the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park to EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, a Colorado-based data center developer, owner and operator. The 697-acre property, which sits just north of the Shannon Hill exit off Interstate 64, traded for $42 million or about $60,000 per acre.

EdgeCore plans to invest $17 billion to develop a 3.9 million square foot “high-density” data center campus on the site, according to a media release from the company. The county bought the property in 2019 with an eye toward developing a large-scale business park to bulk up the tax base and create jobs.

“The investment in this land enables EdgeCore to expand our growth in Central Virgina, providing our hyperscale and AI focused customers with scalable, cost-efficient data center solutions, while simultaneously benefitting the residents of Louisa County with decades of tax revenue, job creation and ancillary investments. I want to thank the Louisa County Industrial Development Authority and the Commonwealth’s economic development team for their support,” EdgeCore CEO Lee Kestler said in the release.

Louisa County announced the property’s sale in a press release Tuesday afternoon and likewise trumpeted the benefits of data center development at the park.

“This announcement marks a realization of the park’s full benefits. EdgeCore’s development enables the property’s usage in a manner that minimizes traffic on Shannon Hill Road, conserves water and generates significant and ongoing revenues which will benefit our citizens,” said Dustin Madison, the IDA’s chair.

Neither the company nor the county said how many people the campus would employ, how much local tax revenue it’s expected to generate or how long it will take to build.

In connection with other data center development, county officials have said that one data center building is expected to employ 25 people and generate about $37.7 million for county coffers over a 15-year timeframe. It’s unclear how many buildings EdgeCore’s campus will include.

Data centers are large warehouse-like facilities that house the backbone of the internet. They’re prized by many localities for the significant tax revenue they generate but require a vast amount of power to keep their equipment humming and, often, large quantities of water for cooling.

The campuses generally create fewer jobs than other large-scale industrial development, so they’re viewed as having less impact on local services like schools, roads and public safety.

EdgeCore’s has three other data center campuses in Virginia, the global epicenter of the industry: two in Ashburn and one in Culpeper. It also has campuses in Pheonix, Reno and Silicon Valley.

EdgeCore emphasized in its release that it would implement a “community-first” approach as it develops the campus, taking steps to mitigate potential negative impacts.

The company said it would “leverage best practices honed in Greater Phoenix and other markets to minimize traffic during construction” and employ a closed-looped air cooled system to ensure efficient water use. The company said the system “carries a benchmark water usage effectiveness (WUE) rating below .01 [liters per kilowatt hour].” It didn’t specify how many gallons of water it expects to use per day.

Water to serve the campus will come from the James River via a pipeline project the county started over a decade ago. That infrastructure is expected to be finished by the middle of 2026.

EdgeCore said the campus would pull in more than 1.1 gigawatts of power. That’s more than half of what’s produced by Dominion’s North Anna Nuclear Power Station where a pair of Westinghouse reactors generate about 1.9 GW, enough electricity to keep the lights on in some 550,000 homes.

John Hewa, CEO of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), which serves the area, said in EdgeCore’s release that the cooperative looks forward to working alongside the company and the county “to power this project and build the infrastructure that enables its success.”

“REC and our affiliate, Hyperscale Energy, are proud to support EdgeCore’s significant investment in Louisa County. Their vision aligns with the growing demands of the digital economy, and we’re honored they chose our service area for this major development,” Hewa said.

Last week’s announcement solidifies Louisa’s place in the booming data center market, fueled by tech companies and investors racing to build the infrastructure necessary to power cloud-computing, streaming services and artificial intelligence.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is in the process of building two data centers campus in the county. One is slated for 150 acres adjacent to North Anna. The other is planned for about 830 acres of a 1,444-acre tract south of the Northeast Creek Reservoir in central Louisa.

AWS in early June filed an application with Louisa County requesting a conditional use permit to build a third campus. The facility would include up to 7.2 million square feet of data center buildings on 1,370 acres just north of the reservoir. Unlike EdgeCore’s project and AWS’s other campuses, the tech giant’s latest proposal requires approval by the Louisa County Board of Supervisors. (See article above).

History of the Shannon Hill site and concerns about data center development

Louisa County set its sights on developing a business park at Shannon Hill in 2018 with an eye toward attracting lucrative tech sector development and other large-scale industrial uses.

County officials first envisioned developing a sprawling 1600-acre industrial park, stretching from just north of the interstate nearly to Quail. But rezoning a vast swath of rural land for industrial use sparked strong pushback from neighbors, who argued the plan would spoil the community’s rural character and that traffic generated by the facility would make Shannon Hill Road more dangerous.

Supervisors eventually scaled back the project to about 700 acres, mostly in an area designated for growth and adjacent to the interstate. That move did little to tamp down opposition.

In early 2019, the county bought the property for $2.6 million. It has since invested more than $30 million to ready it for industrial development. The board in 2024 issued some $17 million in debt to bring public utilities to the park. It also tapped $13.6 million in state grant funding, mostly to install water and sewer lines.

According to its press release, the county plans to use surplus revenue from the sale primarily to pay off debt early. In addition to borrowing for Shannon Hill’s utilities, the county has floated about $60 million in bonds for the James River Water Project, which includes a 17-mile water line across Fluvanna to the James and a water treatment plant at Ferncliff. When complete, the project will channel millions of gallons of water from the river to support economic development along the Interstate 64 corridor.

While the county’s press release sounded a celebratory note, the announcement didn’t sit well with some residents. Opponents of the park’s 2019 rezoning spoke out on Facebook in opposition to the data center campus, complaining supervisors didn’t listen to the community when they designated the property for industrial use.

“I live very close to the Shannon Hill Business Park. We went to meeting[s], had signs made and voiced our opinions. The [board of supervisors] voted it down but, one month later, brought it up again and voted for it. Now, we have a data center,” one community member said.

Others took issue with the proliferation of data center campuses in the county.

“Once an area loses its rural character to data center sprawl, you will never get it back,” one commenter said.

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