Henrico supervisors to weigh proposals designed to restrict large data centers to White Oak Technology Park region

Henrico planners want large data center development in Henrico County's future to occur where it has been occurring already – within the Technology Boulevard/White Oak Technology Park corridor in Sandston – and in an 18-page analysis they released May 1, they’ve proposed several ways to ensure that happens.

In their report, planners recommended the adoption of specific guidelines for data centers throughout the county, as well as the creation of a special focus area and a new zoning overlay district spanning about 3,100 acres in Technology Boulevard corridor to establish “a specific vision and goals for the area containing the largest concentration of data center development in the county.”

A key goal of the proposals: to prevent hyperscale data centers from locating in “by-right” development fashion – on property on which they currently would be permitted without any discretionary approval from the county – somewhere other than within the proposed Technology Boulevard overlay district. The new proposals would require that any hyperscale data center proposed outside of that district area earn a provisional use permit from the county through a public hearing process.

By-right data center development would be permitted throughout the overlay district, however, as long as the proposals met the newly proposed requirements and other applicable design and development standards.

“While the construction and operation of data centers in Henrico has avoided impacts that have occurred in other jurisdictions due to their location, parcel size, and development requirements, it is anticipated that impacts could increase as new data centers are proposed and available sites become scarce,” planners wrote. “The identification of land most suitable for the development of larger data center facilities, as well as the evaluation of current ordinance requirements and comprehensive plan guidance, is important in ensuring residents are not negatively affected by this future development.”

The Henrico Board of Supervisors and Henrico Planning Commission will hold a joint public hearing at 5 p.m., May 15 at Highland Springs High School to discuss and receive public input about the recommendations and associated proposed amendments to the county's zoning ordinance and 2026 comprehensive plan. The board potentially could vote to adopt both measures at the same meeting; once adopted, they would take effect immediately.

Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson told the Citizen that the board has asked the Henrico Economic Development Authority to stop recruiting data center users to Henrico and focus efforts on recruiting other industries instead.

“The reason that we’re doing this is to limit adding more data centers in the county, period,” Nelson said. “We’re trying to limit the footprint of where data centers can go. I think data centers have reached close to, if not a maximum, capacity. I would like to see some diversity in industry, let’s not saturate it in one thing in one part of the county.”

There are 37 data centers in Henrico today, according to the planners’ report, with the majority being small to mid-size facilities that function as accessories to larger office buildings.

A hyperscale data center proposed last year on 32 acres along Azalea Avenue near the RIC4 Amazing Fulfillment Center and Richmond Raceway Complex alerted county officials to the reality that such larger facilities – which they had hoped would seek to locate in the White Oak Technology Park area – could quickly begin locating in more densely-populated portions of the county.

“I think everyone understands that the White Oak Technology Park is set up for that [type of development],” Henrico Planning Director Joe Emerson told the Citizen. “I don’t think anybody ever anticipated that they would begin to spread out in some of these other areas as quickly or as easily, where we had by-right zoning.”

In their analysis, county planners identified more than 50 vacant parcels of industrially-zoned land in the county of 15 acres of more on which hyperscale data centers could be built on a by-right basis (mostly in Eastern Henrico).

Dozens of other sites (of varying sizes) zoned for office, business or office/service district usage also currently could house data centers by-right if certain other conditions were met, though many already are occupied by buildings or likely are too small for hyperscale data centers, the planners wrote.

Planners searched the county for land parcels of at least 15 acres in size that are vacant or have had minimal improvements and that are zoned for business, office or office/service uses – and therefore could be prime targets for larger data centers – but found only three, “indicating there are minimal threats from such sites,” they wrote. “However, because data center development can generally support higher purchase prices, redevelopment of other commercial sites should not be discounted.”

The original Azalea Avenue proposal eventually was withdrawn after opposition from the county and neighbors but then reduced to a 66,000-square-foot data center proposal on about five acres that is moving forward, since it did not require rezoning. DC Blox is planning to build a data center there on what was the Azalea Flea Market site.

The proposed amendments would not impact smaller proposed accessory data centers – those that exist to support a larger business location – as long as they meet certain conditions, including housing within their physical structures all the equipment needed for ventilating, cooling and operating the facilities.

In their analysis, planners described five goals for the creation of the Technology Boulevard Special Focus Area, which would be added into the 2026 comprehensive plan and then rolled into the forthcoming updated 2045 version of the plan (perhaps with additional enhancements, according to Emerson):

• to respect existing residential development;

• to create a “vibrant industrial park with uses which support the tax base of the county in a manner allowing benefits to transfer to existing and future residents;”

• to ensure that adequate utilities are provided before or during new development;

• to create shared access for uses developed as part of a coordinated plan that spans large parcels, in order to maximize areas for screening along roads and adjacent to existing developments;

• to provide a coordinator set of pedestrian and bicycle facilities to serve new industrial development while also connecting to nearby areas and a countywide active transportation network.

The Technology Boulevard Special Focus Area would include White Oak Technology Park and abutting properties south of I-64 that are zoned for industrial usage (a total of about 80 such parcels and roughly 3,100 acres).

“Once established, future data center development in the county should largely be limited to properties within the special focus area,” planners wrote.

Much of the property within the focus area already has been occupied by data centers or approved for future data center development; QTS and Meta operate hyperscale data centers there, and Richmond developer Hourigan recently won zoning approval for 622 acres near the I-64/I-295 interchange in the northern quadrant of the focus area, where more than a dozen data centers ultimately could take shape.

The new guidelines would not apply to any of those projects, since they already exist or have been approved, but would apply to any new data center proposals within the focus area. The new guidelines, though, mirror most of the requirements already in place for development projects within White Oak Technology Park 1 and 2, Emerson said, including the recent Hourigan proposal.

The data center development guidelines proposed in the planners’ report (and outlined in the proposed comprehensive plan amendment) would seek to help the county fulfill nine objectives associated with such development countywide, including to mitigate the environmental impacts of large data centers as well as their impacts on any existing nearby developments (residential and other). The guidelines also would be aimed at protecting cultural resources and encouraging the development of active transportation amenities, such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

Among other requirements, the development guidelines would:

• require that data center buildings be set back at least 200 feet from the lot line of any adjacent residential properties, residentially zoned properties or even properties recommended for future residential use by the county’s Comprehensive Plan;

• require a buffer of at least 100 feet to screen a data center from adjacent residential properties, residentially zoned properties and those recommended for future residential use in the future;

• require that a noise study be conducted and submitted prior to any data center site plan approval, and that prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, a subsequent noise study be conducted “to demonstrate to the Planning Director’s satisfaction that the operation complies with any conditions or other legal requirements for the property;”

• require data centers to incorporate at least two of five design elements: a change in building height; building step-backs or recesses; fenestration (the implementation of windows and doors); a change in building material, pattern, texture or color; the use of accent materials.

The May 15 joint meeting between the Henrico Board of Supervisors and Henrico Planning Commission will be live-streamed, a nd in-person and virtual participation will be available. Anyone interested in speaking remotely may access the meeting by going to https://henrico.gov/supervisors/next-meeting/ and selecting the hyperlinked Webex Event when the meeting begins at 5 p.m. Those who wish to speak should sign up at https://henrico.gov/services/citizen-participation-registration/