LETTERS: Resident opposed to proposed Henrico data center
Dear Editor:
I invite you to visit the Upham Brook corridor, where the land slopes toward the water and the neighborhood’s daily rhythm is shaped by birds, wind, and the quiet run of the brook itself. The building of a DC BLOX data center campus on the former Azalea Flea Market property would fundamentally alter that landscape, and I hope Henrico residents will look closely at what this project means for our community.
Upham Brook is not an incidental feature. It is a perennial stream that connects Bryan Park, Jordan’s Branch, and the larger Chickahominy watershed. The parcel under consideration drains directly toward that brook. Any increase in impervious surface, any mechanical yard, any fuel storage, any emergency spill — everything moves downhill toward the water. The brook is already stressed by heat, sediment, and increasingly intense storms. Adding a generator heavy industrial campus at its edge is not a neutral act. It is a permanent change to the watershed.
Noise is another overlooked impact. Backup generators of the size proposed produce low frequency sound that travels farther than their decibel rating suggests. In a stream valley, that sound doesn’t dissipate the way it does in a dense industrial park. It follows the open corridor of the brook, carrying into homes that have never experienced industrial noise. Even routine daytime testing would introduce a mechanical rumble into a neighborhood defined by its natural soundscape.
Henrico’s own staff have raised concerns about generator noise, and residents have echoed them. The physics make those concerns unavoidable.
This is not opposition to technology. It is opposition to misplacement. A data center of this scale belongs in a hardened industrial zone, not in a watershed corridor bordered by homes, parks, and long standing community spaces. The Azalea Flea Market parcel has always been commercial, yes, but it has never been industrial in the sense this project requires. Tall, windowless buildings, continuous mechanical noise, and 24 hour lighting would transform the character of the area and diminish the quality of life for the people who live here.
I urge county leaders to recognize that Upham Brook is a limiting factor, not an incidental one. Generator acoustics in a stream valley cannot be mitigated to residential standards without fundamentally altering the project. Henrico should uphold staff concerns, resident concerns, and environmental realities by reconsidering this rezoning request or requiring conditions so strict that the project must relocate to a more appropriate industrial zone.
We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for appropriate land use.
Sincerely,
Jarl K. Jackson
Richmond
