Loudoun delays its data center pause vote to Nov. 17 at the county attorney’s request

By Staff Reporter

LEESBURG, Va. — Loudoun County’s proposed yearlong pause on data center and substation rezonings will not come to a vote until Nov. 17 after the item was pulled from the Board of Supervisors’ agenda the day before a scheduled Tuesday vote, at the county attorney’s request.

The county said in a news release Tuesday that deferring agenda item 14p, the “Resolution to Pause Board of Supervisors Consideration of Legislative Applications for Data Centers and Substations,” to the board’s second business meeting in November “will allow county staff additional time needed to develop more information that will help inform the Board’s ultimate decision.” The Washington Inquisitor reported Tuesday morning that the vote was scheduled for that afternoon; the county’s release came the same day.

Board Chair Phyllis J. Randall, D-At Large, told supervisors in an email Monday afternoon that between now and the November meeting County Attorney Leo Rogers would “meet with other people in the legal community,” Loudoun Now reported. Randall told the Loudoun Times-Mirror that the county had received questions from attorneys and described Rogers’s review as “just kind of a check and double-check.” County spokesperson Glen Barbour told the Times-Mirror that no further specifics were available on what information staff were gathering.

What the pause would do

The resolution, if adopted, would pause the board’s final action on data center and substation applications that require legislative approval for up to 12 months, the maximum Virginia law allows, while the county finishes rewriting its Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance rules on data center standards and locations, according to the county. That rewrite is expected to wrap up in summer 2027. The board considered the pause after Rogers advised that a moratorium on data center approvals would not be legal.

In September, the county said the board intended the pause to be retroactive to Sept. 15, that applications could still move through the Planning Commission in the meantime, that none would become inactive, and that the board could make exceptions for grid-reliability projects or when the state’s one-year deadline for a decision is about to run out.

A political subplot

The proposal came from Supervisor Juli E. Briskman, D-Algonkian, who first sought a moratorium in September. Supervisors voted 7-1-1 last month to have staff draft the pause, with Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd, D-Leesburg, opposed and Supervisor Caleb A. Kershner, R-Catoctin, abstaining, Loudoun Now reported.

Briskman has announced she will challenge Randall for the Democratic nomination for board chair next year, and she criticized the deferral. “If Chair Randall wants to try and stop a policy that has overwhelming community support, she should do it in public instead of behind closed doors,” Briskman said in a statement Tuesday, according to Loudoun Now. Randall’s office declined further comment to that outlet before the meeting.

The 90-minute public comment period at Tuesday’s meeting had filled, with at least 15 more people on a waiting list, Loudoun Now reported. The county said residents who had signed up could still speak Tuesday or comment at a later meeting.

The pause would not take effect unless the board adopts it. The Nov. 17 meeting materials will be posted at loudoun.gov/meetings at least three days in advance.

The Inquisitor sent requests for comment to Loudoun County, the office of Supervisor Juli Briskman, the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Data Center Coalition and United Loudoun on Wednesday afternoon, after this story was first published. This story will be updated with any responses.

Photo: The Loudoun County Courthouse in Leesburg, the county seat. Karen Nutini / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.