Blindsided by the sale of the George Washington University’s Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn to Amazon Data Services, the Loudoun County authorities is ready to fight to keep data facilities off that property.
Blindsided by the sale of George Washington University‘s Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, to Amazon Data Services, the Loudoun County authorities is ready to fight to keep data facilities off that property.
“Data centers have been a godsend for Loudoun County, from a financial perspective,” mentioned Buddy Rizer, the county’s government director of financial improvement, in a WTOP interview. “We do think data centers are important, but we don’t think data centers should be everywhere.”
Rizer mentioned his preliminary response to the sale was shock, “but quickly it became frustration because we have spent the last four or five months trying to get a meeting with GW to address some of the rumors we had heard about them trying to sell the land.”
Amazon Data Services paid $427 million for the campus positioned in Loudoun County. Under the phrases of the sale, the college can keep utilizing the campus for up to 5 years.
“At no time has the Board of Supervisors envisioned data centers on that property,” Rizer mentioned. “In fact, for the last 20 years, we have tried very hard to keep data centers off of Route 7.”
Asked what he would love to see constructed on the campus, positioned close to the Potomac River, Rizer mentioned, “If we can’t have higher education, it would be a great place for research and development, things like robotics, and drones and AI-related activity.”
“I think there’s an opportunity for mixed-use there,” Rizer mentioned. “That’s been very successful with One Loudoun right across the street,” referring to Route 7.
Among the explanations Rizer would oppose a data center on the land: “Currently, there is no electrical infrastructure that is needed for data centers on that land, though Dominion is planning to build a high voltage line down the Route 7 corridor.”
“We think that this is just not the right area, because of proximity to houses, and the ability to really use that land for other economic development priorities,” he added.
Loudoun County advantages from data facilities
Rizer mentioned data facilities have benefited county residents.
“We’ve been able to lower the tax rate by 48 cents on the dollar, we’ve been able to lower the car tax by more than a dollar and have done that while increasing the services for our citizens, including dozens of new schools and new fire and rescue stations, and upgraded services throughout the county,” he mentioned.
“And, we want to make sure data centers are not put in places that are conflicting with our land use policies, near residential.”
Last yr the Board of Supervisors modified the county’s data center guidelines to require all new functions to endure particular exception evaluate.
Rizer believes the county has robust authorized footing.
“We do not think that data centers can be built there by right,” based mostly on current zoning and land-use legal guidelines, mentioned Rizer. “Whatever they decide to do, they would have to come before the Board of Supervisors, and at least as it stands today, I don’t anticipate them getting the votes needed to put data centers there.”
A 2024 study confirmed Amazon owns greater than 20 parcels of land in Loudoun County.
“We will continue to look through our opportunities and try to work with the company on finding options that could work for both of us that don’t include data centers at the University Center area,” Rizer mentioned.
An Amazon spokesperson informed WTOP any future improvement would contain neighborhood enter, coordination with native leaders and clear public processes.
The spokesperson mentioned Amazon has invested over $161 billion in the commonwealth since 2010, creating over 43,000 full and part-time jobs.
The firm mentioned as a part of its regular due diligence course of, it consistently evaluates new places based mostly on buyer demand.
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