Albemarle County weighs regulation on data center development

Virginia is for lovers—data center lovers. Nearly half of the nation’s facilities are in the Commonwealth, mostly concentrated in Northern Virginia where there are more data centers than anywhere else in the world. These facilities, which can range from the size of a grocery store to an entire shopping district or larger, use massive amounts of energy, require water to cool off, and often strip communities of their rural character.

Now, Albemarle County officials are deciding how to regulate data center development in our area.

In April 2025, the county settled on an interim zoning ordinance that limits data center development to parts of the county already selected for growth, and established performance standards related to noise, water use, design, and more. According to the ordinance, anything over 40,000 square feet (about the size of the Harris Teeter in Crozet) would require developers to obtain a special use permit—a process that allows community members to weigh in and elected officials to vote on the proposed development.

But on August 6, the Board of Supervisors held a working session in which county planners outlined possible amendments to the ordinance. The amendments strengthened the performance standards in some cases—such as requiring three rows of trees outside facilities instead of two—but also included the option of “overlay districts,” where centers much larger than 40,000 square feet can be built “by right,” and no special permit is needed. As an example, the planning team outlined a tiered system in which centers of up to 125,000 square feet (tier 1) and 500,000 square feet (tier 2) could be built by right.

“All of the areas in the proposed overlay districts are already designated for some type of intense development,” says Bill Fritz, development process manager for Albemarle County. “Data centers would have more requirements than any other uses currently permitted on those properties.”

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