Updated 4:45 p.m. June 5: A previous version of this article said that the data center project could bring up to $5 billion in investment, $120 million in annual tax revenue, and up to 500 jobs to Pittsylvania County. These figures were obtained from a Pittsylvania County Industrial Development Authority resolution that was shared publicly during the planning commission meeting in support of this project. However, Matt Rowe, economic development director for the county, said Wednesday that these numbers are not finalized. The article has been updated to reflect this new information.
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Billions of investment dollars could be coming to Pittsylvania County with the development of a data center that was unanimously recommended by the planning commission at its Tuesday meeting.
The project could represent up to $5 billion in investment, according to the Pittsylvania County Industrial Development Authority. It could also contribute up to $120 million in tax revenue over a 10- to 15-year period, though it’s too early to say for sure, said Matt Rowe, the economic development director for the county.
The data center, which would be the first of its kind in Pittsylvania, could also create up to 500 jobs.
Rowe said that none of these figures have been finalized or publicized by county staff, even though Joey Faucette, chairman of the Pittsylvania County IDA, cited the numbers during Tuesday’s meeting while reading a resolution from the IDA in support of the project.
“This is very, very much the early stage of a very long term, very large project,” Rowe said. “We have not finalized any of that with the client.”
Faucette said that the project would be a “tremendous benefit to Pittsylvania County because of the substantial economic impact it brings.”
Data centers contribute high tax revenues while having a low impact on county-provided services, he said.
The commission recommended the rezoning of 946 acres off U.S. 58 in Ringgold, in the southeastern part of the county just a few miles outside Danville, for the project.
The large size of the parcel will allow for flexibility around buffering, said Thomas Gallagher, who presented the project to the commission on behalf of Anchorstone Advisors SOVA LLC.
“Our plan is to preserve the mature vegetation and tree stands on the perimeter of the property, wherever they exist, for buffering,” he said.
Not all of the land is developable, he added, because of rolling topography and some wetlands.
He shared a depiction showing where five buildings might be placed on the parcel’s developable land, emphasizing that the image is conceptual and not exact.
The county’s comprehensive plan designates the future use of this land as medium- to high-density residential and commercial, though neighboring properties are industrial.
The board of supervisors will vote on the rezoning, which would switch the parcel from agricultural and residential to industrial, at its July meeting.
Data centers are “pretty nondescript warehouse buildings” from the outside, Gallagher said.
Gallagher also represents Southside Investing LLC, the local development group that is building a large master-planned community in Axton.
Data centers house computers and networking equipment that are used to store and send data, usually on a large scale for businesses, military and governments. But they also allow for fast and reliable connectivity for more everyday users who are texting, sending emails and using social media, Gallagher said.
He called Virginia the “data center capital of the world.”
According to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the state hosts the largest data center market in the world and is home to 150 such centers — or about 35% of all known hyperscale data centers worldwide.
Most of these are in Northern Virginia, though Microsoft operates a data center campus in Mecklenburg County and several other data centers are located across Southwest Virginia.
In May, Wise County received a grant of almost $657,000 from the Tobacco Commission to construct a shell building for a potential data center. In recent months, Southwest economic development officials have repeatedly said that they want to attract data centers to their region.
The site was chosen because necessary infrastructure, like water, sewer, fiber networking and power, were in place, Gallagher said.
Several county residents spoke during the meeting, voicing concerns about potential noise and light pollution, traffic, decreased property values and negative environmental impacts.
“We don’t need our property depreciated anymore by this,” said Ringgold resident Patty Evans, adding that area residents already live near a landfill.
Gallagher addressed some of the concerns during his presentation and said that he had met with neighbors during community meetings.
The project would be in compliance with county ordinances about noise, and it would adhere to “Dark Sky” principles that are designed to mitigate light pollution, he said.
Most of the traffic at the data center would be construction traffic, Gallagher said. The data center would be built over a number of years.
“The good news about data centers is that at buildout, once we’re operational, there’s minimal traffic,” he said. Because of this, data centers do not even trigger a traffic impact analysis report, he said.
The planning commissioners were enthusiastic about this project, and commended the developers for hosting a community meeting to answer resident questions.
“Nobody likes fear of the unknown,” said commissioner Janet Mease. “Nobody wants to change, but we have to change in order to grow. … So many felt that we were left out when the casino came to Danville. This is our casino. It’s our time to grow.”
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Correction, 10:30 a.m. June 6: Microsoft operates a data center in Mecklenburg County. That project was omitted from an earlier version of this story.