Planning for future data centers will be on the minds of Montgomery County supervisors when they meet Monday.
The board will convene at 7:15 p.m. in the second floor board chambers at the county government center, 755 Roanoke St., Christiansburg.
The agenda includes a proposed resolution noting the increase in data center siting proposals in Virginia and across the nation. If approved, it will ask the county Planning Commission and county planning staff to “study, address and seek community comment and input on these particular land uses . . . and to recommend appropriate changes to the county zoning ordinance.”
The zoning law currently “does not define or allow data center facilities as a use,” the resolution notes.
There are no data centers in Montgomery County’s unincorporated areas. But there is is one facility in Blacksburg that labels itself as a “data center” — the Brush Mountain facility in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.
That facility is owned by Advanced Logic Industries, a company that has operated in the research center for decades, according to Town Manager Marc Vernier. But it is not the sort of large stand-alone data center that has proliferated in northern Virginia and occupies a large land footprint, Vernier explained in an email.
The county planning commission is in the final stages of updating the five-section comprehensive plan. Sections that address community and economic development and health care and public services will be reviewed in January. The commission will hold a public hearing on the overall plan in February. County supervisors will conduct work sessions in January and February, aiming for a final public hearing in late February or early March.
Other notable agenda items for Monday’s meeting include:
— A resolution to delay assessing penalties and interest for late payment of real estate and personal property taxes that were due Dec. 5. It notes that snow and ice that day “made travel not advisable.” The proposal is to impose no penalties or interest if taxes were paid by Dec. 8. Supervisors will vote to set a public hearing on the proposal.
— A public hearing and a vote on a proposed ordinance that would establish a separate personal property tax classification for vehicles driven by volunteer rescue squad or fire department members. A volunteer would be able to register in this new tax classification one vehicle that is used regularly to respond to emergency calls or perform regular duties for the agency.
The draft ordinance does not indicate whether a volunteer would receive any special tax benefit for said vehicles.
If adopted, the ordinance would take effect in 2026.
— Appointments to several boards, including: Appointing Gunin Kiran and reappointing Steve Fijalkowski and Todd King to the Public Service Authority, for four-year terms; appointing William Bulloss to the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission, for a two-year term; reappointing Lonnie Linkous to the planning commission, for a four-year term; reappointing County Administrator Angela Hill to the Metropolitan Planning Organization, for a one-year term; reappointing Hill to the New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority, for a four-year term; appointing Hill, Fijalkowski and Sheriff Hank Partin to the regional jail authority for one-year terms, with Mary Biggs, Capt. Michael Cochran and Terri Mitchell as alternates; reappointing the county planning director to the New River-Highlands Resource Conservation and Development Council, for a one-year term; and reappointing county human services Director Alexandria Strickler to the Fairview Home board of directors, for a one-year term.
You can find meeting documents here.