The Western Virginia Industrial Facility Authority confirmed on Tuesday morning that the purchase agreement with Clearview Dynamics for land in Roanoke County is for a potential data center.
The authority entered into a purchase agreement with the company a couple of weeks ago, for 94 acres of land at Wood Haven Technology Park. The land is jointly owned by the authority, and the project is backed by Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. Roanoke and Roanoke County both hold 44.2% ownership in the land, and Salem has a 11.6% stake in the land. Those percentages will be how the authority determines revenue sharing.
A press release said Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Exec. Order 22, which banned non-disclosure agreements related to data center projects for state officials and creates community engagement standards, “prompted confirmation now rather than later in the process.”
When asked if the authority’s board signed non-disclosure agreements, Executive Director John Hull said that information would need to be requested via the Freedom of Information Act.
The site will use water from Spring Hollow Reservoir, the release states. Clearview Dynamics will pay for all water, water infrastructure, power and power infrastructure needs for the project, the release says. It’s not yet clear how much water or power the project will require.
According to the Western Virginia Water Authority, the Spring Hollow is currently running at about 7.5 million gallons of water per day, out of 18 million gallons of available capacity.
“At this stage, not every question has an answer, and that is precisely what due diligence is for. Both the buyer and the seller have steps to take to work through the technical and environmental questions as well as development standards and community protections before the transaction may be finalized,” Hull said in the release.
The “due diligence” stage that the project is in now involves evaluating the property with engineering and geotech assessments of the land, utility capacity studies and environmental reviews. That’s expected to continue until March.
The authority’s action to enter into a purchase agreement prompted outcry from some city of Roanoke leaders and members of the public, with data center opponents speaking out at the authority’s meeting on Sept. 11.
During that meeting, the authority’s board voted unanimously to enter into a purchase agreement, but shared no other details. Roanoke Vice Mayor Terry McGuire and community members asked for more information from the board, and were told to file Freedom of Information Act requests.
McGuire and Councilman Phazhon Nash have both taken to social media with statements that they are “vehemently opposed” to data centers and explaining the city’s involvement in the sale, which prompted a statement from Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb, saying that the two men breached the council’s code of conduct.
The city council voted on Monday night, after discussing the matter in closed session, to establish an ad hoc professional standards committee as a result of this, with all council members but McGuire voting in favor of that resolution.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
