Salem does not have any undeveloped land that is currently zoned properly for a potential data center, but the city is involved in an upcoming data center in Roanoke County.
Salem has just over an 11% ownership stake in the Wood Haven Technology Park property, at the junction of interstates 81 and 581, that the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority voted last month to begin selling off to a data center developer.
About a week before the Roanoke County site was announced, Google broke ground on another data center campus at Greenfield Industrial Center in Botetourt County. The two projects have caused a wealth of public opposition in the region, much of that coming from the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance, a group that has been requesting documents regarding data centers from key players and speaking out in opposition to the projects.
The five candidates running for two seats on the Salem City Council have different things to say about data centers. The candidates include Republicans Hunter Holliday and J.D. Taylor and independents Mark Henrickson, A.J. Harpold and Jeffrey Hoeflich-Nickels. Holliday, completing his first term, is the only incumbent in the race.
An Army veteran who grew up in Salem and returned to the city nine years ago, Holliday said his feelings on data centers and their growth in the region are “up in the air.”
“For me to say I’m against it, I can’t say that,” Holliday said during a phone call Wednesday. “For me to say I’m for them, I also can’t say that.”
He said he lived in Fairfax during the time when Northern Virginia was beginning to see a rapid growth of data centers and that he thinks data centers bring in good things for localities through an influx of tax revenue. He said he saw positive impacts on Northern Virginia’s schools and roads from that revenue while living there.
Holliday said he feels that he needs to do more research on data centers and that, if re-elected, he would support chartering a bus to bring a group of residents to see firsthand a data center in Northern Virginia. He said he is not sure yet if this would be allowed — data centers don’t exactly have open-door policies for the public.
Holliday declined to comment on what the Salem City Council’s involvement was in the Wood Haven project before the Sept. 11 vote by the regional authority to initiate the purchase agreement.
Henrickson, a retired developer who now sits on the city’s planning commission, said recently in an interview that he looks at this as a regional issue, rather than a Salem-specific election matter.
He said he feels people just don’t know enough yet about data centers, citing concerns with the amounts of energy and water they use.
“Somewhere, technology is going to catch up,” he said. “We’re gonna figure this out. We’re not there yet.”
Henrickson said he’d like to see the region integrate expertise from Virginia Tech’s engineering program in regional decisions involving data centers.
Taylor, a pastor who has lived in Salem for a decade, said in a recent interview that it’s surprising that nobody has asked him about data centers yet during his campaign.
He said as far as Salem is concerned, other “holes” need to be filled before managing data centers becomes a priority. He said the city needs to focus on replacing hundreds of jobs lost from the closures of two major plants in the city: General Electric in 2018 and Yokohama Tire earlier this year.
He’d much rather see a semiconductor company or another manufacturer that makes parts that go into a data center, he said — arguing that such companies may bring more jobs to Salem than a data center would.
He said “word doesn’t get around until it’s too late in many cases,” and that “you can’t fault” the Roanoke officials who put information out on social media about the Wood Haven project. He also said it’s hard to predict how much revenue will come directly into the locality in some cases.
What he’s referring to are statements put on social media by Roanoke Vice Mayor Terry McGuire and city Councilman Phazhon Nash, stating their opposition to a data center in Wood Haven and explaining Roanoke City’s involvement in the project. This led to a statement from Mayor Joe Cobb, who said the two had violated the council’s code of conduct, and the establishment of a professional standards committee for the council.
A.J. Harpold, who returned to Salem three years ago after growing up here, said the city can’t ignore data center growth. Harpold is opening a small business downtown and is a labor union organizer for dancers and choreographers.
She said she hasn’t seen Salem residents react as negatively as Roanoke County and Roanoke city’s residents have reacted to the two data center developments.
“I don’t think Salem has fully taken that in, fully absorbed what’s happening,” she said. “It still feels ‘over there.’ I also don’t think as many people knew about it in Salem … I don’t think anyone in Salem expected it to be on their door front.”
She said she expects to see more reactions from the city’s residents as plans continue for Wood Haven, which she said Salem has a “fairly sizable” ownership in with its 11% stake.
On data centers, Harpold said, “We have to be involved in some way. We can’t ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist.”
“If we can have a say in the direction of what this looks like with a data center, if we can have a say in doing the studies and finding out more about the long-term electricity and water usage, then obviously we should be involved,” she said.
Jeffrey Hoeflich-Nickels, who owns a political consulting firm and has lived in Salem for three years, said even though the city is a minority stakeholder in Wood Haven, it is still a Salem issue.
“I think that if you take a look at the data centers today, at the environment we’re currently in, our reservoirs are down because we’re in a drought,” he said. “Why are we looking at something that’s going to take more of those resources away, especially with the fast growth that we’re seeing? We’re tapping into resources that if we do too much, we’re going to cause problems for ourselves.”
He said it’s such a new technology that there is uncertainty as to how much energy and water a data center ends up needing, which he said are resources that Salem needs to continue to be able to provide to its residents.
“It’s too soon and too fast, and we’re not sure what the long-term outcome’s going to be,” he said.
Early voting is underway in Salem. Election day is Nov. 3.
For more on where the candidates stand, see the Salem page on our Voter Guide.
