In early October, Joe Naff noticed a couple of guys with machinery across the street from his Smyth County home, climbing up the hillside.
To him, it looked like core drilling to test the soil and stone in the rolling countryside of his neighborhood. What looked like noise testing followed a week later, he said in an interview, and Naff’s suspicions grew.
Then, in late October, the town of Marion released a statement announcing a developer was interested in about 200 acres of government-owned property in the area — but council members and town staff wouldn’t say who the developer was or what it wanted to build.
“If the council can just tell me that it is not a data center, I will back down,” Naff said during a town meeting Nov. 2.
There was no reply from the council members.
Concerns about the possibility of a data center are growing for Marion residents and Smyth County neighbors who live by the property, which lies just past the northeastern limits of Marion’s boundaries. The town, which is the county seat and has a population of about 5,500, has owned the land for five years and transferred the property to its economic development authority this past summer.
When emailed questions about the developer and possible uses for the property, town manager Andrew Keen directed Cardinal News to the council’s October statement.
The statement said Marion has been trying to find a good use for the property, even before it owned the land. The town has courted developers for housing, truck stops, distribution centers and manufacturing, according to the statement, but all attempts have been unsuccessful.
Then a developer — unnamed in the statement — expressed interest early in 2026, which is why the town transferred the property to the development authority.
“We don’t know if this property will pass environmental muster,” the statement said. “We don’t know if this company will select our site over others available. We don’t know if this developer will choose to pursue the purchase of this property.”
The property is in a “due-diligence phase,” according to the statement.
“Like other localities, we don’t make announcements based on anything short of certainties,” the statement said.
A Cardinal News records request for nondisclosure agreements came up empty — the town attorney, Mark Fenyk, said in an email that neither the town or its development authority have any on file.
Only one out of eight town council members, Hunter Atwell, responded to a request for comment. He said by email that Keen had already provided a response, and he confirmed he hadn’t signed an NDA.
Since the property is in Smyth County, outside town limits, any kind of request to build a data center will have to go through its planning commission and board of supervisors, County Administrator Shawn Utt said in a video interview.
The county passed an ordinance requiring a special exceptions permit for data center developments in September — though some residents have said officials haven’t gone far enough to protect the county’s ample agricultural land from data centers. Some also say the original zoning ordinance didn’t have data center language in the first place, so in their view, creating a special exceptions permit allows them into Smyth County.
The county hasn’t received any requests for rezoning or a special exception permit for the property, Utt said. The process would probably take about a month and a half to come to a final vote, he said, between a public hearing and meeting discussions, if not longer.
Eye on tax revenue
The land could be a positive in terms of economic development and tax revenues, Utt said. Commercial use would be valuable, he said, and the county also has a need for housing. He is hopeful an interested developer means good things for Smyth County.
“If it’s a data center — let’s put it this way, the bean counter in me wants the tax revenue,” Utt said. “The land has not been a tax generator for us, even though it’s got the potential. Anything would be great, anything commercialized.”
But for Naff, the way Marion has handled the process has been disrespectful of residents who deserve to know what’s going to happen in their region, he said.
His front porch looks out over the hills that he believes will become a data center. Should one be built, he and his neighbors are concerned about the toll on their utilities, property values and quality of life, as well as any potential environmental impact. A couple have broken down in tears while speaking to the town council about the issue.
Their questions deserve answers, Naff said.
He was born and raised in Marion, working in commercial real estate in the region. He moved into his house northeast of town in 2007. At the time, Walmart was considering building on the acreage now owned by the town, and he knew developers would be interested in the area, he said.
But this result is not what he wanted, he said.
“I don’t want a data center anywhere, but this?” Naff said. “This is not the highest and best use of this property.”
He has had an issue with the town owning the land far before a data center came into the conversation, Naff said.
The town bought the acreage for about $800,000 across three parcels. Marion did not do its due diligence, in his view, to figure out how much the land was worth or what resources it had to offer before signing the purchase agreement, he said.
Now, this is the town’s last-ditch effort to make up for the misuse of public dollars buying the property, he said.
“Nothing’s coming to fruition,” Naff said. “So, it’s my opinion that this is the Hail Mary.”
‘It’s just so pretty’
Sally Hash owns 90 acres across the road from the government-owned land. She and her daughters have raised cattle, sheep and goats there for over a decade, mostly as a hobby. She is worried about how a data center could affect her animals, she said by phone, whether through pollution or some other unforeseen issue.
She would also be disappointed to see her panoramic view from the top of her property marred by a data center, she said.
“I take pictures just constantly of the sunset,” Hash said. “It’s just so pretty. I can’t imagine a data center right in the middle of it all. I mean, Marion is such a nice town. All the work they’ve done on downtown — and to have a data center right in the middle is just crazy.”
She received an offer in the mail on her land that she believes is related to the potential data center development, Hash said.
It was from Plus Power, a Houston-based company that builds battery energy storage facilities. Plus Power already operates an energy storage facility near Saltville and is working on getting another one close by approved by Smyth County.
Energy storage systems can act as a buffer for voltage spikes and reduce reliance on diesel generators for data centers, and utility companies have begun installing them. Earlier this spring, the Salem-based Blue Ridge Power Agency announced it was pairing with Lightshift Energy to deploy energy storage installments across five sites in the region.
Hash declined Plus Power’s offer, she said, and the company’s subsequent offer to pay for an easement through her property. Spokesperson Polly Shaw confirmed by email that the company made an offer on Hash’s farm but declined to offer details about any related project plans.
Hash has no desire to sell her land, she said. After her husband was diagnosed with ALS, he spent the last year of his life with his daughters on the farm, she said, and she wants to preserve their memories there.
