Resident sues to void Botetourt's Google data center agreement
A Botetourt resident filed suit Nov. 2 claiming the county broke the state open-records law when it approved its $1 billion-per-building agreement with Google in 2025.
BOTETOURT COUNTY — A county resident has asked Botetourt County Circuit Court to undo the board's June 2025 agreement with Google for a data center campus at the Botetourt Center at Greenfield, alleging the vote violated the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Robert L. Dallas, a retired anesthesiologist who lives about half a mile from the site, filed the petition Nov. 2, Cardinal News and WDBJ7 reported.
The petition says the Board of Supervisors went into closed session on June 24, 2025, without listing the item on its published agenda. After returning to open session, the board voted 5-0 with no discussion to approve the economic development performance agreement and a related resolution, both added as walk-on items, according to Cardinal News. A resolution on Google's agreement with the Western Virginia Water Authority was also allegedly not on the agenda.
The respondents are the Board of Supervisors, the county, its economic development authority and Helio Capital LLC, the Google-owned entity named in the agreement. Dallas asks the court to rescind all actions tied to the agreement, including the expedited permits and Google's eligibility for the county's third-party inspection program, and to require future resolutions to comply with FOIA.
The agreement covers 312 acres at Greenfield for $14 million, according to Cardinal News. Google must invest at least $1 billion for each data center, pay a property tax rate of 70 cents per $100 of assessed value and provide $4 million over five years for community projects. The planned campus has three data centers, three substations and an office building. Work on the site has already begun.
A county spokesman said Botetourt will not comment on specific allegations because of the pending litigation. No hearing date has been set. Plaintiff's attorney John Fishwick said state law calls for a hearing within seven working days and that his firm was trying to schedule one.
A ruling against the county could reopen the permits and incentives Google has relied on while grading the Greenfield site, and it adds a court fight to the Army Corps and DEQ reviews still pending on the Google Botetourt County project.
What's next
- TBD Circuit Court hearing on the FOIA petition; no date set
- TBD Army Corps permit decision on the Google campus; no date announced
Sources
- Cardinal News: Lawsuit claims Botetourt County's data center agreement with Google is invalid (Nov. 2)
- WDBJ7: Botetourt County sued over data center agreement (Nov. 2)
- The Virginia Pulse: Corps skips public hearing on Google's Botetourt data center campus (Oct. 30)
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