Carroll holds the key to an $11B Wildwood data center plan
A planned data center at Wildwood Commerce Park, expected to bring more than $11 billion in investment, is stalled because Carroll County has not signed on to a plan to let a regional authority make the final call.
CARROLL COUNTY — The proposed Project Lightning data center, Wildwood Commerce Park, off Interstate 77, is stuck on one question: who gets the final say. Grayson County's administrator expects more than $11 billion in investment over three years, but Carroll County, where the park sits, voted unanimously on Oct. 5 against giving the Blue Ridge Crossroads Economic Development Authority final approval.
The developer has not been named; the project is code-named Project Lightning. Grayson Administrator Steve Boyer says it would employ at least 1,000 construction workers and about 200 permanent employees at roughly $85,000 a year, and would pay for the power transmission upgrades it needs. The site is the park's last remaining parcel, 75 acres. A closed-loop cooling system would need about 25,000 gallons of water a day, supplied by the Public Service Authority, according to Cardinal News.
The three localities that own the park (Carroll, Grayson and the city of Galax) project about $1 billion in new tax revenue over 10 to 15 years, split evenly. Cardinal News calculates that at about $22 million a year each over 15 years, roughly 40% of Carroll's $55.5 million fiscal 2027 budget. Each locality invested more than $6 million in the park starting in 2010 and still owes almost $4 million a year on it. Boyer cautioned that the project "doesn't guarantee anything."
Grayson supervisors voted at a Sept. 29 special meeting to amend the 16-year-old agreement that governs the park, and Galax's council approved the same change in early October. Carroll stood alone in rejecting it, and the authority cannot move forward with an end user without first returning to Carroll, according to WDBJ. Carroll had already passed a 60-day emergency ordinance on Sept. 14 for large data centers, with noise limits of 60 to 70 decibels, water-use analyses and developer-paid utility upgrades. Grayson and Galax say the project has agreed to the closed-loop cooling, transmission and noise terms.
Carroll supervisors were to travel to Bridgeport, Alabama, this week to tour a data center. Local officials acknowledge a nondisclosure agreement is in place, and Cardinal News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it. An engineering report found 28 features near I-77 at the site, including pits, trenches and collapsed shafts.
A single county can hold up a three-locality, $11 billion deal, and the outcome will show whether small Southwest Virginia localities can trade land and power for tax revenue while keeping local control.
What's next
- This week Carroll supervisors tour a data center in Bridgeport, Alabama
- TBD Carroll decision on the Blue Ridge Crossroads authority agreement (no vote date set)
Sources
- Cardinal News: Possible data center at regional industrial park in Carroll County sparks discussion of tax revenue, local control (Oct. 26)
- WDBJ: Data center project divides three Southwest Virginia localities (Oct. 7)
- WDBJ: Grayson County confirms $11 billion data center planned for Wildwood Commerce Park (Sept. 30)