Loudoun shelves plan to end data center grandfathering
After the county attorney warned of up to $60 million in litigation risk, Loudoun supervisors tabled a proposal to strip grandfathered status from pending data center applications.
Loudoun County supervisors on Oct. 6 tabled a proposal to end grandfathering protections for data center applications already in the county's pipeline. The move came after the county attorney warned that removing the protections could cost the county about $60 million in litigation. No vote was taken, and no date was set to bring the item back.
The protections date to March 2025, when the Board voted 5-4 to let applications filed before the county ended by-right data center approvals keep the old path. Under it, county staff can approve a project without a Board vote if it meets the requirements. The county says 17 administrative applications covering about 11 million square feet are in review under that resolution.
Supervisors Juli Briskman and Laura TeKrony proposed ending the grandfathering this summer. On Sept. 2, the Board voted unanimously to get a legal analysis first. At that meeting, Board Chair Phyllis Randall warned: "If we do this tonight and we're taken to court and we lose, not only do we pay the data centers money, but then they can still build anyway."
An alternative motion on Oct. 6 to hire an outside auditor to review the grandfathered projects one by one was also put off. Supporters said an auditor would add transparency; opponents said it would undercut county staff and the Planning Commission, which already review the projects.
The county's broader brake is still on the calendar. On Oct. 20, supervisors take a final vote on a 12-month pause on Board decisions for data center and substation applications, retroactive to Sept. 15. Applications could still go through Planning Commission hearings during the pause. Data centers are projected to bring Loudoun about $1.3 billion in property taxes in fiscal 2027, roughly 40% of the county budget.
The grandfathered applications are the main group of Loudoun data center projects that can still be approved without a Board vote. Tabling the proposal keeps that path open, so the Oct. 20 pause vote becomes the county's main lever on new data centers.
What's next
- Oct. 20 Loudoun Board final vote on the 12-month data center application pause
- No date set Grandfathering proposal and outside-auditor motion could return