Northern Virginia hits the brakes on data centers
Loudoun and Prince William, home to the world's largest data center market, are both making new projects harder to approve.
Northern Virginia is the world's largest data center market. This fall, its two biggest data center counties are slowing new projects down.
In Loudoun County, supervisors voted 7-1-1 on Sept. 15 to draft a 12-month pause on the Board's final votes for data center and electrical substation applications. The formal vote is set for Oct. 20, and if it passes, the pause would apply back to Sept. 15. Applications can still move through Planning Commission hearings in the meantime; only the Board's final decisions would wait.
Loudoun is also weighing a harder step. In March 2025, the county let 17 data center applications already in the pipeline, about 11 million square feet, keep their old by-right approval path. Supervisors now want to know whether they can take that protection away. The county attorney is scheduled to brief them on Oct. 6. Board Chair Phyllis Randall has warned that if the county acts and loses in court, it could owe developers money and the projects could still be built.
In Prince William County, supervisors voted unanimously on Sept. 22 to shrink the county's data center opportunity zone overlay, where data centers could be built by right, from about 9,700 acres to roughly 3,600. After a 90-day grace period, most new data centers will need a special use permit, which means public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board. About 140 data centers remain in the county's pipeline, including projects already built, under construction or approved.
The shift is spreading beyond Northern Virginia. In the Richmond region, Chesterfield County's Board indicated in August that it won't approve any more data center projects.
Fewer data centers getting approved without a public hearing means slower timelines for developers and more say for residents. With the industry's home base tightening its rules, watch where the next wave of projects goes.
What's next
- Oct. 6 Loudoun County attorney's opinion on revoking grandfathered protections
- Oct. 20 Loudoun final vote on the 12-month pause
- Late Dec. Prince William's 90-day grace period ends