On October 1, 2025, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will receive an update from staff on the Data Center Zoning Text Amendment and the Data Center Zoning Map Amendment.

County staff have conducted extensive research into the data center industry, reviewed and updated local regulations, and engaged with the community to understand opportunities and concerns. This work has been critical to shaping how Albemarle approaches the potential for large-scale data centers.

Data centers are a rapidly evolving industry, and both their design and their impacts continue to change. Local regulation of data centers is also evolving as new information becomes available. Given this pace of change, any regulation the County adopts could become outdated quickly.

Staff will recommend that the County pause the consideration of new regulations and any potential overlay districts. This pause will allow the County to:

• Monitor the changing regulatory environment for data centers.
• Evaluate the evolving nature of data center design and its impacts.
• Incorporate any potential legislation adopted by the General Assembly in the upcoming legislative session.

During this pause, the existing ordinance will remain in effect, which requires a Special Use Permit for any data center larger than 40,000 square feet. The Special Use Permit process:

• Ensures public input is part of every review.
• Allows careful evaluation of the character of the area and potential impacts.
• Provides the opportunity to apply the most up-to-date regulations and conditions to each proposal, based on its specific design.

This approach reflects the importance of the staff’s research, updated regulations, and community input, while ensuring Albemarle remains responsive to the fast-changing data center industry.

We encourage those interested in this ongoing work to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting on October 1, either in person or virtually. Details can be found here.