>>Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I
call the June 3, 2026 meeting of the
Frederick County planning commission
order. The invocation will beOffered by
Bobby Elster from (INAUDIBLE) Baptist
Church. Please remain standing for the
Pledge of Allegiance.
>>Let us pray. Heavenly father, we
thank you for this amazing time of year
that we get to experience your creation
come alive and new life, Lord. I thank
you, father, that we can gather as a
community and express our views about
matters of concern for us.I thank you
for the planning commission that is
done their due diligence in bringing
forth something that would benefit all.
I am reminded of James chapter 1 where
it says be quick to listen, slow to
speak and slow to anger. I pray God
tonight will be expressed in that way,
in Jesus's name, amen.
>>Will you lead us in the pledge,
please?
>>I pledge allegiance to the flag of
the United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands, One
nation, under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
>>Thank you, thank you, Pastor.
That leads us to the adoption of the
agenda. I would like to propose two
changes, I would like to move items 8B
and 8C, which are a public hearingAt a
conditional use permit that we have on
the agenda for tonight, would like to
move those to the July meetingAnd I
would like to moveItem 8DUp to item 8 a
and slide D,Item AA back to 8B.
Be glad to entertain a motion for that
change. I have a motion, is there a
second?We have a motion and a second.
Any discussion?All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
>>Aye.
>>Motion carries.The March 18 meeting,,
Comments, corrections, additions to the
minutes?Glad to receive a motion to
accept those as presented.
>>I make a motion to approve the
minutes.
>>Is there a second?
>>Second.
>>All in favor say aye.
>>Aye. The minutes are adopted.
Committee reports. And reports to my
right? Do we have any?Committee reports
to my left?
>>I do, Mr. share.Frederick water did
not have remote board meeting in May,
there was a special meeting toListen to
Wiley WilsonIn the board authorized $33
millionFor the water supply, that's
part one of these fit initiative. We
also receivedAn update on the GIS
system and improvementsOf Frederick
water and weReviewed us similar rehab
projectTo the Berryville gravity, 4100
linear feetOf sewer was lined and
should last us 50 years.That's it.
>>Very good. Any other reports to my
left? I know the difference. I have one
from the transportation committee who
met this past Monday and there are
couple of things I want to point out. I
know social mediaIn Winchester Star has
been noticed that (INAUDIBLE) will be
re-decking and resurfacing the bridge
on route 7/81, the work will begin on
Thursday nightAnd hopefully inBy early
Monday morning, the traffic will beDown
to one land on each of those bridges
while the work is going on.I would say
leave out early if you have to go that
way. The second and third thing we have
learned from the sheriff department is
the speed cameras that have been put up
in school zones which have only been up
for about three monthsHave clocked in
18,000 violations.That's on Route seven
Over by Millbrook and red would run on
522 near Gainsborough middle. Slow
down, people.Those are school zones.
Last but not least, June 23 there is a
V.public hearingAt Millbrook high school
from 4 PM to 6 PMTo presentThe designs
for theExit 317On I 81, That is the
Stevenson exit, up whereThe steakhouse
and those things are. That is a report
on the transportation committeeAnd that
leads us to the board report.
>>Mr. Chairman, Commissioners,There
were three itemsThat the planning
commissionSentTo the Board of
Supervisors or action, Public hearings
were held on these three items.
Ordinance amendment to the Frederick
County code modifications chapter 165
zoning ordinance, That was approved.
Ordinance amendment to the Frederick
County code modifications to chapter
144, the subdivision ordinance, that
was approved also, AndOrdinance
amendment to the Frederick County code
modification to amend chapter 161
sewage disposal and sewers, That was
also approved. Mr. Chairman, that
concludes my report.
>>Thank you, sir.I didn't see anyone
from Winchester. Is there anyone here
from Winchester?Okay.Good, I didn't
skip them.
Okay, that leads us to item 7, which is
comments, this is a time where if you
would like to address the planning
commission concerning an item that is
not on her agenda this evening this
would be the time to do so if you would
like to speak to the planning
commission, please come to the podium,
state your name, your districts and
limit your comments to three minutes or
less. Would anybody like to address the
planning commission? I see none so I
will close the comment period. This
leads us to public hearings. With the
reshuffling of ourAgenda, the first
item up will be a draft update of the
2026 '27Interstate primary and road
improvement plans.Mr. Bednar, good
evening, sir.
>>Thank you, Mr. chair.Aaron Bittner,
planner two. This is the annual update
of the interstate primary and secondary
road plans, you're probably quite
familiar with this, the secondary road
planFor the general public, that does
require a public hearing. For ease we
complying all three plans into one
package. Moving into the interstate
Road improvement plan, the main changes
here have been verbiage updates to
bring in line with the state code and
then alsoWe have been advancing 310 and
313 improvements in priority to reflect
Being funded. For primary Road
improvement plan there are no changes
currently propose however we do
anticipate having changes come from the
comprehensive plan bottling exercise,
so there will beSubstantial changes
coming in the future.
As for our secondary roads, we have the
Redbud Road realignment, this is the
major road improvement project on this
list, this is a carryover from the
funding method, V.and the state has
turned over to smart scale. This is the
last of the projects funded through the
old method, so once this has gone, This
slide will likely be disappearing.As
for the rest of our secondary roads we
have are nonservice road improvement
projects, main change year has been
Gross Church Road is been advanced as
it is now been scheduled, the full
schedulesAre all in your packet an
annual report.And then we have are on
schedule road improvement projects,
these are unpaved roadsThat are aiming
to be completed but haven't been
scheduled, the two additions here are
veterans Road in Shady Creek Road,
these were both added due to petitions.
The transportation committee reviewed
and next recommended approval of this
documentAt their meeting this year,
this item is presented to you as a
public hearing item following that
public hearing staff are seeking
recommendations to the Board of
Supervisors, that public hearing is
scheduled for June 10 next week. Staff
are available at this point for
questions.
>>Any questions for Mr. Bittner?In
question to my right?Thank you very
much, sir.
This is a public hearing, if anybody
would like to speak to this item this
would be the time to do so. State your
name, district, please limit your
comments to three minutes or less. Good
evening.
>>Could evening, my name is Todd Lake
and I am here representing Garrett
Farms LLC. I stand before you as the
third generation of my family to
represent or to present to this
commission over a 40 year span.My
grandfather began his effort more than
four decades ago and my mother
continued in 1994, and I am here to
carry on the legacy. I'm here to speak
on the non-surface road improvement
project in this plan. Specifically,
veterans Road in Middletown between
Meadow Mills and Chapel Road. When I
was growing up this stretch of veterans
road was unpaved due to my
grandfather's persistence and advocacy
for the county had made the decision to
pave a portion of the road in 1994. Due
to budget constraints the project was
stopped short ending at fourth Street
and leaving the remaining .52 miles
unpaved. For more than 30 yearsThis
partial completion has created
confusion and frustration for the
surrounding community. The roadThat was
intended to serve residents effectively
was only improved halfway. Today that
remaining stretch has finally been
placed on the counties unscheduled
list. I am here to respectfully ask you
move this project forward. Our family
farm spends much of the length of this
unpaid section. We along with the
residents will not rely on this road
are unified in support to seeing this
completed. I understandThe cost today
is far greater than it would've been in
1994. However,The need has only grown
and the consequences of leaving an
unfinished continued impact those who
live and travel along this road every
day. I leave you with this thought.
Completing only half of a project
ultimately limits its value.It's like
designing and building an airplane but
choosing not to install landing year to
save money. What could have been fully
functional and effective is left
incomplete, unable to serve its purpose.
Tonight you have the opportunity to
correct the decision made more than 30
years ago and to provide a practical
lasting solution for the residents of
this community. On behalf of my family,
our farm, and the neighbors, I
respectfully ask for your support
moving this project forward.Thank you
for your consideration.
>>What anybody else like to speak to
this manner?I will close the public
hearing.Planning commissioners, what's
your pleasure here?
>>Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we move
this forward to the board with
recommendation for approval.
>>We have a motion, is there a second?
>>Second.
>>We have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion?Okay.Doctor, can you
get (INAUDIBLE)?
>>
[CALLING ROLL]
>>The motion carries, this will go to
the Board of Supervisors July 8.. Thank
you very much.That takes us toItem 8B,
which was previously 8A, a rezoning
04-26 for Virginia technology partner.
Let me, I would assumeThat's what folks
are here for, so let me make a couple
of editorial commentsJust so you know.
If you are following the calendar, You
might be interested to know thatTuesday
of next week we will have a work
session, planningWork session right
here in this roomAnd we will be
Discussing the Winchester Gateway LLC
application which is also a data center
. That will be similar to the work
session that we had for the project we
are discussing tonight, that will begin
at 6 PM right here in this room. We do
anticipate public hearing on thatBut
that is not yetConfirmed. As for
tonight, Mr. Pierson, let me speak.
>>Mr. Bittner for headcount?
>>If you did not sign up and you wish
to sign up, Mr. Bittner who was just up
here has the list.
>>Forty Seven are signed up to speak.
>>Forty Seven? Okay. That's fine, we
want everyone to have an opportunityTo
speak. All I am asking is we've got to
maintain a decorum or we will be here
till 6 o'clock tomorrow morning.So if
we understandThe concerns, if you are
here for the work session you understand
We grilled the applicant pretty good on
those concerns, soI would just ask that
you keep your comments brief, everyone
will have three minutes, but we would
appreciateThe minimizing of theHand
clapping, cheering and so on that are
going to delay us. We also ask when you
come to the cup podium to speak we will
list off two names. If you are the next
one, but kind the person who is there
so we can move thisAlong
quickly. Behind. Mr. Pearson?
>>Thank you. This is John Bishop's
case, so think warmly of him as he
enjoysJamaicaAnd I have to do this for
him. When you graduate with a planning
degree they say they're sending a
crystal ball in the mail,John must've
got here his, heBought his ticket six
months ago and got on the plane today.
This is an application for 220 acres in
the Stonewall magisterial district to
rezone the property from the RA zoning
district to TM technology manufacturing
, general locations 1420, arrest Church
Road in the proposed use as mentioned
is the data center Park.Using the
countywide locator map the area in red
is the general location of the property
in question in the Stonewall
magisterial District, just west of exit
323 outlined in purpleOn your zoning
map you can see the property isZoned
RA, the adjoining property to the east,
Flying J as well as a number of other
small businesses along Zachary Ann Lane
includingThe cat rental and then the
properties to the west are all
Residential subdivisions includingThe
roads, McBeth, Jolene, Timberlake
Slane, the Ridgeway state subdivision
in the properties on the north side of
Rush Church Road, a residential and
agricultural in nature. This is the
long-range map for this area, The
candycane stripe colorCalled mixed-use
industrial office, The property to these
Our orange business into the
southeastern generalIndustrial.As
mentioned, the properties west this
zone and planTo remain rural in nature.
That's a location mapWithout all the
colors on it for context, exit 323
Amazon distribution, around 11, West
Virginia is just off the north partOf
this map. To reorient youAs the concept
plan actuallyDisplays a lot clearerWith
north on the right side of the screen,
this is an illustrative image from the
applicant'sExhibit showing the
conceptual layout of how the property
could be developed in the futureIf the
resulting is approved. Casual note is
about 10 plans as well as an office
componentAnd three substation patents,
the requisite stormwater management and
a new road called technology Park Road
that will go throughThe property can be
built by the applicant.. By the
numbers, 10 to 11 data center buildings
totaling 2,000,000 ft. , likely three
substation pads, 6 acres each, up to
288 diesel generators as backup for the
data center buildings and 24,000Square
feet of office space.
Your comprehensive plan, the section
that speaks directly to this property
is the Northeast land use plan. Back in
2023, there is a wide range ofTax that
applies to this area and I've snipped a
couple for the slide but I will
summarize it as I'm sure you've heard
the staff report. This area of the
county particularly the mixed-use
industrial office planned areas are
intended to be filled by targeted
growth sectors identified by the EDA
which does include information
technology and data center style uses.
However, those uses that contribute
significantly to air noise and light
pollution may not be appropriate in
this area of the county as well. It
should be noted and it is clearly noted
in the comp plan that this particular
areaDoes have significantTransmission
capabilitiesWith (INAUDIBLE) running
for it. The plan was written before the
proposed, Show this for context as well,
again, proposed Nextera substation on
this propertyThat you will review for
2232 and then there's the 500 kV line
There as well.
Additionally these areas are
anticipated to be highly visible in the
both the building and site design
should be of high quality but also
enhancedBuffers and screening should be
Applied along roadways and surrounded
residences. Call application should
seek to mitigate their impact on those
residences.
The applicant included a proper
statement that I will overview, you saw
sitting at the daisOur redlined minor
change that we received around lunch
time around from the applicant, that's
highlighted in yellow on the slide and
the ensuing slides to show you what
they modified, so they are proffering
generalized development plan which I
will show in a minute so that will be
built in general conformance with that
plan.That they're going to prohibit all
uses except for computing
infrastructure data struck processor
and data centers, they used at Flex
Pack in there in the proper statement
on the website, butThey ever move that
uses well, so the only remaining uses
other than data centers that could be
developed on the property if the
properties rezoned are uses that would
be later added to the zoning district
by an ordinance amendment approved by
the Board of Supervisors. Additionally,
the accessory uses that support data
centers are includedAnd listed there,
they proffered into a traffic impact
analysis and implement the associated
improvements if any of the uses proposed
Exceed what they studied in the TIA,
there's perimeter landscaping including
a 75 foot buffer area and an 8 footFirm
along the Carrollton and Ridgeway
subdivisions. This is the generalized
development plan that I referred to
earlier that they proffer to, the
property being built in general
conformanceWith, it's largely in
compliance with the illustrative sketch
but brings additional detail as to the
locations of the plantings, the
setbacks, structure locations and some
of the stormwater floodplains as well.
One of our GIS text provided a rough
estimate of physical distanceFrom
existing structures to the proposed
structures on the generalized
development plan so those are shown here
and in some cases they range from 1000
feetDown to I think the smallest, the
closest one is on the other side, north
side of Rush Church Road and that's only
261 feet, just there for planning
commissioners context.
The applicant provided per the planning
commission's request and the work
session someView shed analysis as an
attempt to identifyWhat could be
visited with bull and all of them speak
to this in further detail but to
explain how that graphic works each one
of these lines shown on the core
graphic corresponds to one of the
exhibits provided in the packet and is
numbered accordingly as to which way an
individual will be looking and so
there's the kind ofCross-section of
those view lines from where those lines
are shown on the map, The applicant can
provide further context about this in
their presentation.. Moving back to the
second section of the proper statement,
the applicant has proffered two-tier
generators or equivalent low emission
units and in particular permitted them
to be for emergency use only, So you
probably heard a lot about these are
generators diesel generatorsRelative to
data center use. If someone doesn't
tear for generator they don't permit it
for emergency use and they can run it
duringPeak pricing circumstances for
power, but there committing in their
proper statements to operate them for
emergency use only.The clear
clarificationBetween previous versions
of the proffers they have seen.Also
limiting generator testingMonday
through Friday 1 to 5 in the initial
yellowsAnd dictates no more than 50%
will be tested at any given time, they
proper to a 70 dB limitation where the
property abuts the industrial and
business zone properties to the east of
theAnd then 60 DBAs were the property
abuts residential to the westRequire
use ofSound mitigating equipment on the
chillers and the other sound producing
items and required supplementary
Environmental authorities impact
assessment based on the equipmentThat
is installed in the property is
constructed. A significant list of
building materials that they intend to
use for the architectural I would note
that the proper lessons that we at
least one of thoseAnd had previously
said they would use some of those, So
it's like further clarification but not
binding to use all of themAnd then to
proffer the future of design guidelines
manual, That is not yet created and is
unclear as to what it would contain
until it is created. The last one is
nuisance a work session and that's a
$10,000 to purchase a sound meter for
the user other thanAs mentioned on GDP
because it toWould be built through the
process andUpgrades around 11 and rest
Church Road, right-of-way reservation
the future widening of Russ Church
Road, the construction of technology
Park Road, Abandon Ruebuck Lane where
it extends into the properly and
prohibits access from rubric and to the
property or out of the property, for
that matter, the dedication of an
additional 25 foot right-of-way, The
paving of Ruebuck and McBeth Lane to
rustic standards in the construction of
turnaroundIn the Macbeth Lane is the
addition to that proffer that came in
late today, and then all deliveriesFor
developmentAre taking place outside of
peak hours.The signage is limitedTo
West Church Road.From a lighting
perspective, no more than 25 feet above
grade and lighting within 50 feet of
the property line will be
perpendicular, facing away from the
property line, $150, Sorry, thousand
gross bare feet, $1000 square feet of
constructed building. On the water and
sewer sides a limitedGallons per day
usage of 120,000 gallons per dayHow
they will construct all on-site
improvementsTo the property for water
and sewer.The support will(INAUDIBLE)
for the service tracks and he will not
use any groundwater for any reason.
Proffer eight is relative to cultural
resourcesInvestigation, preservation
and architecturalStudy of prior
property to MVP, prior to MVP approval
To structures that are on the property
And then a further archaeological
assessment.Diabetes for nine cousins
and thousand dollar contributionCalled
infrastructure programming is typical,
CPI is slated for all monetaryConference
that
Has included in further detail, staff
lists a number of positive concerns for
the application, the positives are that
from a land-use perspective it's a
conference plan, it is a low overall
traffic generation for other proposals
As well as. They are seeking to
accommodate the roadway, there is some
buffering in the near residential
properties. Staff still has concerns
about the sound analysis and Alexis
curses here at the table and happy to
answer questionsOn the planning
commission will get to that. The
applicant has additional information
they will describe to you about how
they further studied the topicDuring
their presentation, The equipment
updates, attenuation should beProperty
keep the facility up to date continue
to minimize noise in the future. We
have concerns about whether the
transition zone one is inherently
industrialThe rat maximum about people,
WhatThose go hand-in-hand with the
noise getting medication issues. The
berm is not specific at this point
given there is significantly floodplain
through the partParvo. Is not
abundantly clear in the proper sailor
out theAnd if theEasements to. This is
presented as a public hearing item, we
seek a recommendation following the
public hearing to forward to the Board
of Supervisors on this proposed
rezoning, I am happy to answer any
questions, As I mentioned, Alexis from
Trinity consultants is done the peer
reviewsHere is available as well. Mr.
Chairman?
>>Any questions for Mr. Pearson to my
left?Any questions tomorrow right?Mr.
Whitaker
>>Where they supposed to be getting
their water.
>>The applicant is going to connect to
the Frederick water system.
>>They are using groundwater.
>>Asked.It inExtracts the entirety from
theCity of Winchester. The city system
is the water system.
>>For them to say they're not going to
use groundwaterIs it accurate?
>>I think they are going to tap private
groundwater sources on the property.
>>Thank you for the clarity.
>>Mr. Pearson, earlier today we received
A document that said there were
neighbors who did not, Who took no
exception with this project. Where
those neighbors located? Can you show
us on the map? I did recognize the
street name as being one adjacent to
this project.
>>I will let the applicant provide
further details. The addresses and I saw
(INAUDIBLE) showed her the programming
of believeAnd they can speak in greater
detail to that.
>>Okay, thank you. Can we ask Alexis
some questions?I hate for her to come
all this way.
>>Alexis, If you want, you can use the
microphone there.
>>At evening.
>>Good evening, thank you for being
here. Can you talk to us about the
receiverAnd how the increaseThat's
proposed in decibels.
>>When we are talking about receiver we
are looking at towards the flying J,
The difference is negligible, I believe
it's about what it currently is, The
noise level. The noise created by the
data centerAt the flying J is not
perceivedTo be much different.
Looking toward the residences, it's a
significant increaseAnd what is
currently there. This is, Sound is
logarithmic and if I sayIs 30 dB or, 6
to 8 times louder than what's currently
there, What was measured.
>>Was how muchLadder?
>>6 to 8 times letter.
>>If I am in my backyardCooking a steak
on the grillI could have a lot more
Sound is what you're telling me?
>>You could.
>>Okay.All right.
>>Mr. Chairman?
>>Thank you for being here tonight, the
chairman indicatedWe had gotten a
memorandum titled peer review member of
. Could you just maybe give us a little
context on what that means or what the
procedures were that went into this
document?
>>Sure. So we were provided with the
applicant'sAmbient noise survey that
was doneJanuary, we're excited thatAnd
then our word in the 19th which
discussed the changes they have put
forward. We reviewed both of thoseAnd
gave our professional opinionOn what we
were seeingAnd maybe what was either
>>Okay. Greedy off the report I am
under the executive summary section
where there is a comment on the
Fruitville data center acoustic
evaluation report. As a, The data
center in this best case was scenario,
all chillers on, all generators off,
normal operating mode, Will be
affecting many nearby receptor
Tremendously. A current various. To the
left or the residence located, the
western perimeter than the noise letter
Levels underThe normal operating new
generators, just the normal pulling
childrenThis is perceived as being 2 to
4 times as loud asThe proposed 50 dB of
most of the residential property lines.
Companion who nowThat level itselfJune
It specifically calls out we need to
measure was there so we understand
what's there right now.
>>Significant change from where we are
now to where at this proposal to scope
forward even in the best case scenario
where it's coolingAnd 288 generators
are running?
>>Correct.
>>Thank you for the clarification in
the report and analysis.
>>Any other questions? Yes, sir. Yes
ma'amHypothetical information?
>>No, I wouldn't say it was
hypothetical information. The applicant
did measurements, stated those in the
report, we are able to look at what the
noise level is, that's measured.And then
The other document which they put
forward says we are going to useThis
type of chiller, we are going to use
this type ofGenerator, These are the
levels that the manufacturers have
provide us. Then they input that intoAn
acoustical analysis program called
sound plan, Which is something issues
industrywideIt deals with not only the
noise but also the contours of the
land. The looks of any kind of barriers
that are there, so I believe the
applicant hasBarriers on the roof and
that any of the chillers on the roof
are actually shieldedOr shield he was
on the roof to essentially make that
pathIt's a straight shot to the
property line. Having a barrier on the
roof, some of the noises reflected off.
It takes that into consideration and
says if we use these generatorsAnd this
is where the data center is in these
are the barriers that we put in line
and we are using, We are limiting our
generators, using type for generators
and this is a sound label that we know
those have, this is also going to be
there.. It's not hypothetical. It's
based on information that exists.
>>The word ifSounds iffy. The first
presentation in the first sentence, use
the wordOn all the data that was
brought in for about the signs, And the
word hypotheticals in that first
sentence., What they're doing, what
will he do, absolutely do. If this and
if that.
I can address that, he's probably
better and Alexis can. The sound model
and the rules of theTurn of written in
the Burma-Shave room. There wasTo
achieve a certain DBA and use the sound
model they can justify to make it your
point is accurate that the modeling
itself is in no way bindingThose
proffered requirements are the things
that they have offered to try to give
the county confidenceIn their cable, the
And the model reports he can feasibly
get there. Does that make sense?
>>Nowhere and binding, this only the
proper statement. 62 Thank you.
>>Any other questions for Mr. Pearson?
>>What are the legal ramificationsIf
they surpassed the 60.What are the
revocations if they exceed?
>>I will speak to the first part handed
off to Mr. Fox who takes it to the
court system. When we have documented a
proper violation in this case it was
noise would collect evidence of the
violationAnd cite the property owner,
give them 30 days to remedy the
violation and provide a plan of how
they are going to, if they don't
respond or they fail to know that Mark
We go to the magistrateAnd follow the
court in Mr. Fox's office takes it from
there.
>>That's correct. Just remind everyone,
the proffers become part of the zoning
ordinance of the enforcement of the
proffers is no different than the
enforcement of any provision of the
existing consulting ordinance. As Mr.
Pearson is described,We try to resolve
these matters through working with. The
courts have been receptive to ordering
including monetary fines and injunctive
relief, that will be an option there.
>>Any other questions?To my left?
>>Sorry, do we know what flying J
Current DBA, I know it wasBrought up
but I am trying to compare fine JThe
data center.
>>May be polyphonics with the
applicants that study they might have a
better idea.
>>Okay.
>>Did you have another question?
>>Yes, but for Mr. Fox.If this data
center was for national security reasons
And they brokeSuch a covenantOn,Would
you look this county fighting the
federal government prices your reasons?
[LAUGHING]. Let me rescue you, Mr. Fox.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>I'm not aware that that's ever been
the case.The federal government is not
exempt from zoning requirements just
because the federal government are
based on national security, The things
that I am familiar with our aircraft
impact zones from the(INAUDIBLE) area
and the federal government generally
works with community understanding that
people have to live there and that is a
cooperative process that results in
specific overlays to the zoning
ordinanceAnd I'm kind of rambling here
because you really third threw me a
curve ball there,Because I don't think
there's any indication the applicant is
not a government entity.
>>What we are dealing with in front of
usIs a
>>The couple of times the government
has done projects in the county they
have either leased space from someone
who developed it, if that's the case
the property owner has to comply, the
federal government's exemption in no
way carry throughThat and we have that
for I think the Army Corps building,
possibly for the FEMA building as well.
The other example is the records
facility where the purchase of property
outrightAnd went through our processAs
a courtesy to us.Those are the levels
that we have dealt withIn the county
currently.
>>If it's for the national security for
the military or something you have a
big expensive battle, A long battleAnd
probably won't be successful.
>>Wyatt?
>>Any other questions.
>>I have a question to the flying
answer to the flying J question. There
were three measurement locations taken
on that perimeter andDepending on which
statistical measurement use, Ellie Q,
which is the average measurement time,
the averageMeasurement,Sound it was
somewhere between 57 and 67 dB. If you
look at it as an L 19, which is kind of
a baselineNoise level, it was between
46 and 58 dB. The projections over
Estimate no change to the alley QAnd 4
dB for the L 90 numbers, just for a
point ofReference, for numbers is
rarely perceivable.
>>Anything to my left? Anything to my
right? Thank you, Mr. Pearson.Mr.
Minshew? Good evening, sir.
>>Members of the planning commission, I
am speaking on behalf of the applicant
tonight. I would like to start off
thanking Mr. PearsonAnd BishopFor their
very thorough professional work on this
application, We have been working about
eight months of this application and I
want to note there professionalsAt the
start. This is an application to rezone
We have the applicant, the contract
purchaser cost civil engineering,
acoustic, power infrastructure, we can
talk about the grid, Nextera,
Shenandoah Valley, also engineering in
dealing with water consumption in the
cooling apparatus. We have a fiscal
impact study that I don't believe Mr.
Pearson mentioned that we will be
touching on and lastly but not least
the traffic.These are not within my
areas of expertise so with your leave I
would like to hand the ball overSeven
bullet points at the startSubstation my
Nextera that is part of the grid, you
saw there was a 500 KB lineThat is
literally right adjacent this property.
On this property will be a Shenandoah
Valley electrodermal electrical
cooperative substation. That's unusual.
Normally would have distant substations
from a data center. You've got
transmission lines, you've got the
Transmission lines. Here,Betsy the grid
Comfortable parcel that is due south of
this for SovietYou go into the
Shenandoah Valley substation on site.
From there it becomes retail, power
that will go out to the data centers. I
know the chairman we originally had
filed an ordinance exception to allow
for overheadPower lines. We met with
Shenandoah ValleyWe realize we will do
that. HereDistributionLine of power
Coming from the substation in the
underground. That means you're not
going to see any well transmission lines
Of dead sinners. We offered to
(INAUDIBLE) our existing wells. To
Whitaker's question we are in the
swastika, water will come to usFrom
Frederick water, Better we will and I
can in front of our. It's not longer
than others in Frederick County,
particularly manufacturing areas. We
have receivedA clear authorization for
the water that they can provide,
hundred 20,000 gallons a dayAnd we will
be dealing, talk about later how that
will be used for your condition and
noted that we have profferedThe ambient
sound level and I'm sure we'll have
conversations with noiseAnd I'll be
yelling the floorSeveralAcres are
adjacent to this property. I wanted to
mention the data center useIs one that
generates a lot of tax revenues. We
have a study that was filed by McGuire
which consulting that we would ask for
anyThat this projectWill generate here
inDollars to Frederick County over
Several years so will create 440 jobs
for the starting salary of $72,500 and
will inject approximately $600 million
in wage income into the regional
economy. One thing that doesn't mention
is there will be electrical engineers
and contractorsWho will come and build
this. Please we skilled master
electricians, They will be paid
pursuant to contract, hopefully they
live in Frederick County and frankly
one reason we are wanting to work with
the Laurel Ridge community college is
we would like to haveTraining facility
here in Frederick County where will
Those type high school jobs, we could
be educating them and giving them jobs
in Frederick County.The property was
mentioned, Mr. Pearson's presentation,
a total of 220 acres, is currently
planned forIndustrial mixed-use office
Uses., Toying 32 approval of theAnd.
You can see the nexus of session is to
Right where it says to be a technology
Park that's where the substation would
be. Tooth and jowl next to what is part
of the grid. Additionally, Mr.
Chairman, quite often there isA worry
that there will be a breakdown of the
distribution system of electricity. In
this, you're going to have part of the
grid, part of the PJM grid, 500 KB line
coming down to theNext up station. That
will be new infrastructure. Extra
infrastructureThe next substation do
infrastructure, that will go into new
Electrical cooperative infrastructure.
SoWe are not relying uponA rural
electrical distribution system.
Everything is going to be new. For that
reason we think if there is, Get going
to be. We don't do that, envision that,
the Shenandoah Valley has given us a
rundownAnd we have got a slight for
that, but our electrical engineersGiven
the newness of this infrastructure and
the location of the gridThatBelieve
that if we have a blackout of property
is going to be regional in natureIf not
just a substation. These are three
Quotes, this is not our language, this
all came from other professionals,
Frederick water, Frederick water has
told us that 120,000 gallons per day of
demand can be accommodated. Again, the
source of that water is up to Frederick
County, they can tell you where that
comes from.ThatIs probably 250
single-family detached refreshing.We do
have a proffer that will say that that
water go to. Mr. Fox says it is a vault
zoning violation if we were to pull
more than 120 gallons a dayOn that here
can we will make sure that is not
happening, Frederick water will also
make sure that's not happening, SBAC it
has also said they can provide the
loads required, they do have a separate
consumerClass, they have told us that
Provision of power through them as a
retailProvider will not increase
residential rates, as for that
substation,The consumers electrical
power in Frederick County will not be
paying for that substation, this
applicant will. Most likely there will
be a long-term easement or lease given
the SECIn this applicant will build
kind of a build to suitFor the
Shenandoah Valley electrical cooperated.
They are aware of the risks and they
will insulate their membersFor many
risk associated with the cost of this
project. LastlyPolyphonics is our
consultant, basically the generators
will be governed by rigid industry
standards and we can get deeper into
noise that we are going to make sure
that we not onlyConstantly are below,
We will have sound levels as low as 63
in residential areas.
I would like to briefly talk about staff
concerns, we work session here on May
5 about a month ago and we revised our
proffers based upon planning commission
input and I want to go through that.
These are on the left-hand side, you've
got staff report concerns, on the right
and signs are responses, basicallyWe
have proffered to tier 4 compliant
generators. Tier 4 compliant generators
is the highest industry standardAnd I
note that these are diesel generators
andThe amountA generator makes sure that
carbon related gas emissions and
particulate are kept at a very low
level. This is adjacent to Interstate 81
, Interstate 81 has a lot of truck
traffic and they primarily burn diesel.
Diesel fumes in this area, The
stonewall district, Will be primarily
coming from West 81, not fromDiesel
generators, Particularly with the type
for compliance generators, We would be
glad to address questions, But the tier
4 generators will make sure that the
air is clean and that, again, they will
only come onWhen there is a breakdown
with the grid, other than for testing.
We will talk about that later. We also
have a proper design guideline, we do
not have those yet, that's
architectural document, we are going to
prepare those, show them what the
buildings look like, that will be
enforced like your governance side,
that we are property owners Association
here that will maintainConformance with
the design guidelines. We are going to
file that with the county, We want to
make sure they will see it but we are
not going to ask the zoning
administrator to serveAs judging the
integrity of the architectureBut that
will be enforced privately by the
partner Association.As Mr. Pearson
mentioned, there was one useCould
generate traffic, we have taken that
out, unless the Board of Supervisors
were adding more uses, the only use
allowed here would be the data center
which would be a low trip generating
use. We are installingBerms at
locations, hopefully they could be
built concurrent with the bermsThat
(INAUDIBLE) will be building on those
substations.We have those as ways of
providing screening. I talked about the
design guidelines.
In terms of the noise, again, will be
yielding the floor with your leave, Mr.
Rob Miller can talk about noise and
address questionsThe commission may
have but we will be holding a maximum
soundOf 60 DBAAt the property lines
adjacent to residential uses. Obviously
there's more noiseClose to Interstate
81, and additionally based upon our
recent self-study, the anticipated
sound level property will be lower than
the 60, we refrain fromVAWe will adjust
our age(INAUDIBLE), Fred Waters told us
that 120,000 gallons a day will not be
a problem to provide. And I will
briefly go through some of the
Revisions, some of these we have done
after a work session, where theWe work
with us throughWet wipe your current
talk about some of them, propertyAnd
then also we put in a restrictionOn
when and how those generators can be
tested. They do it to be tested, that's
part of their maintenance program, but
we made sure that will not have these
generators all firing up at once. There
will be a great conservator will you
know when tested.. On our nickel, as
Mr. Pearson mentioned, we will be doing
an openRate of McBeth Lane to the real
world standards peer, also mentioned
that we have withdrawnOur oil revocation
Pair going on toAbout outage issues,
again to and
>>There primarily due to the grid in a
noteThis PC is even said on the existing
infrastructure and, Eight hours
throughout his time, we think that's a
high number because as mentioned if
there was an outageIt is an outage due
to the grid, not toA big storm blowing
down distribution lines. Additionally
we areHolding theWritten decibel level
down to residential zones. We did some
study, Mr. Chairman on containment, we
are going of a 10 foot stucco wall
around all generators, we are designing
that toReduce low impact noiseAnd we
can get into the exact engineering why
there is a betterIt's better from a
standpoint ofLow-frequency noise and
Rob Miller can talk about that better
than I can. Generator testing, we have
talked about it briefly, this is a side
that basically showsThere's 298
generators, They will need to be tested
15 minutes per generator per weekAnd
basically if you haveBeing tested, if
you have generators being tested at one
time you have a seven cycle testing
regime, each one for 15 minutes.We
don't believe the required testing can
be generated is going to produce an
impact in their only 15 minutesPer
generator per week.We did mention that
the citizens of the methylene did sign
the ones that are in.This is a view
shed analysis, fear driving southbound
on 81, we wanted to pick up when will
this come in your view shed? Obviously
if your northbound you're probably not
going to see itUnless(INAUDIBLE), this
is on the southbound trip this is the
line of sight when our data center
building will come into view. If you're
driving south the biggest building you
will see is the Amazon justiceCenter.
As you go south the holdings will blend
more into the Western area. Then you
have the flying J that will be the most
visible thing you can see.This is a
photo simulation taken on public road
right-of-wayBeth Lane and you might ask
why did I put this up there, you can
see between two trees(INAUDIBLE) in the
cul-de-sac of Jolene Drive, that thing
above the house that looks like a
low-lying cloud, that's one of the data
center buildings.That is on the horizon
Above the house to the right there.
With that, Mr. Shearman, what I would
like to do by your leave is turn the
podium over to Mr. Rob Miller
polyphonic. We know that noise and
sound is an issue here, with your leave,
We had Rob Miller of poly science to
come upAnd he can tell you aboutWhat
the next few slides are. Rob Miller of
poly science.
>>Good evening, sir.
>>Good evening. I had the good fortune
talking about sound levels, It can be
an out there subject but wanted to
bring some grounding in truth to what
we are
>>How long are they allowed? Three
minutes?
>>There the applicant, they get as much
time as they want.
>>They get as much time as they want?
>>Yes sir.
>>I am glad to be as long or short, I
know this is an important topic, and I
want to address it to the satisfaction
of everyone.
>>(INAUDIBLE)
>>Of course.I will lean this way so
everyone could hear and I can hopefully
see.The ambient noise level study we
did in JanuaryWhich was a good month,
no snow, Hard ground conditions, No
leaves on trees, able to get good sound
level measurements aroundThe site. You
will see 10 measurements across,Here
it's rotated, The North is on the
rights of the flying J question, you
can see isHere along towards them to
and M3. We are IAD one is further south
, this is the frontage road behind the
flying J. Where you can see the LE Q
level is at 66, 57 and M2 and 63At M1
closer to the Dealer. Elsewhere,.
Notably, a comment that was earlier,
Actually, we will just get there,Before
I get there, a fewTouchstones to think
about here.The. We are looking to
achieve nowhere near that. 60 DBA is the
Frederick County residential noise level
that the site is not subject to but
might be usefulFor those with residents
this in Frederick County.When the EPA
developed this model noise ordinance
and said this is a good starting point
for communities to adopt for noise
levels, They chose 55. It protects the
requisite use of people's homes,
enjoymentOf the surroundingsBarbecues
in such, the normal day-to-day use of
the data centerSchilling only.
Depending where you are, 50 to 55 as we
heard a little bit ago. AlreadyWe are
approaching5 to 10 DVLighter than the
Frederick County noise ordinanceAnd to
use the decibel math we've been talking
about, that's about half as loud,
Towards half of as loud. It was 50 it
would be half as loud. For 50 50, 55,
somewhere in between.Hopefully that
makes sense.Peer we are under the
ResidentialFrederick County
(INAUDIBLE). This was our simulation of
vitae one noise in conjunction with the
site. There may be a better slide that
I addedHere later on, we will see if it
is here to show, But unfortunately
those numbers are small, I could come up
and read those to you, But they are in
the low 50s. Can I yell and I will just
read out?
>>Hey, Rob
>>We are lives stream, you have to stay
in front of the mic so people watching
can hear.
>>(INAUDIBLE)
>>Okay. So I will use my mouse, And
this is coming upRuebuck Lane, 5253,
5354, 5251, 51, 52. In a long flying J
60, And I believe when it says instead
of being equal to the data center is
equal to the flying J it's actually 10
dB louder, Quieter than the flying J,
So there's no addition happening, Is
purely IED one noise that your hearing
at that location..
Looking at the data center itself,
similar numbers, 52, 52, 53, 51, 51,
50, 50, 52 down here.. When we have
Generator testing happening, You saw a
little spreadsheet earlier, what that
ends up being isHalf of one buildingFor
three buildings, so half of one building
Is being testedThree times across the
site, and they can be spread out so that
they are not ganging up and one
neighborhood, one group of neighborsIs
hearing 3/2 data center no ways, it
spread around soThe distance works out
and you're not hearing and your only
hearing the closest testing happening
next to you. In this case, we choseThis
property line along RuebuckAnd these
generators are being tested here, this
third building south, And what you will
see is that this levelExpanding from
the buildingIs between 55 and 60 as it
crosses over this residential property
line.So for the testing scenario of 1/2
building being tested near you, We
still remain under theResidential noise
ordinanceAnd in the proper in general
is to maintain 60, But that is, again,
assuming that we are in emergency mode.
This is testing mode.And I will leave
it there.
>>The last few slides are examples of
renderings, the design guidelines
basically calling forUse of components,
These are not proper architectural but
this is what they would look likeBy use
of the design elementsIn the proper
spiritWith fenestration, WindowsAndNote
thatAccounting I came from I've seen
differentIterations of data centers,
first generation look likeWarehouses
with no windows, no fenestration. The
second generation looked a little better
, The new ones being built now haveMore
of a curb appeal, Use of glass, good
lightingIn different colors.
With that, that's a rundown of our
aerial, that, Mr. Chairman, I would be
glad to answer any questionsOr have any
members of the government team ask any
questions that the Commissioner may
have.With that, yelled back.
>>Thank you. Any questions to my right?
Mr. Crane?
>>I've got two questions for you, one is
if there are separate companies, Let's
say there's 10 separate companies, one
at eachData center, How are they going
to coordinate the testing of their
generators? If there's 288His company
ABC going to coordinate with XYZ? Hey,
I'll fire mine up this day, you fire
your ears, how is that going to work?
>>If these are landowners that are
lessees, let's say, part of their lease
would be conformance with these
products.So they're going up to work it
out, They can't fire it all at once and
then will be a violation of their lease
if they do.We will also have an
operations manual that will dictateWhen
pursuant to each lease you can test
your generators.And the mechanisms that
we will have is the owner, If anyone
reaches those lease terms, just like
any commercial tenant who violates the
terms of his lease.
>>My second question, I am a pretty
simple guy, pretty simple question. Do
you live in Clearbrook?
>>I'm sorry?
>>Do you live in Clearbrook?
>>I do not, sir, I don't live there yet.
>>If you did, if you built a home there
25 years ago and you enjoy the ambience
of that neighborhood, Would you like a
data center built in your backyard?
>>That's a fair question, I bought a
houseAnd I look at the conference of
planAnd I looked atWhat that
comprehensive plan will allow in terms
of zoning. Also look to seeWe are the
infrastructure, so to answer your
question, I would not have a problem,
My opinion, I know that you might not,
but I thinkThose decisions of land-use
primarily are making the hopper into
plan. It doesn't say residential and
its property.As a matter of fact, the
planning commission, put in an
application for the same property and
recommend approval of this property be
rezoned within one zoning district that
would allow for warehouses and
logistics, operations, much more truck
traffic. That was an application before
this planning commission about two
years agoAnd they recommended approval
of it.
>>Thank you, sir.
>>Any other questions?To my left?
>>I have a question,Doing some reading
and research on noise, For the noise
gentlemen, can you tell me about last
loaded vinyl and whether it was going
to be, whether it would have any
options to reduce low-level noise in
your buildings?
>>Mass loaded vinyl is, For 1/8 inch
pieceOf vinyl, it weighs about 1 pound
per square foot, it can come to pounds
per square foot, I don't wishThe handy
man to deal with2 pounds per square
foot, it's very difficult. It is
frequently used to wrap ducksWhen they
are coming into the building because
there's noise coming off the rooftop
unit, something like that, it has about
the benefit ofDepending how it's used 6
to 10 dB of improvement, So it is
frequently usedAs a compressor wrapFor
chillers and you saw in the proper that
there areMitigation techniques that
must be included in chillers, And so I
suspect that would be one of the
components that the manufacturers
alreadyDoingFor that type of equipment.
Is there a specific? No, okay.
>>Hang on. I have a question. Related
to sound. We're talking about decibels,
But we don't believeIt addresses a
whole lot of frequency and from what I
understand a low level frequency that
causes a lot of these health issuesAnd
potential of the things that we are
just not really talking about. And I
know part of your study I think you did
address frequency, but it was higher,
wasMaybe 65 Hz?
>>We looked at 63, which isThe date of
the manufacturer provided. Let me
discuss that a little bit. We usedThe
ANC standard, ANC is a majorUS governing
body that brings professionals together
To decide on what should be standards,
And it was done in conjunction with our
professional acoustical Society of
America.In terms of the noise there is a
In appendix, and annex to that standard
that addresses specifically.And it
gives just like I sort of listed,
frequency, decibel levelsThat are
ordinances, there are decibel levels
That contribute toA level that people
don't like, all right, I'm going toUse
in their home. What we did, we took the
generators and we took the chillersAnd
The testing scenario for the generator.
We modeled it similar to what you saw
on the screenAnd for the nearest
residences, 70 dBIs unweighted, soYou
get thisGoing on, the preferred decibel
level at that 63 Hz, how much of that
comes across property line?We foundWe
stayed below 70 dBForThe type II level
IINoise enclosure for the generator,
Which what that means is thatThe
standard body found was meant for homes
ofStandard typical wood frame
construction with, No storm windows, no
race and read, anything like that. This
Decibel level and superior maintains a
piece of quiet peace and quiet. It's
the NT standard. We analyze it and so
we are really happy.
>>(INAUDIBLE)
>>S 12, I have it on my phone. Thanks
time someone calls me up I will give it
to you.We stay the 70 dB stays outside
the propertyAnd what's important to know
Is that
>>Rob, you need to address the planning
commission, sir.
>>Thank you.So the 70 dB unweighted 63
Hz stays off the property lineWith the
level IIGenerator enclosureIn the
testing scenario.
>>Thank you.
>>Ag just going with the peer review
and other charactersLower than 63 Hz,
is that something we could get results
onJust to make sure we may be above and
beyond this standard at least we know
we are protecting everybody above and
beyondThe standard?
>>In terms of the frequency that we are
able toStudy and understand,
manufacturers for both HVAC equipment,
the chillers and the generators, Their
lowest level, their lowest octave band
frequency band slice that they report
is 63 Hz optic man peer can so we are
unable to investigate anything lower
than that, But we investigated what the
manufacturers provide. Typically,The
low-frequencyHas gotten awfullyUpset
has contributed to the windmills, Low
blade counts,AndI am learning about
natural gas and flaring is also
low-frequency source. I've not seen any
indication of diesel generatorsOr
particularly chillers, They operate
much higher than that.
>>Thank you.
>>Thank you. Any other questions?
>>I had another question, I know in the
lastMeeting we had we talked about the
water usage at 120,000, I think those
120,000 gallons, I think we had a
description of what the 20,000 was four
and I think Mr. Stowe brought up the
comment, what's the other hundred
thousand and theIf anybody wants to
talk about where that hundred thousand
dollars going to be used.
>>It will be used for cooling purposes.
Let me yield to someone who can answer
that question better.This is John not.
>>Okay, so just so I'm clear on the
question, you would ask about the 20,000
and where does the other $100,000
100,000 come from? As we stated in the
proffers, we proffered to a number of
different cooling systemsWhich are use
a low amount of water, air cooled,
closed loop, Direct liquid chip and
immersion. Those are low useWater
technologies. We collect the amount of
water that we under the those
technology scenarios to be less than
100,000 gallons per day.We believe it
is very importantAfter having spoken
with a number of users who are data
center operatorsTo maintain some
flexibility, some flexibilityWith the
amount of waterThat we are asking to use
. We have kept it at 120,000, we have
confirmedWith director Frederick water
that that amount of water is currently
available todayWith the water system
and the sewer system. Are the
technologies going to use three years
from now to build these buildings? Are
they going to use that hundred and
$20,000? No. Is there another
technology being developedThat none of
us know about that might use a little
more water and probably is a better
system than the ones that currently
exist? Could be. We're just asking for
some flexibility.
>>Okay.
>>Actually, I had a little comment, I
know when we talked aboutThis CUP
processMr. Pearson expressed concern
aboutBeing able to enforce the 120,000
gallons limitSo, I reached out to our
outside attorneys in Richmond and we
are going to come up with a policy toOr
a contract to addressAnd It at 120 with
penalties or the ability to shut off to
exceed that over a period of time.
That's still in development(INAUDIBLE)
going into the wastewater system with
those 5% of its capacity. We did not
have a policyRegarding a large water
user that basically evaporated all the
water off and it did make it to the
sewer system.Because of the comments we
have had, I reached out to Eric and our
outside counseling we are going to come
up with something so when something is
in a proper statement I think this
board can feel that Frederick Waterton
basically enforce thatProperly.
>>We will commit, weOur custom to
entering developers agreements with
different governing bodies.
>>That's why say want to make sure you
guys are comfortable with your number,
I'm sure we will work at it, but of the
>>You will have to apply the water with
you andPay for the amount of gallons
were used at the time. We know how many
gallons it will be at that time.
>>Thank you.
>>I have a question. Of that 100,000
gallons of water, 100,000 gallons go in
, It's 100,000 come out?If it's 100%
evaporated then nothing comes out. What
comes out?
>>We are not were using evaporative
systems. You can pick a gallon, 1
gallon a day, 10 gallons a day, hundred
thousand gallons a day, we need to take
that in which is available today,It's
likely that most of that water would
also come out into the sewer system
which is also available today.
>>In the water that comes out, What
condition is that in?What contaminants
are in there?
>>It's clean water. We cannot send
anything into the sewer systemThat
Frederick water does not permit us to
send into the sewer system.
>>Okay, thank you.
>>No questions?
>>Minus not on water.The area that is
in a flood zone, I think why it had
brought out how would we handle the berm
in that areaOf flood zone if you can't
have a berm because of the flood zone?
>>I don't, I'm not an engineer, but
Putting inBerms and floodplain I think
we need the permitting requirement,
It's a minor or major floodplain,
that's a good engineering question,
generally you don't want to put in any
obstructionsIn a floodplain, So it have
to do that burden with her Whatever
County engineering says, I think FEMA
has a problemWith doing things that
will interfereIn a berm would do that.
Can we haveWith some drainage structure
boots I'm not an engineer, I don't
really know.I know you can't fill in
the floodplain, that will get you in
trouble.
>>I have one question for you,I got
this question today in an emailAnd I
had no idea what the answer was. There
is a suitThat's been filed against the
folksAgainst the substation that will be
Providing your power. If the plaintiffs
prevail, what will that mean?
>>I don't know about that lawsuit but I
think it's challenging the approval of
the substationThat the plan commission
approved.I really can't speculate since
I am not a party to that litigation, but
The next of the, Would that present an
issue with this data center? The answer
is clearly yes.You probably knew the
answer before you ask it.
>>I am not a lawyer either, sir.
>>Thank you for this opportunity,Let's
go back and hear from the public.
>>With that, open the public hearing,
Again, this is public hearingAnd the
moment we have been waiting for us to
hear from you. And that's important for
us. We do want to practice decorum, we
do want to keep orderlyAnd we want to
move things along rapidly, we have 47
people that signed up to speak and
that's fine, we would love to hear from
all of you. We know a lot of the
concerns based on the emails you sent us
, we read those and many of them I get
to respond to, which I'm fine doing,
but with that we want to get into this
is please limit clapping, hooping, that
sort of thingAnd off we go, Mr.
Pearson.
>>Mr. Chairman, first speaker is Vicki
Michael's followed by J Martz.
>>J, if you can come up and get in
line, please, sir?It evening, ma'am.
REMICADE evening. Mr. Chairman, members
of the board, my name is Vicki
Michaels, and I live in the stoneWall
district. The best argument for not
rezoning rural land as our very own
comprehensive plan. Chapter 2 rural
areas. Frederick County's rural areas
provide places for agriculture,
forestry, protection, And preservation
of natural resources and tourism.The
rural areas best exhibit the nature,
beauty, view sheds and tranquility for
which Frederick County is known.
Agriculture, forestry, conservation,
Play an important role in the
environment, heritage and economy of
Frederick County. The rural areas of
the county provide benefits to the
communityIn many ways. Preserving and
protecting the rural areas the
Frederick CountyIs importantNot only to
ensure the economic viability of
agriculture and forest to operators but
to guarantee these lands are present
for use and enjoyment of future
generations.Please honor our
comprehensive plan and vote no. Don't
give away 220 acres of rural land. We
have all asked about data centers
causing our electric bills to go up.
There is talking about putting in
battery storage for these. Because of
the public utility regulation policy
act of 1978, our electric companies
will be requiredTo buy power from the
battery storage sites whether they need
it or not. So, yes, our bills will go
up.
I had intended to end it here, but today
the Winchester Star survey came out.
2901 surveys forThe tester in Frederick
County, 60% of those people indicated
being informedAnd 90% of those
respondents would not be in favor ofA
data center. 96 were concerned about
the impact on environment and utilities
. 70%Of the health risk and noiseAnd,
sadly, 60% of those respondents did not
trust the representatives to honor what
their constituents want.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Folks, let her speak.
>>Today is a promise for tomorrow. You
need to do the hard things, you need to
save our rural land and you need to
vote no. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Thank you.
>>J Martz followed by Jodi Zeiss.
>>Hey, good evening, Chairman Stowe,
members of the commissionI am Jay
March, Frederick County taxpayer and
resident of Gainsborough. I am here to
speak in opposition to zero 426, the
VirginiaTechnology Park. I am here to
pose any further rezoning of our county
farmland. I greatly oppose the action
that you took on Madison to 77. You are
destroying the character of the county
with these votes on rezoning our farms.
Joe, Vaughn, you are pretty good friends
Dear John Lamanna, We go way way back.
Charles, I've gotten to know you from
the patriots. Tim, we have had back and
forth, we speak cordially, I think it's
great. Al, thanks for coming to the
Memorial day celebration, your redbud
town halls are great, Mike, I love it.
Randy, it's good to see you tonight. I
mention first names, I mentioned first
names like this because Frederick
County has a great small town feel. A
place where first names are used often.
A community, is the community. I'm not
just a resident, I am a member of this
community and I greatly enjoy that, and
I really want to preserve that.I pushed
hard, very hard for all my family to
live here in the northern Shenandoah
Valley, to stay away from Fairfax and I
succeeded. TodayI had a yard full of
grandkids, helping me trim bushes,
wildflowers, cut the grass, great time.
My neighborI just cut some, Cut his
pastor Downey raked it up, I loaded
them up in the pickup truck and I drove
around and I saidHe's got it all raked
up, he will come back and feed his
cattle over the winter.Do you think I
would load up my grandkids and go to
the data center?
[LAUGHING]
Would that be something I would do in
this community? I don't think so.I am
not here to talk about megawatts of
Power, gallons of water, noise, View
shed pollution, no. I believe that your
main purpose hereIs to promoteThe
health, safety, and general welfare of
the public. Okay? This action is in the
wrong direction. So please vote no.
Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Jody Zeiss followed by Elizabeth
Taylor.
>>Thank you for serving, my name is
Doctor Jodi's eyes gain borough
district, there's literally no data
anywhere that I've researched stating
that a data center can use hundred
25,000 gallons or less a day.
Everything says 1 to 5 million although
he did mention it's not evaporative but
what are you using? By the way somebody
asked 70 dB, what does that sound like?
It's like a hairdryer or vacuum running
all day long.DB our loudnessAnd for some
low-frequency pitches as dangerous as
how loud it is. Additionally tier 4
generator can mean more than one thing
And they have not specified, it can
mean resilient or how well it works or
safety, it doesn't give off the
nitrogen oxides that cause cancerOr
respiratory diseases. I don't see a
specification.The data center has curb
appeal, you have 200 generators, have
you been to Prince William County
lately? I drive there every single day.
According to the reportDated December
9, 2024 conducted by the audit review
commission data centers of that sides
only employ 50 to 100 full-time jobs,
half of those are contract workers not
necessarily employees of the any act.
If these areas entities are building it
they cannot simply sit there and tell
us how many people will be hired.
Contrary to the recent news, those
against data centers are not extremist,
we are not and I progress our tech. We
are hereFor health and safety of our
neighbors. I'm your friendly neighbor
nerd and I researched for fun. We are
here to ensure our right to a healthy
lifeAnd happy lessTo a place we call
her home. It brings temporary jobs for
only two years. What do you do then?
Will even more? According to that
report that went to Governor Young can,
the recommendationsSay that electric
utilities have the authority to delay
but not deny service to customers when
the additional customer load can't be
supported. That's different from what
we were told.It also recommends that
our local government establish and
enforce maximum allowable sitdown
levels for operational data facilities
and use alternative low-frequency
metrics and zoning ordinance, that has
not yet been done. It also states that
many mistakes have been done fromOther
localities in Virginia where they have
allowed technical centers and not
consider them industrial to be next or
look residents in agricultural and it
states in their report that that should
not be approved. That industrial
centers and technical center should not
be next to residents in agricultural
areas. If you vote yes you are
acknowledging your full understanding
of aquifers, the training, clearly they
don't understand in our region how
forever chemicals never ever go away
and there will be some and the
understanding ofLow decibel sound and
your understandingOf great waters
environmental effects on our entire
ecosystem. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Elizabeth Taylor followed by Heather
Reese.
>>Hey, y'all, I am Elizabeth Taylor, I
live in back Creek and I just want to
kind of talk about the larger
initiative here nationwide, I think we
all need to put our heads down and wake
up a little bit that we are on and on
split of unvented industry that is like
a parasite that's grown across our
nation. It's a cancer, and it's
affecting our supply chains, it's
affecting and stressing our resources
And even on May 18 we already initiated
federal guidance to activate generators
that across Virginia because the
electrical grid was stressed. I don't
know if you rememberArch allies but
they are very hotIn the air pollution
is going to be put into our airways are
just going to be intolerable, let alone
the supply chain itself, there's
diesels shortages across the nation and
we as the people are affected by that
And where all the supplies coming from?
If we are building thousands of data
centers across our nationThat are
affecting us, the people, who is
building the supplies? I have a 1970s
building, one drop of water, one pipe
and I got $50,000 worth of damageThat
I've got to deal with.What's going to
happen with these suppliers in a
stressed economy, what are we looking
at? These industries are not vetted,
you cannot have, you don't have impact
analysis, you don't have metrics, you
can't rezone to something we've never
seen in human history. Three years, it
took me nine months to grow one of my
three childrenOkay? So just saying,We
have got to get perspective here in the
larger national emergency because the
storm is bigger than data centers. I
love my community and I love the people
in my community and I want to
participate in our health and wellness
because guess what, when this comes and
takes all of our resourcesWhere are you
going to go to sanitize your water? Is
going to be with us, We know how to do
that. You're missing the point of the
Treasures that we have, we are stewards
of this land in the valley with the
mountains, we care about our people, we
care about our butterflies in our
waterways and our systems, Our true
treasures are those resourcesAnd as we
pledge our allegiance under God to this
country, That is the land we stand on,
the air we breathe, the water we use in
our connection to it into each other.
So I just want us to kind of get out of
where our own we as humans and see a
larger picture here.And long story
short, as we build is a community going
forward into a sustainable future, Can
we take our time in building the
industries that provide us jobs
Work with our wild spaces and in our
communities? There's no rush year.
Let's have some wisdom and step back
and watch the larger picture unfolds we
can protect our county and build
towards industry gains that really
contribute to community holistically.
We can do this together, I believe we
can and I really appreciate you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Heather Reese followed by Carrie
Hibbert.
>>I am Heather ReeseAnd I am here more
to speak aboutThe total noise that has
been alluded toBut I think we are being
Fed some false information. DBA, I guess
that is the only metric that we have,
We are way below the standardWe do not
have DBC measurements in our propers
required of these centers.Every
residence that is backing on thisNeeds
to have their own meter.This meter
needs to run 24/7, not an eight hour
averageWhich is what happens in
industrialHi Jean when you are doing
Basic industrial hygiene data gathering
, you're looking at an eight hour day
average because they are only looking
at occupational exposure for their
workers. We are talking about women,
Infants, other children running around
Exposed 24/7/365 days a year. This is
serious, serious health impact that
this county is completely ignoring. Why
did see it even matter? These are the
decibels you don't hear. These are the
decibels that get into your body.I am a
physician, my occupation and, I am not
an industrial hygienist but I can't
Nearly is eloquently as Alexis can, but
our own internal systems run about 5 to
8HertzOur low frequencies. When you
have all of these 5 to 8 Hz coming from
external sources it is elevating
cortisol, is raising your blood
pressure, raising your health, you
might be asleep there all of this and
yet you're going to have a heart attack
10 years earlier because of thisChronic
stress. It's affecting the development
Of the prefrontal cortex, fetal brains,
of our children that are growing up
around theseHere 24/7, 365Damage to our
children and we have to listen to
what's happeningIn livestock.
Livestock, all of them are losingWait.
Hands are laying 50% fewer eggs, cows
are not producing as much milk. I grew
up in Appalachian next to a Goldmine,
grandpa used to send in the Canaries
with the coal miners. When the canary
died you came out. We have to start
listening to the canaries before our
own children are injured. And I love
when they talk aboutYour basicWooden
house is fine, no.If you really want to
Halt the sounds that are coming through
you needed 2 to 4 inch air gap in your
Windows.Your exterior doors are going
to be, have to be solid.When you have
these low-frequency noises coming
through into your home they are
amplified, when it's cold out, Their
amplified, those waves are being pushed
down into your home, the corners of
your homes are dangerous, you're going
to move your furniture to the center of
the room. These are things that are not
simple, nobody wants to do that in
their homes and these are the risks.
There is an industry standard in please
write this down.This needs to be our
industry standard. If the DBC is 15
above DB a then they need to be
sanctioned.Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Carrie Hibbard followed by Scott
Lech.
>>Hello, my name is Carrie Hibbard and
I live in the Gainsborough district.At
the May work session, one of the
concerns I had was when they asked me
about easements,They just stated they
would negotiateButAppreciate what's
happening next. Residents expected to
worry about the possibility of
governmentInvolvement or imminent
domain? These were not answered. I
won't talkAbout the noise because I
know everybody's going to but 60 dB
Doesn't sound like much but if it's 24
hours a day nonstop, The lowest sound
And get really annoying. And if this is
your backyard, that is a problem. And
if there is a zoning violationWe have
the courts to use, but in the meantime
these people are living with crapThat
are surrounding the property. My
mother's property is right next to that
ResponderThat has the lowest, so you're
talking about going from 32, 42, to 60.
That's a big change.Commissioner Kozel,
you asked aboutA building timeline
being based on five or seven days a week
. They said most of our projects are
five days a week. The proper says
Monday through Saturday from 7 AM to 6
PM.So during however many years these
are being builtNobody can use their
backyard on a Saturday and relax.
In the 2025 work session,Proposals were
considered. Commissioner Whitaker
stated I don't see any way how this
benefits the citizens of this county,
it seems like we have these profiteers
coming into our county and treating us
like a cash cow. I could not agree more
. Chairman Stowe, your words war we
don'tNeed them adjacent to schools, we
don't need them adjacent to housing
areas, We don't need them in areas that
are peacefulAnd train fullIn rural
Tranquil and rural. That is still true
today.You guys talked about the nose
the camel getting under the tent, my
concern is you do this one, the
precedent is setAnd we will have a lot
of trouble saying no in the future.
This project and others coming are
already affecting our community, Many
people are living with high levels of
stressAs we research and oppose and
continue meetings and watch it is very
stressful to the people who liveIn this
county. I know several residents who
are preparing to put their homes on the
marketIf data centers begin locating
here. These are not people who planned
to move, they do not want to live with
the impacts. Others are publicly asking
whether they should consider moving
here, our data centers coming, I don't
want to move there. That should be a
concern. So the developer purchased
land that was owned RA, they brought
property which does notPermit data
centers and are asking data centers to
bear the burden. Residents toBear the
burden.No one wants a property into a
data center. Would you?Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Scott Lynch followed by Bill Moore.
>>Hi, everyone.This is in my
neighborhood. I am Scott Lynch, live on
rest Church Road, I have a small farm,
struggling to makeIn speed as it is, I
don't want to have the noiseIn the
light pollutionIn the air pollution and
water is our biggest problem, this
county, this whole country, everywhere
in the world, water is a problem in the
county is taking my waterway on my
propertyAnd I can't seem to do anything
about it. They started drawing water
into the quarry to sell to the countyIn
my Creek dried up on my farm.And I
haven't got a good answer from anybody
about that yet.So let's just hope we
don'tGet a data center, will just make
me want to move even more. Good night.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Thank you.
>>Bill Moore followed by Ted Bauserman.
>>Good evening.My name is Bill Moore
and I comeVery probably from Lake
FrederickIn the (INAUDIBLE) district.
My high school calculus teacher
recently passed, So this is for you,
Mr. Z. There will beSome math.While I
have learned a lot tonightAboutData
centersInvisible and soundless as they
might be, I have heard claimsThatA
moratorium presenting data centersFrom
being built in our county is a legal.
There is another way to discourage
these unwantedMonstrositiesFrom being
built here.Money is a powerful lever,
it can be used for bad things, but it
can also be used for good things that
are citizen support.Frederick County's
tax rate or data center equipmentIs a
measly dollar 25 for hundred dollars
assessed. Compare that to Lowden's rate
of $4.15. I will do the math for you.
Our rate is 30%Of Loudoun County's rate.
Now maybeI am picky, Picking data
here, may maybe I'm cherry picking a
bit or maybe I'm not. Fairfax County's
rate is $4.57Per $100, Prince Williams
is $4.50. Ours is 27 and, 28%Of those
rates.So good golly.Yes, I would want
to build in Frederick County as well.
How about more locally? Warren County,
Clark County, Falk year County, their
rates are between $4.15 and $4.50.Ours
is a dollar 25.It's outrageous.AsAwful
as that is, it's not the full story.
Our Board of Supervisors has second
place in accelerated depreciation rate
Of 50%In the first year. That's
effectively cutting our awful rate in
half.By year four, the rate is cut by
90%, So the effective rate is then a
minuscule12.5 centsPer $100 assessed.
Happily, there is a solution and it
doesn't require a moratorium. The Board
of Supervisors should simply move
Decimal over one placeAnd make the
dollar 25$12.50Or given the ridiculous
depreciation rate may be $20. Hundred
dollars assessed.As Mr. Z would often
say,QED, not to bore you with the Latin
, quite easily done.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Ted Bauserman followed by Vic
Canfield.
>>I am a resident along with my husband.
>>You can pull it down.
>>I am a resident of Winchester with my
husband. This generationsCustodians of
a family farm along the Peckham Creek
which lies aboutThree or 4 miles due
eastOf flying J.And 81. So we're
definitely I think in the impact zone.
I was sure people are going to be
talking tonight aboutThe impacts on
financial resources and impacts on the
quality of life, so I thought maybe I
would just for my part open up the
screen a little bit and talk aboutBuild
on this idea of slowing this process
down and looking at how nationally our
countryIs just being hit by this John
Norman search, It's likeA goldrush to
build data centers. What is this all
about? Is this to benefit American
people?All of us? Or is it the benefit
of few?And I have my thoughts about
that.In Ohio, 25,000 signatures have
been signed as of MayTo put a slowdown
on the proposal. They have got a
proposal for a constitutional amendment
that would block large-scale data
centersIn Utah, there's a massive
pushback effort againstA huge center
that they're putting inBy a very
fragile area. In Maine, we have the
firstState to pass legislative, I can't
read my own writing, they're trying to
blockAgain large data centers there,
and they're trying to argue for more
timeTill November 27 to give time to
develop protectiveRegulations. At the
federal level, Senator Sanders and
representativeCasey a Cortez have
introduced the AI data center
moratorium act, So I thought those were
all kind of useful to use kind of a big
picture here.The US, And I hope these
are half way accurate statistics, Is
5427 data centers, the largest number
in the world. China, our technological
giant neighboring competitor, Has 250In
the majority of these are unused, they
are not easy is been in operation at
this point. So I think there's some
thought that these centers are
speculative in natureAnd who knows if
they will ever be put into operation if
the tax dollars will be coming into the
fair peopleOf our county.I have also
heard and maybe I thought this was a
conspiracy theory that these are not
data centersBut surveillance centers.
So if you haven't read it, please do,
it really talks about the actual use of
the data.
>>Thank you.
>>Mr. Chairman, I think Vic Canfield is
left so Jay Banks is the next speaker
followed by Alexander (INAUDIBLE).
>>If there's any gentlemen in the room
that are practicing chivalry there's a
couple of ladies in the back who might
like to sit.Chivalry is not dead.
>>Who is next, sir?
>>Good evening.J Banks followed by
Alexander.
>>Alexander, if you can line up behind
him?So we can move it along
expeditiously.
>>Randy, it's good to see you in
Fairfax County this evening. I can't
articulate any better than what the
previous speakers have brought forth to
you to talk aboutThis County. So I'm
going to stick with what I know. And
that's over 30 years of municipal urban
forestryAnd land development process.So
let's start. I attended James would
Meeting and I brought the attention,
The county's webpage states failure to
maintain the required vegetative buffer
is a violation of the County zoning
ordinanceAnd can be enforced by the
County.We only have to look at the
solar panel farmsAnd we can see that
that buffer yardIn those areas have
failed miserably. And to this day,
nothing is being done, they're not
maintaining, the weeds are growing over
them, the vines are choking them out,
and all they've done is replace some
trees.So it says you can maintain, so
there is not a will to maintain.These
buffer yards. And so there's going to be
a big faction of buffer yards provided
with this.
>>Excuse me.So if we are not going to
hold their feet to the fire, we are
going to have a very difficult timeWith
this project as well.So if we want to
talk aboutOne of the issues that I saw
At the James Wood meeting, There was a
lady that was up on stage, very nice
woman, she wasBrought in as an acoustic
specialistAnd is brought toOn audiences
attentionThat she was hired by the
County because she understandsAcoustics.
And when I brought up this issue about
theSolar farms, the county staffJust
saidWe are learning to work with the
developer.
So my question is if you go out to getA
specialist to work on the acoustics of
a project, why would you go out and get
a qualified certified arborist to work
with the countyWho understandsProperly
can read them, write them, understand
them and then the development
conditions?And evaluate the existing
vegetationIf they state they are going
to say, there's no tree preservation in
the zoning ordinance. There is none in
the proffers. We will save some trees.
Is left open to interpretation by the
developer, not the county.
I looked at the data center and I went
through. The application is very poor.I
will leave it at that.
>>Thank you.
>>
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Alexander Witter followed byRebecca
(INAUDIBLE). REMICADE evening, name is
Alexander Witter and I am presidentOf
(INAUDIBLE). As soon as a musician and
hobbyist I prepared comments about the
noise analysis but I think our sound
consultant address the bulk of what I
wanted to say. The most important thing
here is for the residents. They will
notice a significant increase in noise
nearby. Even a technically compliant
facility represents a dramatic change
to the environment. Residents have
known to generationsCompared to what
they are accustomed to. You canArgue
that it won't be above this or that
threshold it isn't noise pollution but
let's take a look at what our comp plan
designs is noise pollution? Unwanted
news often describedAs a displeasing
sound that disrupts the activity or
balance of human or animal life. A
substantial number of people would
probably describe that noise increase
as a disruption and hardly anything is
been said on the potential impact of
that on deer and wildlife. The zoning
ordinance themselves states that uses
are allowed which do not create
significant noise be on the property
lines. Smoke, dust, or other hazard.
Even the technical compliance there
will be a perceptual increase in noise
beyond the property line for the
residents. I argue that any use that
needs a proper to mitigate and
increases use that doesn't conform to
the standards of the TM ordinance
itself.Moreover, even if data centers
are allowed by right in the TM, that
does not mean that the specific project
fits within that zone.Now I want to
address the Northeast Frederick land
use plan. The applicant may counter all
of this with a sentenceThat this area
may be well suited for energy intensive
development, yet this sentence is
conditional. Note the full language
reads only if the other necessary
utilities could be provided in the
development provides benefit to
Frederick County. Does this project
provide benefit to the county beyond
revenue and maybe jobs?I would say no.
The conference of plan states the
purpose of a plan is to guide and
accomplishThe development of the
jurisdiction to the health, Safety,
prosperity and general welfare.Revenue
is a part of prosperity but the first
things listed are health and safety.
That order is important because you
can't have prosperity without health
and safety. Those two have precedents.
When you are weighing rezoning, you are
justifying in citing concerns about
safety, health, and welfare. You're
allowed to deny on the basis that the
rezoning doesn't fit with the
conference of plan, that the concerns
have not been adequately addressed.
What I have heard from the applicant is
a lack of concern for our conference a
plan, a lot of if's and uncertainties
and creative interpretations of a
county's ordinances. The plan
discourages this type of use and I
believe it is on this basis that the
applicationShould be moved for denial.
Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Rebecca Bunning followed by Stacy
Haga.
>>My name is Reckitt Monson, I am a
resident of Stonewall district. I would
like to turn to the water concerns. The
water thatThis facility over the will
be using is coming from our groundwater
and that affects all of us. The other
thing that I wonder if we thought about
isThis project willDisplaced maybe650
houses.Are we going to do, add an
additional 650 houses, house useDemand
to our water system, water is essential
, Is essential for all of us for life,
So I just wanted to encourage youTo
deny this application based on the
amount of waterThat it will use.
Virginia, as you guys probably are
aware, has beenAnd horribly a drought
situation and has entered a drought
situationEvery year for the last four
or five years. Climate scientists
forecast thatFrequent drought will
become more and more common, so we need
to think about these things going
forwardAnd not spend tomorrow's water
today. So for that reason I encourage
you to deny this application. Thank you
for your time.
>>Thank you.
>>Stacy Haga followed by Matt Haga.
From a good evening, my name is Stacy
Neka and I live off Bruce town Road in
the Stonewall district and I am here to
oppose this rezoning effort. I could
echo everything that has been said so
farAnd that I anticipate will be said
but at the health practitioner in the
area I specifically am concerned about
the health implications, I agree
completelyWith what Doctor Reese was
saying about the low tone frequencies,
have great concerns. We don't have
long-term dataOn these data centers. We
do have short-term data, we do know
that these frequencies andThe
byproducts and omissions from these
plans affect respiratory cardiovascular
disease neurological function, brain
health. We see an increase in all of
these things already because of our
daily lives and this will only add
further insult to injury in my opinion.
We have a long history in this country
of doing things that we think are safe
and healthy that end up not being safe
and healthy. We put cocaine and
Coca-Cola, we put lead in paint, we put
radium and makeup, we put talcIn baby
powder, doctorsSmoked in exam rooms.
Let's not even talk about the last five
years of assault on public health. We
know there are long-term implications
But we don't know what they aren't
until we do we need to just slow the
roll, like it's been said, we cannot
rush into thisBecause ultimately the
people, You guys, some of you are my
friends, we are all going to pay the
price, We are going to pay, we're going
to have water scarcity, higher
electricity bills, We are going to have
higher healthcare costsIn real estate
is going to tank, specifically we
purchased our houseA year ago and angry
Reservations because I already knew
water was an issue and that's only
going to further that issue. With the
ultimate priceIs our health. We cannot
get that back, and the only way to even
improve your health when these
environmentalFactors is to remove
yourself and that's what's going to
happenIn Frederick County, we will have
to remove ourselves, Not bring people
in, push people out, and I don't think
that is a long-term solution for our
county, thank you very much for your
time.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Thank you.
>>Matt Hagar followed by Willie Deutsch.
>>Good evening, Matt Hager, also
Clearbrook, that was my better half
just speaking. So I have heard the name
equips mentioned several times, I
believe that the applicant in this
case. For those who don't know, equals
is probablyMaybe even $1 trillion data
center(INAUDIBLE). This is not just
respectful or disparaging, butI don't
knowThat they have a connection to this
area. They're doing a good job, they
are doing their job, they are pursuing
the interest of their employer, But I
don't know that their responsibility is
the best interest of the citizens of
the county, And I'm sure I don't want
to tell members of the commission whose
responsibility that is. There's a lot
of reasons that I think that most of
which have already been said that I
think re-zoning, improving rezoning will
Was a mistake. I want to point out
questions around proffers. What's in
the proffers, how they are in force and
what's not in the propers.What's in the
proffers, there are some serious
ambiguities around sound. I believe
there is a statement that theGenerators
would not be used except in emergency
circumstances, but I have not heard a
definition of emergency. What does the
company consider to be an emergency? Is
at high rates? I don't know.Also,When
we talk about lighting, there is
consideration of individual lighting
fixtures, but I didn't see any
consideration of aggregateImpact of
lighting.Has that been looked into? I
don't know, but I can tell you having
lived in multiple locations are on the
county, industrial facilities the site,
a national lightingIt throws off a lot
of glow. Significant. The lighting
doesn't address qualitative aspectsOr
the type of lighting. I think the
amount of light pollution can probably
vary, I am no expert, based on the type
of lighting being used.
I think I would also mention in my last
time hereThe biggest thing to me about
the proffers isIt seemed inadequate
Affecting those in the county most
impacted by this development. I didn't
see anything about, it's all berm,
which is great, And I know there are
limits to what proffers can be offered
how they can be negotiated, but it
didn't seem like there was a lot of
thought given to how can we adjust the
proffers or how can the applicant
adjust the proffersTo better mitigate
the impact of placing such an
industrial siteRight next door? That's
it, thanks.
>>Thank you.
>>My name is Willie Deutsche. One of US
a really good question. If you had a
data center would you live next to it?
The applicant said I would look at the
conference a plan, the zoning ordinances
When I decide where to man. Buy. What
is this land right now? It's mixed-use.
Mixed-use is generally considered a mix
of office-based restaurant storesHousing
Kind while data centers is an
acceptable use listed under it, the
development has to be mixed. There's
nothing mixed in this development.It's
a heavy industrial base projectThat's
entirely data centers. There's nothing
mixed about it.A homeowner in the year
by would have zero expectation they
would have a high levelIndustrial
project right next to their home when
they looked at the comp plan it's all
mixed-use. So I think you should take
that under consideration.. Next, I want
to run through a couple of polls. Polls
are not everything, but April 2026
Washington Post releasedA couple of
polls in Northern Virginia. In 2023
they saw 69% support for data centers.
2026 they saw 35%.Gallup released a
national poll that said 77% opposition
to data centers and Winchester showed
overwhelming operation opposition. They
had 2900 respondentsAnd only a 3%
margin ofError.It's statistically
significant. The more people that see
it in their backyard realize they don't
want it. One of the reasons here is jobs
. The data center talk about the jobs
they are bringing to the community.
What they don't talk about is the fact
that data centersExists to reduce and
take away jobs from the population.We
are looking at a future time. Where
people don't have jobs because of the
automation. We're not talking about
universal basic incomes and ways to
facilitate people that will no longer
have jobs and mats because of data
centers. One of the purposesOf mass
hyper scale data centers being built
across countryIs to reduce jobs that we
have for corporate profit. So when you
talk about jobs being brought inYou
need to do a full study on jobs taken
out and removed. You're seeing mass
layoffs in the tech industry and when
AI is brought in. Just talking about
really the fewest jobs per square foot
of a major industrial program being
brought in, We also have to consider
the jobs being taken out. Thank you
very much.
>>Heidi Liz Inskeep followed by
Kathleen Cargill.
>>My name is Heidi Liz Inskeep from the
OPEC and district. Thank you for
reminding me that I brought something I
received in the mail from Frederick
water, it starts with for the third
consecutive year Frederick County is
experiencing drought. By the time these
data centers are built how many yearsWe
have experienced drought. You tout the
various water sources in Frederick
County, not one of those water sources
is unaffected by drought conditions.Now
in 2008 the vision you have general
assembly what lock the Commonwealth
into a contractTo attract businesses.
It seemed like a great idea, the
reasoning wasThe few million that would
be lost in revenue would be a small
price to pay for the jobs that would be
generated. That 2008 decision is now
costing the Commonwealth billionsAnd
Virginians are bound by itUntil2035.It
is no wonder that billion dollar
companies are flocking to this business
friendly state for data centers.
Ladies, gentlemen, We can't know what
the future holds, but I hope that we
can agree that climate change is real,
even if we don't agree on its causeAnd
I hope that we can agreeThat bar none,
Our most precious natural resources are
clean air and safe drinking water, Not
Rare earth minerals and not data. The
decisions that you make regarding data
centers will have ramifications for
decades. MostPossibly, I'm sorry, many
possibly most of the people that will
be adversely affectedIf data centers
are allowed to litter Frederick County
aren't even born yet.You have a
gigantic responsibility on your
shoulders, There will be no turning
back. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Kathleen Cargill followed by Kurt
Krieger.
>>Hi, name is Kathleen Cargill, I live
inOh Becca. My question is why would we
put the health and safety of our
residents in jeopardyFor opportunistic
speculative investorsWith giant
monstrosities for which there is
undetermined need? Overcapacity of data
centers is a thing.These data centers
will probably be obsoleteWhen quantum
computing arrives, which is happening
before you know it and we are going to
do this for lower taxes. Really? What
price you put on environmental
degradation? What price you put on the
health of our community?I'm pretty sure
my electricity rates are going to rise
and eliminate any taxing that I
personallyWould benefit from from these
data centers.It certainly has in other
states.We live in a beautiful valleyAnd
you're considering destroying that with
giant buildings that are in every sense
of the wordFugly.Hit an emergency
situation for water, Who gets the
priority usage? The residents are the
data centers?Same question on energy?I
see they're trying to dress them up now
by putting some glass up there, I hope
that they addressBird strikes and they
do that put the dots on the glass so we
don't lose more birds of these things.
This is being built, it's a speculative
thing on spec.I find that problematic.
Thanks for your time.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Kirk Krieger followed by Steve
Callahan.
>>At evening. Members of the commission
, Sheriff Stowe, my name is Kirk
Krieger, I reside in the back Creek
District. I would like to speak against
the rezoned 04 26, the primary
disqualifying issue of Virginia
technology Park in my professional
opinion are the planned 280 acres of
fire generators which are intended for
emergency power supply. The applicant
was indecisive at the planning
commission meeting, the work session on
May 5 where they stated generators may
beDiesel or natural gas. The final 10
on application concluded that a 36 inch
natural gas pipeline would be required
to serve the project. Therefore the
applicantEvidently for cost and
convenience selected the least cost
option. Let me repeat, for short-term
cost and convenience the applicant has
selected the dirtiest fuel source
available. FurthermoreThe applicant has
stated their intention to deploy tier
for generatorsWhich according to
Virginia state law just enacted is the
only optionAvailable after July 1 of
2026. HER2- cannot be used. The proper
is no meaning. Diesel and to a lesser
extent national gas generators are
known toAdmit particulate matter for
which there is no safe level of
exposure. It's 30 times smaller than
the human hair.In addition, not just
Monoxide or carbon monoxide are emitted
from diesel generators exposuresThe PM
2.5 can induce asthma, heart attacks,
stroke, lung diseaseAnd premature
death. Therefore the use of 280Diesel
fire generators will damage the health
safety and welfare of the residents of
Frederick County due to the effects of
air pollution, the cost of air pollution
Is conservatively estimated to range
From $525 millionFrom $525 million-$980
million, compare thatAgainst the
promise benefit. It's stunning. On this
basis, the rezonedHas been denied
because it'sInconsistent with the
NortheastLand use plan. It only agrees
to abide byVirginia law and does
nothing to mitigateThe quality. With
respect to the cost, who pays? The
county in the data center operator will
be liable for the costsThrough tort
claims filed by injured partiesAnd the
estates of people injured through your
actions and the operation of the data
center.There being between 350 and 450
Residential units within 1 mile, that's
a lot of plaintiffs for a lawsuit. It's
worthy to mention there is a school,
3.5 miles away and its similar modeling
done using the cobra EPA co-benefits
risk assessment modelShowsOf Plume, PM
2.5 can travel over 30 miles. It's not
going to be limited to the immediately
adjacent neighborhood, will affect many
people. Please consider denialOf this
rezoning request. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Steve Callahan followed by David
O'Neill.
>>I appreciate your passion but every
time you clapYour delaying the next
speaker to come up, so please hold your
applause.. Who was it?
>>Steve Callahan followed by Dave
Willard O'Neill. Mr. O'Neill is here he
can go ahead.
>>Mr. O'Neill?
>>Good to see you again.All right,My
name is David O'Neill, I am a degreed
architectAnd engineer and I am an
author of the enterprise architecture
guide for the unified architecting
framework modern language which is the
industry standard here for this
business, a little higher than what
level these guys work at. I work as a
chiefEnterprise architectFor a major
Global real-time industrial controlAnd
telecom enterprise, One of the largest
in the world. Within that context,
hyper scale data centers such as
proposed here are but one element among
many otherComponents in that global
enterprise architecture. I worked on
Like the one I've worked on for the
last 34 yearsIncluding design,
deployment and real-time operations.
Within that context I can assure you
thatThe odds of any return on investment
By the County given the overall
lifecycleOf hyper scale data centers on
this particular region locationAre
extremely lowAnd likely toBe negative
in the long term. Sir County is a small
rural county. And its government are
easily overwhelmed by large hyper scale
data center operations, corporations,
It's our county, power and water
supplies currently stressed due to high
demand, The power grid provider, PGM
now down to about 16% on overall grid
marginDuring the blackout, rolling
blackoutsIn January, is an issue, the
county is undergoingA drought watch to
conserve water. Our Commonwealth of
Virginia has an abnormal and
disproportionateQuantity of the world's
data centers including the largest
grouping of hyper- scale centers in the
world. Their location in Frederick
County near these major fiber-optic
runs that go through, there's about
three or four major loops that have
Mashburn makes us susceptible to hyper-
scale data centerExploitation and
including the risk for national
security concernsSuch as terrorist and
military types of attacks, even
Non-terrorist as well.Hyper scale
operations need to beLimited, I remain
to national level preplanned locations
like Asheboro and Dallas, Los Angeles,
Chicago, these kinds of places, Denver.
This county needs to work with the
CommonwealthTo prevent Kuiper scale
data Explorer to rotation of rural
areas such as you've seen going on in
Oregon, Iowa, places like that, so data
centers consume huge amounts of power,
one hyper scale is going to take
equivalent of 17Frederick County's
combined, About a gigawatt for the
center, they must provide the power
source, Last comment is thatIt doesn't
matter you're dropping off this
substation off the 500Vote line, it's
part of the overall grid. So it will
impactThings regardless. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Elizabeth mixer followed by Kathy
Weiss.
>>Everyone is touched on everything I
want to touch on, butThis will
reinforce my thoughts. Good evening, my
name is Elizabeth mixer, I live in
Frederick County. Therefore thousand
data centers in the United States
already. 737 of those are in Virginia.
That's a lot.We do not have the
infrastructure to support data centers
in our area, we are aYour drought, we
have been for a long time, we cannot
They use it to send it back and we have
to pay for fixing it we're going to
lose some along the way, you always do.
Shenandoah electricMakes its customers
use lower usage nowBe it hot or cold.
This would place a disastrous burden on
the system even if they increase the
infrastructure in their areaFor their
machines, It's going to affect the
whole system.A talking point is
increase jobs. During construction this
may be true for a short time. To run a
data center requires very little, it's
a bunch of machines. A few specially
trained maintenance workers for air
filtration and generator maintenance,
generators that create quite a bit of
disturbing noise 24 hours a day and
depending on how the wind blows I used
to live about half a mile from train
track andX miles from a shooting range
and if the wind was blowing right it
sounded like it was in my yard. A few
IT techs will round out the workforce,
Dave tax, Data companies already have
IT techs on their payrolls, they are
scattered all over. Since they work
remotely from home, Microsoft has
announced it will be dropping itsAI
completely. They blew through their
whole annual budget in six months.It
turns out is less expensive to use
humans instead of AI. There seems to be
no further, No future in AI data centers
. Please do not be swayed by the $'s
planted in your heads by the equivalent
of used-car salesman.Data centers are
notWorth the destruction of water
resources, Power costs, damages to the
environment and cost of voters and
their families at any price. I leave
you good people with this final thought
, caveat emptor. Vote no.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Kathy WeissFollowed by Melissa Wolf.
>>Good evening, thank you for letting
me speak to you, my name is Kathy Weiss
, I am from Back Creek district, I will
be brief. My concern with data center
is written large is that land being
lost to the structures once
construction is underway or after they
are built, Technology changes with time
The building may become unneeded.
Ownership may change. What becomes of
the structure that's abandoned? How can
we reclaim the use of all the land
that's been sacrificed to the structure?
How can we make the land whole again?
Please factor this into your
consideration, thank you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Melissa Wolf Burke followed by Aaron
Fox.
>>Hi, and Melissa workWolf Burke and
I'm written about Creek. I'm here
because of my concerns about data
center development in Frederick County.
My husband and I moved here 27 years
ago and have worked here and created a
life in this wonderful county,
primarily rural and historic. I love
being part of this county, this
community. While change is inevitable,
I urgeThe planning commission to offer
the residents of Frederick CountyThe
time and the means to identify other
ways to use the land without harming
our wells, our health, and our rural
areas. The data centers did not allow
the align with the conference a plan
for the county and urge the planning
commission to vote no. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]Thank you.
>>Aaron Fox followed by David Dixon.
>>Aaron FoxBack with the district, you
have a lot on your plate, I appreciate
you takingThe time to consider all the
facets of this. FrederickCounty is at a
crucial crossroads, threeOur proposed
that would change our county.Changing
to this zone will set a precedent. As
one of the most robust counties in the
stateIt can set an example for the hold
Shenandoah Valley where data centers
are being proposed. I think it's easy
to get stuck in the details to see if
Aspects can be mitigated enough. But
does this even align with our comp
plan? The plan for this area states
uses which significantly contribute to
air noise and light pollution are
discouraged in these areas,". This is
likely becausePrivate homes. An air
pollution we live in a valley, a bowl.
The pollution doesn't dissipate as it
does elsewhere, ask anybody here with
allergies. As for noise, Has anybody
studied the existing data centers to
discover all the low-frequency noise or
is based on hypothetical models? This
area is labeled to become mixed use for
future use, however the comp plan has
additional guidelines for development.
It breeds the quote should County
should be proactive in showing the
resources necessary or planned for in a
viable way. There's a finite capacity
of these resources that must be managed
accordingly. The electric commands
alone make this proposal deviate from
the comp plan. Virginia already imports
more energyIn every other state except
CaliforniaBecause of the data center,
Our grid has become vulnerable and
costs arising. They are waiting for new
transition lines to provide power. If
we add to this region, we are
proactively ensuring resources are
managed accordingly.Here's some comp
plan statements on tourism.First
impressions often set the tone for
visitors experience. The character of
the entrance corridors is a key factor
for the visitors experience in their
decision to stay longer and hopefully
return. Enhancing the aesthetics will
improve impressions that will benefit
the quality of life for residents.
Quote two, the goal will be to enhance
visitor experience.Quote three, it is
critical to be capitalize onGrowth.
These buildings will be tall, the
substations will be looming, will be
will what you see when you first enter
Virginia. The first 20 years six
especially. Firms only go so far, they
have to go escrow. They can always
change your signed to VirginiaIs for
data centers. One last quote from the
comp plan, overall a sound office in
Development strategy will result in the
conservation of a variety of resources
and promote high-quality life for
citizens. Important guidelines in the
comp plan would have to be totally
disregarded to approve this proposed
use. Thank you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>David Dixon followed by Tammy
Canfield.
>>David Dixon, Stonewall district.
First of all, this is going completely
pendingWith the next fair energy because
They have got pending court battles all
over the country and as you all knowYou
are in this county too, and soIt might
not even go through anywaysAnd thenThis
right here, this is Google the data
centerIn linear North Carolina, they
are pulling fromThe Catawba River, I
think that's how you say it, and Lake
Norma Lake Norman, this was constructed
in 2008And this is only 60 acres, that
center going 60 acres and what they're
proposingIs 220 acresAnd then
>>You're supposed to be addressingI'm
just looking at this, I'm not looking
at nobody else.923,000 gallonsAnd this
is just for 60 acres and they are
proposing 220 acres.So I would say
their little off on their math.And
hundred and 33 MW, A 900 MW.I'd say
they are a little off. That's it.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Tammy Canfield followed by Mark Steph
appear
>>I am Tammy Canfield from the
Stonewall district and I live about 2
miles as the crow flies from flying J,
and something my husband had to leave,
but he has sent me this, So what I
understand and I'm not very good with
math and numbers, but what Alexis said
was thatIt's about 30 dB higherThen
went flying J is, And so if I
understand this correctly, 30 would
make it 80, Flying J is 50 to 60, would
make it 80 to 90 dB. 90 dB is the sound
, Is a low sound of a rock concert,So
just imagine that right nowAnd when I
go outside, especially at night, I hear
the quarry running. I hear anyone and
we are down by the OPEC and, which is
drying up, by the way, I know they said
they were going to do any land water
groundwater. So anyways, just wanted to
make mention of that and the soundI
think it would be like wearing a
concert, hearing that. Also I am very
scattered personWhen I write my notes.
We are, and I appreciate, I don't have
any degrees, but I do a lot of reading
On health and try to eat healthy and
Alpha gal, so the six are really
attacking me, needless to say, we are
surrounded by 5G towers, I'm not sure
if you guys were the ones that approved
that are not, ButSo that has a lot of
EMF and then we are going to have these
data centers and that has a lot of EMF
and the nurses spoke really well to
that. These are all attacks on our
health, tax on our cognition, tacked on
ourEverything and so the moreWe let in,
the moreAll we have is our health. We
don't have our houses because the
government owns that because we have
pay taxes. Anyways,Also, these data
centers, I don't know if you know the 3
mile Island in Pennsylvania, they
re-firedThe nuclear plant that melted
down when I was a kidIn Amazon in China
Are using thatTo fire up their data
center, So I am very curious to know
who owns this company, who is funding
this company, is getting the dataFrom
this company, because like the one lady
said yes, it is a surveillance stateAnd
we already know how Amazon listens to
the Alexis stuff and writes everything
down, We also know China is our enemy
and China's behind the 5GCollecting
data from the fiveThe nap. Now they
will be connecting it from the data
center. I think we need to stand up to
our enemies,InterestMost important thing
And data centers are not in human
interest, therefore AI.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Mark Stemple of followed by Bob her.
>>I am Mark Stepford in the district
it's past my bedtime so I am a little
concerned about that. I know you fine
gentlemen and ladies are doing this job
For practically no pay, you care about
the county, I believe that, I believe
you will do. I think the problem here
is just allow me to tell a story, my
wife and I were living in mid 90sIn
Asberry and one day we getA thing like
this happens. WorldCom brought in the
fiber.Once bringing in the fiber the
Power falls, then after that these
gentlemen right here, new people, they
are just doing their job, making money,
making good money, I'm sure, they came
to givePresentation just like this. We
are sure you. The berm is gonna be
wonderful. Everything is wonderful.
Nothing was wonderful. Berm didn't
happen, They cut down all the trees,
It's a drip drip drip, over 25 years,
we lived there, came hereIn 2020Because
we are surrounded by data centers, the
noise literally driving people insane
in their homes, their having mental
breakdowns in their homes, they
couldn't sell. So once you,You are the
boardwalk. You hear the citizens. Is
there anybody for this year?You are our
representatives. We represent, you
represent us for the supervisors we
elect. And we are asking you to do your
duty, to listen and represent what we
want, not what, You have any idea how
many billions of dollars a year in data
centers these are going up for them and
we are going get peanuts. You want to
raise taxes, raise a couple of dollars.
We will pay another couple hundred
dollars. I don't need this,If you let
this go through, mark my words,It won't
be the first and will be the last,
there will be endless data centers.
Once the fiber comes in, power comes in
, it's game over.The money, corrupts.
And so this is what I'm asking you
gentlemen and ladies to do, your job.
Represent the citizens of this county
And do your job. Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]I met Bob curd followed by
Julie Kern.
>>Yes, I am Bob occurred, I am a
licensed civil engineer. My
undergraduate degree is from MIT. After
MIT I went to VietnamAnd silver
phantoms, hundred 80 combat missions.I
would like to share specific concerns
regarding building heavy AI centers in
our county.Has anybody here heard of
course?CarsOur form slowly by water
dissolving limestone and dolomite.
Underneath us right nowCaves,
underground flowing rivers and sinkholes
, especially near telephones.Most of
Frederick County is under relayed by
cars. Tonight the planning commissionIs
Building data centers over karst land.
It's not a good idea.Several of my
neighborsHave had slabs, concrete slabs
that their houses are built on SAG and
they had to have them repaired. I myself
OversawThe repair of a floor in a
factorySouth of here,The floor started
sagging, they had to raise it back up,
They pumped on plastic under it to
raise it back up.Google Earth shows an
enormousSink hole near my home. And
I've been watching over the years, even
though we are in a drought, Google Earth
Has pictures of the terrain.AndYou can
tell that this sinkhole, which is 150
yards in diameter, Has beenGetting
deeper and deeper over the years in
spite of the factThat we haven't had
much rain. There is a new map coming out
This month, they come outEvery June,
and we just had a lot of rain, it will
be interesting to see how much moreIt
has fallen.I noticed that the companyAs
a civil engineer, but they said nothing
about a specializedKarst geological
engineer.We have laws in this county
That sayA site has to beCheckedBy a
specialized Karst geologic engineer.
Next time I speak I will have a list of
those laws.Thank you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Julie curd followed by Penny Smith.
>>I have to say I couldn't be prouder
tonightOf we the people of Frederick
County.This is amazing. All the rest of
this is absurd, Totally absurd, how did
this go this far as what I don't know?
How? Money.Money, money, money, and
it's got to stop. We can't take it any
longer, the people don't want this,
it's not good for us, We don't want it.
Sinkholes.On the line of Frederick and
Clark County, there was a littleModest
Ranch house, SinkholeWithin six months
the whole thing was in the ground.
These things do exist. This is not
make-believe.This happened here, it can
happen again, and we don't want it.
In summary, citizens know the harm of
data centers cause to their health and
livelihood. We also know now that
building over cursed land is unwiseAt
its best and actually very foolish. As
charged with decisionMaking by law the
local planning commissioners and Board
of Supervisors must doDiligence, you
didn't get it from them. They are lying.
I have brought up this very serious
concern tonightThat should warrant
disapproval of data centers. Know that
your approval and subsequent building
would destabilize water flowUnder our
landsAnd likely contaminate it.
Contamination would extendFor many,
many miles. We also have catastrophic
Thinking of heavy buildings. And, yes,
a yes vote by you to allow the data
centersWould be a grave insultTo the
land that is precious to us and to our
very lives. I would like to close by
reminding this board that you are not
hereTo what you think may be best for
Frederick County the entity, You are
here to protectWe the people. We are
Frederick County.You are elected
officials tasked with representingThe
will of the residence of Frederick
County, And we say no data centers.
Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Penny Smith followed by Kathy
Weinman.
>>Hello, I am Penny Smith. I worked in
collaboration with my engineer friend
and his wife and so I just did a couple
of things to add, the scene: Clark
County and swallow that house, it
happened when they put a well and. All
they did was drill a well and they
tried to take the water out and the
house filling the hole.Why you don't
buildOver karst land, first of all, is
highly discouraged by geologist, it's
not a good idea. The data centers are
too heavy, massive weight,They pump out
tons of waterBefore they do, everyone,
everywhere, they would pull water out
of the car's land flowing streams, caves
. The dewatering, the contamination, we
have building requirements to prevent,
we need to prevent sinkholes, but let
me move on to what I had to share. If I
can find it. I'm going to read the
second partOf mine because of time,
because I don't want that part cut off.
I am focusing tonight on sound, the
elephant in the room that they don't say
Is the word in for a sound. I fear in
for sound more than any other aspect of
data centers and you all read my letter
because I mailed it and emailed it. And
for sound is sound that's too low to
hear, it goes out in a 5 mile radius.
Imagine living 1 mile or two, imagine
being in school near the data center,
imagine your home also. 10 of the 19
schoolsIn Frederick County would be
within a couple of miles of the data
center. Data centers, They cause
vibration. Our internal organs vibrate,
our heart, our liver. True, no hype here
, our bony cavities vibrate, our skull,
eye socket, chest, I can't go to a rock
concert, I can'tHandle the subwoofer,
gives me chest pain. I can tell you one
hour exposed to in for sound causes
cardiac muscle to thickenAnd it causes
the artery, cardiac arteries to
thicken. This is dangerous stuff.
People complain of constant headache,
when your skull is vibrating. Nausea,
that's the vestibular system, severe
insomnia, dizziness, ill immunity
irritability, respiratory disease,
Mitochondrial disease, people move away
from dentate centers further than 5
miles, most of the symptoms abate. You
can have permanent mitochondrial
damage, like me following Lyme disease.
I wanted to say in conversations from
others aroundYou outside and play?
>>I don't want to, I don't feel good.
Sam lays down.Julie's mother.
(INAUDIBLE) exploded over a minor
thing. I don't know what's wrong with
them, he is so irritable.
>>Thank you.
>>Blood money. That's what it is, blood
money is money gained from an unknown
paid resource, it hurts.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Kathy one and followed by Mary Jo
Strobel.
>>Good evening, excuse me, my name is
Kathy Weinman, and I live inThe back
creek area.You know, I wish I had been
first because everybody said most all
of what I have to sayAnd they have said
it very well. So I guess I will just
reiterate., I, of course, have been
opposed to the data centerBecause of
the reasons mentioned, the negative
impacts of massive water usage and, of
course, the raised electric bills, air
pollution, noise, And environmental
concernsAnd with all due respectTo the
people that are hereThat are proposing
the data center, I really would like to
hear statisticsFrom an impartialParty
to compare.We have been told that
dating data centers bring jobs but of
course there only temporary because
it's only when the data centers are
being constructed. I found outTonight
that sometimes the data centers bring
in their ownConstruction cruiseTo
construct it. So they're not really
bringing us in jobs. The data centers
only really employ about 100 people.So
I suggest instead of building data
centers we need to invest in projects
that bring the most jobs with the least
impact on our recess, resources
citizens and land. We have rapid growth
in the area, Our infrastructure keep up
with the demand of new housing, New
businesses and data centers?You
probably noticed in your yard or your
neighbor's yard some dead plants
recently because of the drought. What
will happen if we have data centers and
experiences severe drought? Whose water
will be restricted, ours are the data
centers?The Shenandoah area is a
popular destination for escaping the
noise in conjunction congestion of city
life. Let's keep our rural areas
Preserve our farms and protect the
nature that are tourists and residents
Enjoy. Respectfully, please don't
Bedazzled by dollar signs. It will have
a negative impact if we have these data
centers come. God gave us this
beautiful area, Let's be good stewards.
Remember the Apple looks really good to
even look what happened with that.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Mary Jo Strobel follow by Pat Werth.
>>Hi, there. I will keep it short and
sweet. Mary Jo Strobel, I am upResident
of the Redbud district and I urge the
commission to deny the rezoning0426 for
the Virginia technology ParkOr at
minimum delay action until additional
information is offered from public
review. I'm concerned about unanswered
questions regarding the long-term
impactsOf this project on Federick
County residents, the resourcesIn the
infrastructure. As many have shared
today, noise remains a concern. The
impact on nearby homes and the health
of residents must be carefully
considered. Water usage and electrical
are two other major concerns, And I've
not been able to find any publicly
availableIndependent studies evaluating
the long-term cumulative impactsOf this
project on County water resources or
electrical infrastructure and
capacities.
I heard repeatedly this evening about
the current water capacity.The capacity
today, but I didn't hear anything about
the capacity during periods of drought
Or future growthGiven this state scale
of the proposed development and its
expected lifespan residents deserve a
more comprehensiveIndependent and
public analysisOf these impacts.The
rezoning would have long-term
consequences for our beautiful County
And its residentsAnd if it's technology
part is approved and developed the
impacts will be challenging if not
impossible to reverse for these reasons
I respectfully request the commission
deny rezoning or defer actionUntil
these issues can be more fully evaluated
and made available for public review.
Thank you for your considerationAnd for
your service.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>At word followed by usually grow.
>>Thank you for this opportunity. I
would like to thankWyatt Pearson and
his team and I would like to thankThe
planning commission for all the work
that you are doing on our behalf
because I believe you do have our best
interest at heart. You might be
wondering why I brought this with me.
Several years ago, a very dear friend
of mineMoved into an over 55 community
In Prince William County.And there was
a decision madeTo build a data center
next to this community. I now live in
an over 55 community, but I will say
there are some of us who are we over 55
that live there, But I started doing
research to help her back thenLook into
all of theRamifications, all the
information available about data centers
. I love doing research, and I never
stopped because it kept getting younger
and bigger and more and more expanded
And I did live in Fairfax County for
almost 50 years and my husband and I
moved out hereAlmost 4 years ago, but
we had a business in Loudoun County for
over 20 years, So in all about the data
centers, but when I go back there now,
I don't even recognize what it looks
likeAt all.I have beenContinuing to get
Information on a daily basis from
around the countryAnd of course I am
keeping up with what's happening in our
own communityAnd I believe that you
have a very, veryImportant decision to
make that going to affect (INAUDIBLE).
And I truly believe that although
everyone is doing their best possible
job to give you all the information
that you need to make an informed
decisionI am standing here tonight to
tell you I don't think you've got all
the informationThat you really need to
make an informed decision. I think
you've heard a lot aboutWater, about
electricity, about all kinds of things,
but I have been looking at what's been
happening around the entireCountry in
the different situations that occur and
they occur frequently in different
places and you don't know what's going
to happenUntil it happens.And so rather
than getting into the details, but if
any of you wantAny answers, Any
questions answered, this is just a
teeny bit of the research that I have
on this from all over the country, And
I would respectfully requestThat you
vote no on this because I think that
there's a lot of information that you
don't have a handBecause you don't get
the whole entire picture although you
get a lot of itFrom the residents that
live here.AndThe PopeHas chimed in on
data centers.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Anjali Grubb followed by Ostertag.
Teresa, I think you can go ahead.
>>Hello, my name is Teresa Ostertag,
and from bad Creek, I'm going to be
speaking on the grid and power. The
grid isn't stable enough to do the
rapid growth of data centers,
currently, 85 data centers that are
already built cannot be plugged in
because there isn't enough power to
plug-in. The Navy currently will use
USS GeraldAre forward to power naval
station at Norfork, Showing the frailty
of our grid. In Lake Tahoe, California,
NV energy is giving the 50,000
residents there one year to find
another energy supplier. Why? Because a
data center wants the power.For one
data center alone in Coweta, Georgia,
Georgia Power, which is a very powerful
company, is using eminent domain to take
Their homes, demolish them and take the
land for at least 300 other homes and
property using eminent domain.All of
those houses and land will be forever
changed by just one data center. They
aren't even being paid what it's worth.
There are affected the most, fully
losing the sanctity and use of their
yards, patios, gardens, pools, acreage
care for chickens, cattle, goats,
people work their whole life to achieve
what they called the American dream,
their whole life with careful choices
and planning they have their paradise
but not enoughTime was spent on voting
and electing the right people. The
people that are electing may say, They
may say that the electric company, What
they did is not my fault. I say it is,
Cause and effect.In Virginia, Dominion
and Nextera him arts recently making it
more powerful. From what I hear next
year as a dirty company with lawsuits
across the country allegedly. Also the
battery storage, that's what you call
it, it's a battery hunted to help power
the grid. From one understand there his
thoughts all acrossThe county, future
homes and hubs.Get used to them being
built and run by private entities. The
battery life of seven years.Who will
decide the charges?Who will regulate it?
This is what we will be facing if you
let them in. Currently we have now been
billed for over $900 million in
transmission line costs being paid for
the residents of seven states,
Virginia, West Virginia,Ohio, Maryland,
Delaware, New Jersey. We are paying to
build these transmission lines and we
will both billing to maintain them and
overlie. CurrentlyElectricity went up
650 per 1000 kW. Maia went up $17. You
cannot protect us fromWhat they do if
you let them in. Data center charges in
addition, data center, There is an
amendment made by the governor, Oh,
crap. Anyway,There is a lot more, we
don't want to be in Loudoun County,
please listen to the county, we don't
want to change, and alsoWas the
calling, the conference a plan. You can
make changes, You can make this better,
The EDA strategy is currently not
working, please change the conference a
plan, please listen to the people, you
can make changes, Thank you.
>>Thank you.
>>:Tensely followed by Linds a says
delay. Linda says allay.
>>Hello, everyone.Hello, everyone.I
have been working pretty hard since I
got here, there a lot of people,
obviously, that are very concerned with
what's going on, So I missed everything
that they said.
Here's what I got. I am super concerned
about these data centers coming in, I
know that you all are going to be
passing out to the Board of Supervisors
whether or not you think they should be
Voting yes or no on this.I think it's
pretty obvious the answer is no. Big
points here, I don't wantUs center that
is going to have some billionaire
corporationsOr maybe some foreign
corporations coming in and collecting
our data and using it for God knows what
. It's not something I'm interested in,
and I don't think anybody here wants to
see any of that.Further, we have enough
Data centers and we have enough
Infrastructure that lets people use
Facebook and meta and Amazon as much as
we need, We can Netflix all day,No
problem. We don't need anymore. My
concern is, this is the thing that's
most pressing for me, Is that these
data centers are not really going to be
used to make our lives any better, but
instead they're going to be used to have
These block cameras placed in, they're
going to be microphones on them, these
already past things that are being used
in other places across the country. If
these data centers are providing the
brains, this technology can be run onOr
it can listen to anyone of these people
walking down the street, Talking to
each other and saying, you know, I
don't feel like the Board of Supervisors
is really listening to us. As the
market may you live? Is a keyThose data
centers can say tag Jack. What's in a
rowboat dog to his house.That's
possible. It's very possible and it
happens. You can look this stuff upIn
the US today. So I don't want to hear.
I don't want anythingThat is going to
allow that to happen to other peopleWho
are hereWith the freedoms that we are
supposed to have.Granted to us when we
have a representative democracy, when
people are standing up and saying hey,
we don't want this, we have thousands
of people signing petitions, people
here, is today Wednesday?On a Wednesday
night, I got work tomorrow, I have work
today, I called into work so that I can
plan around this entire event. It's
that important.I paid money to be here.
I rent to pay.I have to put food on the
table,And it's really impossible to
think about how we are even going to
get food from local farms and they
don't exist anymore because the data
centers have destroyed them.So I don't
want to come off as I am angry to you
all, you are the onesBoard to say no,
or we are going to replace them.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Lenses says valet followed by Amy
roach.No Linda or Amy? Amy.
>>Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
my name is Amy roach, and I am a
lifelong residentOf the Shenandoah
ValleyAnd I live 2 milesFromWhere the
proposed data centers going to be, I
live at the foot Oaks across an open
Lord church, my husband is the pastor.
I am here tonight to strongly opposeThe
proposed Virginia technology Park data
center. This project would transform
220 acresOverall land into an
industrial complex consisting of data
center buildings substations and 288
diesel generators. That alone should
give us all pause.But what concerns me
most is the enormous demandThis
facility would place on our communities
water and electrical resources.
According to the application, this
campus would be permitted to use up to
120,000Gallons of water every single day
this representsA noticeable portion of
the county's total water demand. That
is over 43 million gallons of water
Every year while the applicant says
they will not use groundwater directly,
That water still has to come from
somewhereHere comes from resources that
serve our residents, our businesses,
Our schoolsIn the fix our growth. Is
our region continues to experience
drought, population growth and
increasing pressure and water supplies
is difficult to justify dedicating tens
of millions of gallons annually to a
data center operation. The electrical
demand is even more alarming, data
centers are among the mostEnergy
intensive facilities ever built. They
concern consume vast amounts of
electricity 24 hours a day seven days a
week. The reason the site was selected
is because it's next to major
transmission infrastructureAnd the plan
substation. That should tell us
everything we need to know about how
much power this project will require.
The result will be more pressure on our
electrical grid, more transmission
infrastructureAnd potentially higher
costsThat ultimately affect residents
and local businesses. These facilities
consume enormous amounts of powerBut
create relatively few permanent jobs
compared to theInfrastructure. We must
also consider the quality of life
impacts. Staff have already
acknowledged that even the proposed 60
dB noise limit represents a significant
increase overAmbient conditions.
Residents who chose to live here should
not be suspect soon, Frederick County
hasValued it's heritage and quality of
life, once this land is rezoned and
developed there is no going back. They
aren't making land anymore. We have
traded, we will have traded open space
and community character for a project
that consumesExtraordinary amounts of
water and electricityWhile providing
benefits to local residents. I urge you
to vote no and reject this rezoning
request. Thank you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>(INAUDIBLE) followed by Cynthia
Miller.No Elizabeth or Cynthia?
>>At evening. First wanted to say thank
you for your questions that you asked
the applicant last time, I was pretty
impressedWith your quick knowledgeAnd
care that you showedAbout this project
I've lived inFrederick County since
1988. Now I am back out in the rural
area which I like a lot. I moved here
to go to college at Chanel University,
a couple of degrees from there, andI
love it here, my family, I raised here,
my daughter has raised her family here
AndWe like the way it is. Not that
things are going to stay the same
because people keep moving here, not
that we have to respond to housing
demands from other counties, But I do
believe we need to maintain the rural
character. In fact, in our
comprehensive plan, we talk a lot about
that. I will just read you a short
quote, Frederick County's rural
character is a key componentIn its
identity and one of the key aspects
that draw visitors and new residents to
the area. Historically these rural areas
have supportedA wide array of
agricultural uses which at one time was
the primary industry in the county.
Today these agricultureAnd forestry
activities generate roughly $33 million
per year and preserve close to 110,000
acres of rural land. In fact, we gained
9000 acres between 2012 and 2017In
farmland.They provide some out of the
266,000 acres 243 are rural. That's
huge. Most of our county is rural. The
census determined that there was a 9%
increaseAnd farmland. No environmental
impact study is been doneWhat's going
to happen when you change this farmland
will to what I would consider heavy
industrial. It's not light industrial,
it's notTechnology, it's heavy
industrial, I've been doing a lot of
research like many of my otherResident
friendsAnd neighbors and we are finding
that there is a lot more to this than
we know about it.When you look at the
residential, the comprehensive plan,
there isNo mentionOf data centers, And
I know that's because it's been a few
years and this is been a big onslaught
It's occurred very rapidly but with the
current plan that's being developed,
maybe that's where we can set some
ground rules and slow this thing down a
little bit.Maybe by then we will learn
a lot more about data centers so that
we can prevent what's happening.I am
going to submit my comments in writing
to you just because I don't want to
repeat everything that everybody else
had said. Can I give that to you?
>>You can give it to Mr. Pearson.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Rynecki (INAUDIBLE)KC (INAUDIBLE).
Thank you.For McKay, planning
commission, name is Lenny sweet and I
am here in support of the data center.
The reality is data is modern
infrastructure. We use it to
communicate, we bank, we keep records,
we conduct business, the list goes on,
bottom line is dataIsn'tA lecturing, is
an integral part of life. I'll be the
first to admit I love data, change my
life. Previous generationsBuilt
airports, highways, power plants, our
generation is building data
infrastructure.With that being said
there's a few concerns, there's the
noise, their missions, The truth is the
site six next to a wet highway corridor
or service center, it is going to
produce just a fraction of the noise
it's already comeAn even smaller
fraction of the admissions being
admitted. Is it going to increase
significantlyWhat's already there? No,
it's not.The water, all the plans they
should be judged on their engineer
qualification, regulatory oversight,
I'm sure everybody can get along,
That's kind of out of my hands, I'm not
exactlyThe water engineer.Of eDOT's 2024
Figure for Interstate 81 Erickson 317 is
Thousand vehicles every day. 300
generators,That's like 0.75% of the
66,000 engines that are already passing
through that location.It's very
negligible. Commissions, not even close
to what's going on. Water needs to be
drainage runoff alsoTo be in
consideration. I love data, I love my
prime membership, these are also
integral parts of life.. Now the bigger
question isWhat are we going to do with
this land, Frederick counties land plan
is to industrialize, it's already on
the east, is coming down in the best
state case scenario, this land is never
going to be farmland again.Unlikely be
residential, it's not going to be a
nature preserveOr in the community
campus. Best case scenario is a
factory, maybe a truck terminal or a
data center. We've got ask ourselves
what is going to make the least amount
of traffic, what's going to generate
the most revenue?It's projected three
to $500 million over the course of its
life time, you got to think about the
six or seven icicles, the roads, the
aquatic center, Parks and Recreation,
future County investments. Beyond
direct revenue, future industries.
Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity,
cloud computing, software development,
digital media all on the rise, all
depend on data. Now not only will the
data center generate substantial
revenue but all the adjacent industries
it attracts generate more revenue.I
can't believe I ran out of time. But if
we want to think about investments for
the future where kids and grandchildren
Might pursue careers
>>Thank you.
>>KC (INAUDIBLE) followed by generals
Jennifer Smith.
>>Hi, guys, I am Casey, I am a
31-year-oldSingle mom, I knewRep for
jute refugee from Shenandoah County, I
just sold myTown House because they are
planning a data center right across the
street. So I moved to Stephen city and
luckily found somebody to buy my house
Before, unfortunately they realize
there's also a data center going to be
there.Which I thinkI want to point out
a point which I haven't really heard
anybody talk about which is the factOf
the heat also that these data centers
generate, they are running 24/7, 365
days and factories or even like houses,
The sun goes down, everything kind of
cools off, That doesn't happen when you
have a data center running all the
freaking timeAnd that he goes up, the
local data, I think it was service
temperatures around areas where data
centers are have risen 3.6 F to 60 F,
Locally around those areas, like your
kids playing outside, a 10-year-old son
And he loves to play outside and gets
all red-facedAnd that'sWith the
temperatures as they are now.SoIf
you're raising the local temperature,
anywhere from 4 to 60 in JulyBut it's
already 98 outside, I don't know any
10-year-old or adultWho can stand
outside in that temperature. That's
just insane we're talking aboutRaising
the electric bills may be even
indirectly, If it's 100 outside,
hundred and five, I am going to be
blasting the AC, we are all going to be
hot. My usage will go up because the
temperatures are going to be up
outside. The effectsOf heat on your body
, What it is that hot, I can have
effects on your cardiovascular, your
lungs, It's also not great in general.
I think that like I've seen a lot of
like generations older than mine,
there's not a lot of people my age here
but I thinkI just want to say that's
not to say that we don't care about
these things, but mostly just that I
talked to my friends all the time about
it, I am a dental hygienist, I talk to
patients about it and I think the
general theme that I get from people my
age, people in this area is that like
people just don't feel heard, it's
nothing I say is going to matter
anyways, they're going to chase the
money, they don't care, everything is
just about the money I feel like we
have an opportunity toInspire people
like Katie, it does matter, you can go
out, What you say, what you show up for
it does matter.But that's not going to
happen if we justKeep ignoring people.
Okay, thanks.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>I am Jennifer Smith. I did enjoy the
gentleman talking aboutAn increase in
noise and wonderful data centers. I
take a dozen live in my neighborhood. I
am at the end of the cul-de-sac, I
didn't recognize our house, SoI'm kind
of taking thePick sure that the
information providingAs potentialsWhat
if's, Maybe flexible, Future needAnd
there's no set guidelines, you all put
more guidelines on homeowners
remodeling their homes then you have
withThese. Why are we held to a higher
standardFor less impactThen a
billion-dollar corporation?That's just
mind blowing. People stood up and told
you all kinds of reasonsTo deny this,
to say no, they gave you plenty of
evidence, some people had degrees, I
don't, but I lived there.I know the
noise. I use an app called (INAUDIBLE)
to listen to the birds. 22 birds in my
neighborhood one day.You think I'm
going to hear that once that starts?
How many years of construction?It's 81
Traffic. I don't hear the truck stop. I
don't hear that. Maybe the traffic
sometimes, but I don't hear it.What
they're talking aboutIs not definite,
there's no definite to what they're
giving you, they're not giving you the
information. There's articles all over,
you can get your information there,
Virginia is losing$1.8 billion to data
centers because the benefits they get.
It is not coming back to us. If you say
yes to this, all you're doing is
getting money from them and forcing the
cost on usAnd not taking responsibility
for it because you didn't raise taxes.
That's what's happening. You will raise
our electricity, you will cause water
shortages, you guys can look at your
website, how many times have you put
droughtAffectAnd warnings, lower your
water usage to 50%, 25 for businesses,
are they going to lower their water
usage?What if they need more in the
future?Once you say yes there is no
saying no. You think they're going to
care if you're fine?FindingAffects the
people you find the homeowner, Finding
doesn't affect the billion dollar
corporation.Okay? That's Penny's.
Penny's.They can do whatever they want.
They can make all the promises they want
With (INAUDIBLE). That's unfair to us,
if you can't come with definite Skype
you can't come withThe fact that there
is no evidence, if you're not looking
to do your due diligence, say no. It
doesn't meet our comprehensive plan. Do
a new conference a plan. Set strict
guidelines. Allow us to have a voice.
This is not what we want.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Thank you.
>>Ron Harrison followed by Lisa Frank.
>>Good evening, Ron Harrison, Joni
district. Let me say at the outsetI am
not against rezoning. In fact I'm in
favor of it in certain instances, for
example, I would like to address
missing middle housingFor some rezoning
to allow higher density housing because
that brings value to the community. It
helps solve a crisis that we have in
our community.That's important.When it
comes to rezoning, I would like to
point out an articleIn Wall Street
Journal today. It pointed out that
according to the JPMorgan study that
was done a month ago60%Of the data
centers expected to come onlineIn 2027
Have yet to be startedAnd another 7%Are
being delayed. Now if I remember my
fractions that's two thirdsOf all the
data centers that are under contract
right now, They're not even there.And
you are consideringMaking a zoning
changeFor something that is years in
the offing and may never happen.And I
would like to point this out to you.By
doing so, you are eliminating the
opportunityTo do some rezoning for an
applicant who actually brings value to
the communityAnd to the County. What am
I talking about? In the interest of
full disclosure, I am an Apple
shareholder.Somebody might say Apple is
an AI company. Well, they're really
not, they are the laggard in AI. Because
Apple is a manufacturer.First and
foremost.They make stuff that people
want to buy, it adds value to theirLives
, That's the kind of company, if you
want to make a change through rezoning,
When somebody like an apple comes along
and alsoThey provide jobs, If you're
going to make a zoning change, do it
for the right reasons, not for this
type of stuff, this is insane.I would
also like to point outI spent 40 years
in IT. And I developed a lot of cutting
edge technology, leading-edge
technology, I would dare say some of
the stuff I've been involved inHas
affected everybody in this room. Okay?
But I have seen what the consequences
are. Okay? Sometimes great ideas in the
technologyDevelopment ends up being a
disaster. I helped develop the very
first telemarketing center in the
United States. It was done so for
really good reason. It was done because
it was done for MCI telecommunications,
a company that change long distance
service in this country. That became
part of the telecommunications
revolution. But I am pretty sure nobody
likes getting a telemarketing call when
you're trying to have dinner. So don't
do it.
>>Thank you, sir.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Lisa Frank followed by Leslie Spencer.
>>At evening, folks. My name is Lisa
Frank, I own a thorough bed breeding
farmAnd following facility in Stephen
city, I'm not sure what district that
is, I am so sorry. I livedIn Frank
Frederick County for my entire life and
have 18 years in IT management. I chose
to build my farm in Frederick County
and have an intimate understanding of
the data space including analytics and
AI and other AI capabilities. In
addition to the data center issues that
most everybody here is forAnd has
already spoken about, what I am gravely
concerned aboutFor this countyThe
technology Park designation since this
is the first oneBeing evaluated under
such a designation, I am very concerned
that this designation even exists which
have no penalties associated with it
beyondYears of litigation and no
restitution for property devaluationTo
adjacent properties. There are no
immediateFinancial or other penalties
in the zoning ordinances such as
mandatory operational shutdown to
violations of the county guardrails are
proffers under operational use or even
mandatory purchase of adjacent
properties that are impacted seriously.
Is a former senior federal staff I
would encourage you to reconsider any
decision to approve anything under this
new designation as it is currently
written. I would encourage you to
consult with not only County attorneys
But also personal attorneys to
understand any risk you may be open to
should you approve a designation which
poses such a high risk to your
constituency, especially with so many
saying they don't want them here. As
public servants we serve the people, we
are not only professionally but
personally liable for our decisions
which may seriously impact the health,
Safety, welfare, and property values of
our constituency. These data centersOur
only being proposed in drought stricken
areas. Why?And why Virginia? Because
it's cheap and there are no penalties
for violating citizens sanctity.
Virginia has the most data center
developmentOf all states with the
exception of Texas. Someone else has
mentioned that that is considerably
less landmass than Texas. I have
personal experience of drought related
issuesOn my farm now let alone having
to compete with water from animals with
data centers tapping the same aquifers.
Data centers are builtTo Lisa Rackspace
to others, that is how they make their
money, the company building will not be
the companyHolding or using it.
Proffers only govern the building of
these data centers, not the leasing of
the Rackspace. Inside the data center
once it is already built. We keep
talking audible decibels and gallons in
electricity and taxes which are
critical to our citizens for the very
reasons already shared.I encourage you
toEncourage others to vote no on this.
We need to be asking for penaltiesAll
of these proffers.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Leslie Spencer followed by Joel Faust.
>>My name is Leslie Spencer, I am from
Gainsborough. Someone, Just for want to
say someone told me that sometimes
officials seem to think that a county
and not always hereThe citizens and I
don't agree, but I do try to understand
what many citizens face in losing their
precious home. It feels like a
homebirth the homestead and I
homeschooled, if ever live near this
area my life would be affected, I try
to think and research the most I can
for my community because if I was about
to lose all that I loveI would be
devastated and frozen in fear and
grief. I would know what to say. We
need to amendThe area and help protect
Stonewall, the citizen surveys never
said this, I read them, theseIdeas
likely came from the lobbyist and the
former director. Good evening, thank
you for your dedication and thank you
for all the votersFor showing up for
your County tonight. Frederick County
deserves clarity, Foresight, and strong
leadership. As you consider this
massive project I wantTo pose five
critical questions. First, do we truly
know the value of what we are losing?
Our comprehensive planExpressly states
that a rotatingRezoning request may be
turned out even thoughThings are
addressed. That leaves the power in
your hands. Not be determined to use as
a property in the vicinity. Second
under Virginia Senate Bill 94 just past
are we properly evaluating the
cumulative long-term impactsAnd beyond
the immediate property lines because
the adjoining areas is our state
entrance which is an important
perception kind of, This brings me to
my third question, what will help
visitors see, What will you help
visitors see at the gateway to our
state, parents will say often for the
first time look, kids, we are in
Virginia, this is a part of our legacy
of care regarding tourismAnd our
conference a plan says protects us with
first impressions often set the tone,
this isWe need to benefit, they will
come back. This brings me to my third
question.Sorry, will a 900 MW
industrial load undermine our County
Valley and save historical tourism?The
plan states one plan is converted from
agricultural use it is likely it will
never be reclaimed. Our farmersIn their
securityNeed more support through
tourism, not less, and now more than
ever, does this move us towards our
economic vision or towardsSustainable
demand for endless energy
infrastructure, consider the staggering
scale, this is 900 MW, the CPEs, the
ValleyUses 265 MW today and our EC
serves 22 counties with 1150 MW, the
single use facility is a lowOur local
grid. It will introduce the heat island
effect that strains everybody's energy
bills as well as their watersheds and
farmlands. This is the time to use SB
94. Thank you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Joel Fallis followed by Darla
McCreary.
>>Mr. Chairman, commissioners company
was Joel thousand 11 Gainsborough
district. I want to start off by
thanking this planning commission for
hearing citizens feedback over the past
several months expressing concerns and
firm boundaries for this applicant
during lastMonths working session and
here tonight. Also want to thank Mr.
Pearson for his comments duringThe
recent session following the session
regardless of how the community might
feel about it because if we are to be a
country governed by the rule of law we
must follow the laws protections for
fellow systems whether or not we favor
their ideas. Principles matter. If I
had a project that would be unpopular I
would like the opportunity to makeThe
case to the best of my ability and let
it be considered on its merits. That's
only fair.
, This applicant has submitted their
revised application including a
recurring change from the word noise to
the word sound. I thought that was cute.
And it made the best case they can make
for the project. That is their right.
And tonight it's our turnOn the record.
I want to rebut claims this afternoon
to see what it sounded like out there
currently on a summer afternoon for the
folks who have lived there for 10 or 20
years or more. Let me say first that
just rolling down the gravel road at a
crawling 8 to 10 miles an hourMade me
feel like I was disturbing the peace.
That's how quiet it felt. I got out of
my car and turned it off and used a
basic sound meterOn my phone, With an
app on my phoneTo measure the
background noise level.As always
obviously not professional equipment
but for simpleBaseline comparison that
serves the purpose. I checked in a few
different spots. Concluding the highway
noise in the distance which gets
quieter night I saw the wholePolycom mix
Slide earlier especially when I was
behind tree line, property lines were
to be it only ever got above 4500 birds
chirped nearby or a good breeze was
rustling in the trees. A slightly louder
than a refrigerator or a low
conversation.By comparison,Turn it up,
a little bit?Okay.My little voice
machine over there is now giving me a
measurement, Keep it on.Up a little bit?
Low 60s.So given the sizeIn the
additional distance to the dais, your
hearing somewhere in the ballpark of 60
dBWhich might not sound like much in
the context of this room on such a
little noise sourceBut just listen for
a moment.Imagine stepping outsideAnd
hearing this constantlyYou would not,
you not hear the crickets, any bullfrogs
, any tree peepers at night because
this would be the soundtrackDear kids
playing in the yardEtc.
>>Thank you very much, sir.
[ APPLAUSE ]. Be sure to pay bill
well.
>>McCreary and that's the last one on
the list.
>>Good evening, late evening, it's
almost 10:30, this is a point of
reference, I'm number 48 on the sign-up
list. I think we are getting near the
end, Thank you so much for your time
and serving on the planning commission.
I am Darla McCreary, I am in the back
Creek District, will be brief. The
proposed water demand alone provides
sufficient grounds to deny this
application. The developer has
repeatedly stated both of Frederick
water to the county staff and during
public hearingsThat a data center uses
approximately 35,000 gallons of water
per day, we've heard that, haven't we?
What has not been made clear is that
this figure applies per building, not
per site, with 10 buildings being
proposed, the total daily demand would
reach 350,000 gallons of water every
single day.Although the application and
proffers acknowledge potential water
requirements and now propose a cap of
120,000 gallons.Gallons per day, excuse
me, they provide almost no detail
regarding the system upgrades required
to deliver that volume of water and
sewer service to this property without
a clear feasible and fully funded
infrastructure planThe proffered Is
neither credible norEnforceable. Water
is not an abstract resource, it is
essential to human health, agriculture,
wildlife and the long-term
sustainability of our community.
Approving a project with such
extraordinaryAnd adequately addressed
water demands would place unnecessary
strainOn a critical public resource.
Residents throughout the water service
area as well as those relying on
private wells as myselfShould be deeply
concernedAbout future access to clean
water. The combination of massive daily
consumption and the discharge of
chemically laden water into the local
quarriesAnd the OPEC and our primary
water sources poses a direct risk to
the safety, reliability and long-term
viability of our water supply. It is my
request that you denyThis application.
Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Thank you.
That completes our list of everyone
that signed up. Does anyone wish to
speak who hasn't had the opportunity?
State your name, district, three
minutes or less. Her mom, Matthew
Jackson, I live about 10 miles roughly
from the proposed site in Clearbrook. I
have just to give a little background
on me, I graduated from Henley high
school, lovely school, Levitt, went
down to James Madison, got my bachelors
and Masters in computer science which
should tell you something about how I
would probably feel about data centers.
He is gone now but as he stated
previously, data infrastructure are
very important, very big deal.
Unfortunately,Might be surprised, I am
very much opposed to this proposal.It
doesn't make sense for the region, it is
Speculative at best how longThese data
centers will be runningAt scale and
that puts into effect a risk to the tax
revenue coming in that the entire
proposal, the pros of this entire
proposal was tax revenue. But ifThe
data centers the hyper scale in the AI
and all that goes away, To use a nice
term,You won't see that tax revenue
over the years because that will sit
empty.I am not trying to fear Monger, I
certainly understand you all are taking
in a lot of data, I'm hearing from a
lot of people and sources, so I will
cut myself off short and say that from
a technical's perspective even from a
technical perspective I would be
opposed to the say noTo this proposal.
Thank you.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>I'm going to do this,On the sign over
there says 280 to 260. Fire marshal?We
one person in this room was in favor of
data centers. My question to you,Take a
ride, bring lunch, go down to Layton
County, sit next to a data center, sit
there for two half hours. Didn't see
one bird.Didn't see one fox, one
rabbit, didn't see any animals
whatsoever.Keep that in mind and how
these things destroy the area. Thank
you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Anybody else?And I shall close the
public hearing, Mr. Menchu, you care to
respond any of these comments?
>>I have one more.
>>I'm sorry, I have closed it. I've
close the public hearing.
>>Mr. Chairman, we appreciate the
planning commission in public speaking,
I think it's entered its fourth hour,
I'm not going to go through and give
you a longer bottle, we stand by the
veracity of the application, with that,
We yelled back the 40 you.
>>Thank you, sir.
>>Commissioners, it's our opportunity
to discuss what we've heard here. I
looked to my right, any discussions,
comments?Me, will say something. My
thoughts and opinionsRight now are
mainly the fact thatI am not confident
because ofThere's not enough, There's
not enough detail there's not enough
enforceableItems within the proffers
that we canDick our teeth into and
enforce it. I'm just not sure what that
looks like, I personally don't feel
confidentIn the materials, We have
enough in here. I will start off with
that commentAnd then I'll probably come
back.
>>Mr. Whitaker?
>>Yes.In supportOf our beautiful ag
land that we have hereIn the Valley,
food is a national security, So I can't
see having something like this, drains
or resources and hurts our abilityTo
produce food. This valley is the size
of a valley in ChinaAnd maybe one
billion people. We should not give up
an inch of it.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Mr. Chairman, first of all, I want to
thank you folks for being here, Your
good citizens and I want to thankFor
all the emails I received, I apologize
for not responding to each one, Because
I need at least four hours of sleep at
night, But I will do my bestThe circle
back around.I have spoken with folksIn
Loudoun County, Spoken with staffers in
Fairfax County, I have spoken with a
lot of you and I have attended many
Citizens gatherings regardingThe
center, listen experts on both sides
and the bottom line isThere are several
concerns that I have. The first one,
believe it or not, isThe value of your
homesHereThe second that theBoard of
SupervisorsApproves this, I am not
saying they are, your values drop. The
second you put a for sale sign on your
house, you've got to provide the
material fact that yes, there is going
to be a data center in my backyard. The
Council would mind having a data center
in his backyard. None of us here want
that. And therefore you're either going
to be stuck with the house, you're
going to be underwater, you're going to
foreclose, there's just a lot of bad
things when it comes to that. The
second thing is the noise.And we have
beat that horse to death, water we beat
to death and pollution. So those are my
comments, And so I can't tell you what
my vote is now, But I want you to know
the why before I do the how. Thank
you.
>>Any other comments?Any comments,
discussion?Yes, ma'am?
>>Yes, I mean, I think we need to
figure outWhat we are doing a little
bit, I don't think we know enough about
all of this, like Liz was saying, we
have one tiny little data center in
Middletown, correct?And then to go from
one to10, 12 more, 1011 more, however
many,I think we have a lot moreStudy we
need to do on it and there's too many
concerns and I thinkThe public has
really brought out a lot of thatAnd
they have been very eloquently and
knowledgeable in that and I think we
need to take those concerns to heart.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>I just want toRepeat what some other
commissioners of said. First of all,
thank you for being here and the
involvement that I've seenThroughout,
it's been six weeks, two months of
citizen involvement in the information
that I received from for citizens and
the passion that I saw, the commitment
to our economyIs, it makes you proud to
be here. So thank you for that
participation. I will say also thatWe
want to have companies come to us, we
want to have businesses here, and I
appreciateYou coming here. Let me say
to a more personal note I worked with
Mr. macho is a delegateWhen I was on
the school board and I give him much
respect and support. He is an honest man
And I appreciate his representation to
us during that period of time.But with
that being said, I think there's much
more that we need to learnAndTo protect
our county is what our job is.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>Mr. Martin?
>>Yes, I think theReward that comes
with the data centerIs not quite worse
the risk and it's not quite worth the
intrusion.And on top of that, the
locationOf our ValleyDoesn't makeLogic,
Logical senseFor a data centerAnd the
other part of locationIsNear peopleIs a
problem.So we need to deal withA setback
that's a whole lot bigger than what we
are dealing with.So as a community, As
a board, We need to come up with better
guardrailsRegardless of the outcomeOn
this project.
>>One more note, Development, we are
not against, Development is going to
happen, it's just the right
development, the right timeAnd with
this project not beingIn conformance,
like it's in general conformance with
the conference of plan, generally. This
project, the scaleNeeds to be a
slamdunk and we're just not there yet.
So again,It's not in conformance.
>>Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ]
>>I would also like to thank you for
being here tonight, You've stayed here
it's almost 11 o'clock. I realize the
seats get hard after 8 o'clockAnd I
commend you for hanging in there, your
concern for Frederick CountyAnd it's
condition and wanting to maintain
quality of life that we all enjoy and
came here forIs admirable and I want to
certainly commend you on that. I agree
with comments commissioners, I just
don't thinkWe are well prepared for a
project of this size at this point.I
advocated, begin educating six months
ago for us to come up with policy
statements dealing with data centers
and I promise you I will continue to
work on thatWith the board and advocate
for that, it's hard for us to make
changes to the rules when we are in the
middle of the rezoning.That's the
challenge that we have.So this one will
move forward andWe'll see how the Board
of Supervisors responds to it. So this
is in the Stonewall district, so I'll
call on my Stonewall Commissioner to
Make a motion.
>>Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First I
would like to think everybody here
tonight taking time out of your
schedules and from your family to come
participate and be part of this.Those
of you who came to the information
session, those who sent us emails,
thank you, stay engaged. I would also
like to thank the applicant, the team
through the process is been willing to
engage with staff and commissioners and
residents can answer questions and
respond to concerns and make changes to
Their proposal and I think that type of
work together is important. I think our
County benefits from the mix of land
use, residential neighborhoods,
commercial development, agricultural
Operations. Each of these contributes
to the economicVitality in the
community we live in, The challenge
before usIt is not does this have value
but how do we mitigateWhen those land
uses come together. That is the
challenge here for us tonight. I
appreciate the benefits of this project
, But in its current form I don't
believe that the application
sufficiently mitigates the potential
impacts to the neighboring residential
uses.There's too many noise questions
and the buffers don't seem adequate for
this highly intensive data center campus
That's scope and scale isn't properly
mitigated. Therefore a move to recommend
For the Virginia technology part.
>>We have a motion. As her second?
>>We have a motion and a second. Getting
further discussion? Minister Whitaker,
let me pause. The motions for denial,
if you vote yes you are agreeing that
you want to recommend denial. If you
vote no you're saying no, I don't want
denial. We are? Mr. Whitaker, can you
begin, please?
>>Yes to denial.
>>Yes.
>>The chair votes yes and the motion
carries.This will go to the
[ APPLAUSE ]
This will go to the Board of
Supervisors on July 8 with a
recommendation for denialAnd we need to
do anything else?
>>No, Mr. Chairman, just a reminder,
June 9, data center.
>>Next Tuesday.
>>June 17,Data session, work session
with the Board of Supervisors. Thank
you, Mr. chair.
>>Glad to entertain a motion for
adjournment.
>>So move.
>>Second? You guys be careful going
home.
>>Residents, I still need
signatures.