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In the month or so since Goochland County proposed changes to county code and its comprehensive land use plan to help attract high revenue tech companies to the designated growth area, mostly the West Creek business park that hugs the border with Henrico from Rt. 6 to Broad Street Road, a firestorm has erupted. Residents of Readers Branch, a relatively new subdivision on Hockett Road, for instance, seemed to believe that a data center was on the verge being built in West Creek south of their neighborhood. There is no truth to this rumor.
(Go to https://www.goochlandva.us/1408/Technology-Overlay-District-Technology-Z
for details.)
Goochland County needs significant commercial revenue to
bolster its tax base, which largely dependent on real estate taxes. The goal is
to achieve a 70/30 split between residential and commercial taxes. Currently,
the ratio is closer to 80/20 and slipping backwards. People complain bitterly
when their tax bills go up due to rising assessments but want no commercial
investment. The money must come from somewhere to pay the bills.
The internet—whose existence and ubiquity drive the need for
data centers—is awash with horror stories of places overrun with enormous data
centers built a stone’s throw from existing neighborhoods replete with ugly photos
of anonymous buildings marching over the landscape.
Data centers have been a by-right—essentially prezoned—use
in West Creek for several years. Without changes to existing regulations, a
data center 80 feet high could be built, if equipped with a fire suppression
system, 500 feet from land zoned for residential use. A football field is 360
feet long.
Adding a technology overlay district (TOD) and technology
zone (TD) allows the county to offer incentives to attract desperately needed
commercial investment in the county and strengthen existing zoning regulation for
setbacks, landscape buffers, and design standards to ensure greater compatibility
with nearby homes.
Provisions of the proposals, including by right building
heights up to 120 feet, depth of setbacks from adjacent residential properties,
lack of clear mechanisms for enforcement or consequences of violation of noise
regulations, and no public input or supervisor oversight for placement of large
buildings, raised red flags for citizens.
The county held a community meeting on July 7 (See GOMM “In
search of a bigger worm”) to present the TOD and TZ. Although the boardroom was
filled for that meeting, many complained that it was poorly advertised.
On Monday August 4, County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley,
Ed.D.; Assistant Director of Community Development Ray Cash; and Director of
Economic Development Sara Worley met with some residents of Readers Branch,
Mosaic, and the Citizens Planning Committee to discuss the initiative.
Raley began the meeting by announcing that the TOD/TD
amendments, originally scheduled for review at the Planning Commission’s August
21 meeting, would be postponed to the September 18 meeting to allow more time to
gather citizen input and perhaps modify the TOD/TZ.
He also said that a second community meeting on the topic
will be held in the next few weeks. Notice of this session will be mailed, advertised
on social media, the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/
and distributed through other mechanisms
to get the word out. The community meeting will also be livestreamed and
archived on the county website for those unable to attend in person. This was
done in response to sentiments that the proposals were being “rushed” into
approval without adequate time for citizen input and thorough investigation of
the long-term impact of unintended consequences. This postponement will allow
the county to dispel misinformation and address legitimate concerns about the
TOD/TZ.
Continuing and extending by right approval for uses,
including data centers and bio tech manufacturing, which are new to the county,
were high on the list of objections. Mandating approval by elected officials to
ensure that these uses are properly sited to protect residential enclaves and
scaled appropriate to the area was high on the list of requested changes to the
proposals.
Allowing by right, rather than requiring conditional use
permits for heights up to 120 feet was also a major concern for its impact on
the viewshed. Insight into the rationale that included this in the TOD/TZ is
needed to help citizens understand the proposals.
Noise, as currently drafted, the TOD/TZ set 65 decibels as
the maximum permitted sound level. There are no details as to how, when, and by
whom sound levels would be measured and violations enforced with meaningful consequences
in addition to more stringent controls on backup generator testing noise.
During citizen comment at the start of the evening session
of the August 5 board meeting, many residents, mostly from Readers Branch, made
their feelings known and the TOD/TZ. Some of their comments were on point, others
unfounded at best.
First of all, West Creek is not a nature preserve, or a mixed-use
residential enclave. It was created in the 1980s to be the economic engine to
generate business tax revenue Goochland and allow the rest of the county to
remain rural. A Motorola chip plant was planned for West Creek Parkway, near
the current Striker Soccer facility. Only parking lots were built before the
chip operations moved offshore. The site is being marketed. The building on
West Creek Parkway that housed the Federal Reserve, which did not pay real
estate tax, has been vacant for some time and is currently for sale.
The notion that industrial uses in West Creek, most of which
is zoned M-1 and has been for decades, should not be allowed is wrong. If the
other requirements for data centers, like water and power are in reasonable proximity,
the east side of Rt. 288 would seem to be an ideal place to put them. Traffic
noise is about 70 decibels, higher than permitted by the TOD/TZ.
We do not know how many sites in the proposed TOD/TZ could
support a data center. Aside from the need for water—the Tuckahoe Creek Service
District has a 25 MILLION gallons per day allocation and uses about 5 million
gpd—and power, which could be supplied by Dominion or turbines tapping into existing
natural gas lines, seismic challenges from blasting at rock quarries to the north
and south limit suitable locations. More clarity about this is needed.
Bio tech research and development and advanced manufacturing
using 3D printing techniques are also by right uses.
Remarks made by some new residents suggest they performed
little due diligence on the area before moving here. They naively believe that,
despite the Hockett Road corridor and West Creek being the county’s designated
growth area, they moved to a rural area and are surprised and outraged to learn
that there will be robust commercial development nearby.
Kudos to the county for allowing more time to gather and
evaluate meaningful feedback on the TOD/TZ proposals and dispel the bizarre rumors
floating around.
