The Loudoun County Planning Commission voted to recommend the approval of the Hiddenwood Assemblage Application. It is a request made by Arcola homeowners to allow them to sell their land to a developer of data centers.
Recommendation for Data Centers
On May 9, the Loudoun County Planning Commission made a narrow 4-3 vote to recommend the approval of the Hiddenwood Assemblage Application. This allows homeowners along a rural Arcola gravel road to sell their land to a developer of data centers.
According to decision-makers, the issue is a no-win situation despite trying to balance the interests of the homeowners who are for the zoning change and those in Briarfield Estates. If the rezoning is enacted, Briarfield Estates would become surrounded by data centers.
The application has now been passed to the Board of Supervisors. In 2022, the Board of Supervisors passed a 5-4 vote of approval to JK Land Holdings — the developer that created a data center on land adjacent to a community of decades-old homes called Hiddenwood Lane.
According to Hiddenwood Lane residents, the neighborhood is engulfed by a large construction zone. The recent application’s passage to the Board of Supervisors creates a sense of urgency among the 20 residential lots’ homeowners.
Racefield Lane is the only road to and from the subdivision to Route 50. It was once a quiet country lane now used by heavy equipment. According to residents, emergency vehicles, school buses, and delivery drivers have trouble accessing their lots. The construction also makes a lot of noise and dust.
According to the office of Supervisor Matt Letourneau, parts of Dulles West and Northstar boulevards will open by August. These four-lane roads will serve as a passageway for Hiddenwood residents and replace Racefield Lane.
The Hiddenwood Application
In 2022, the supervisors approved an 869,000-square-foot development called JK Technology Park 2. It was constructed south of the neighborhood and includes some parts of Hiddenwood Lane. A few data centers could be erected 100 feet from the property line. These would replace a quiet array of trees. The approval of JK 2 came after some residents dropped opposition, instead opting to try and sell their properties.
On May 9, Hiddenwood resident Kaleb Calhoun said the neighborhood is already part of the data center park. BlackChamber, Amazon, and Yondr are also constructing other nearby properties. There are many issues, including trash dumping, large deliveries, and trucks breaking down that block the road. These cause a significant safety issue as Racefield Lane was just repaved the year prior, and new major potholes have already formed.
According to Michael Romeo of Walsh Colucci, representing the Hiddenwood applicants, the application seeks to build up to 756,000 square feet of data center floor space. It makes every reasonable effort to minimize the unfavorable effects on the Briarfield neighborhood in a way that the JK2 application did not.
The proposal would limit the height of data centers near Ashby Oak Drive in Briarfield. These buildings would be limited to 24 feet above the cul-de-sac, while other buildings around Hiddenwood would be at most 50 feet. Romeo showed digital renderings that indicated the data centers were invisible to Briarfield even during the winter. However, the developer would need to pay $75,000 to the Briarfield HOA to block the view with landscaping.
Briarfield Estates Residents Oppose
Some Briarfield residents consider the Hiddenwood subdivision a “buffer” between them and the JK 2 construction. Hence, turning the Hiddenwood neighborhood into data centers would sandwich their young, decade-old homes between data centers.
According to Briarfield resident Lauren Murphy, the Hiddenwood residents feel trapped, and they are victims to the approval of JK 2. However, Murphy says the application cannot be approved as it merely passes their burden to Briarfield Estates. The Hiddenwood Assemblage Application’s passage would mean the entire subdivision would be blocked on all sides.
On May 9, the commissioners took a recess to negotiate revisions to the legal commitments and ensure the mitigation methods were enforceable. While Murphy said she appreciated the effort to reduce the negative effects on their neighborhood, she also stated that approval ultimately just passes the problem to Briarfield Estates.
Bala Thumma, part of the Briarfield HOA board, said the HOA has consistently opposed the application. The latest draft does not go far enough to mitigate the effects on their community.
Other Oppositions
The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) also opposes the application. On May 9, PEC representative Tia Earman stated that regardless of the decision on the application, it would result in a reduced quality of life for the residents. Earman noted that the PEC sympathizes with the Hiddenwood homeowners.
However, the PEC continues to oppose any Loudoun County rezoning to allow by-right data centers on properties not in the pipeline to create more energy giants. Legislative data center applications add to the energy crisis and hurt efforts to mitigate climate change.
Most zoning staffers and commissioners agreed that the application represents the years of contradictory zoning and planning. Many commissioners said the supervisors should never have put either subdivision in their present position.
According to county planners Marchant Schneider and Marshall Brown, if the Hiddenwood and Briarfield subdivisions did not already exist, staffers would have likely recommended that the area be planned for non-residential use in the 2019 General Plan. This is especially true because it is near the flight paths of planes from the Dulles International Airport.
Madhava Madireddy (Dulles), who represents the area, asked Romeo if he would consider cutting half the permitted floor space. However, Romeo said a certain amount of square footage allows the deal to work. Cutting the floor space would make it financially unfeasible.
Madireddy then denied the application as he could not support creating more data centers near another neighborhood. The motion failed on a 4-4 vote.
The Chair is preparing for the State of the County address on May 22. Commissioner Dale Polen Myers (At Large) is the most vocal supporter of the Hiddenwood proposal. Myers said the General Plan’s current vision for the residential development in Hiddenwood was out of step with reality. She said she doesn’t think anybody would ever create townhouses along that stretch, especially in front of data centers.
At one point, she also said there is only one use left for them: to work with what the county has given. The county gave them a data center up to the sidewalk. After nearly 3.5 hours of discussion, the recommendation to approve the application was voted on.
