'We’ve been screwed': How one county shifted on data centers
No place embraced the digital economy more than Loudoun County.
Long known as the wealthiest county in the United States, thanks to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and major government contractors, the county became a leader in the global data center boom. Companies flocked to the area for its extensive fiber network and fast-track approval process.
A data center is under construction in September in Virginia's Loudoun County.
The region is home to more than 230 data center buildings, what the county describes as the largest concentration of computing hubs on the planet. The facilities consume enough electricity to power more than 2.2 million homes. Transmission lines tower over homes, and several hyperscale data centers are under construction.
"The growth there has been staggering," said Terry Clower, a professor of public policy at George Mason University.
Many residents are troubled by the construction rate and worry the county is too reliant on the money the industry brings in. Some also raise concerns about noise, pollution and their property values.
"Our residents have had enough," said Juli Briskman, a member of the county board of supervisors who called for a moratorium. "It’s gone too far."
Juli Briskman, a member of the Loudoun County board of supervisors, poses for a portrait Sept. 28 near the construction site of a data center.
Data center capital
In the 1990s, America Online and UUNet, one of the world’s largest internet providers, established their global headquarters in Loudoun, spurring a wave of development. Within a few years, half the world’s web traffic moved through the county, estimates suggest.
After the dot-com bubble burst, warehouses planned to be data centers sat empty. Later, during the housing crash, the county’s balance sheet took a major hit and officials scrambled to fill the gap.
Buddy Rizer, head of the county’s economic development agency, saw an opportunity in data centers and courted companies like Amazon and Google.
Amazon Web Services will invest more than $1 billion over five years in US data-center communities. The funding targets education, job trainin…
The plan worked. Over the next 10 years, the county saw the world’s largest surge in data center development. In industry circles, Rizer is now referred to as the "king of data centers."
To quicken the pace of development, officials backed a move to centralize permitting processes in Rizer’s office. Companies also seized on the area’s zoning rules, which allowed them to build data centers "by right" wherever office buildings were permitted, even if they were close to residential neighborhoods. The rules also allowed developers to skirt approvals from the board of supervisors.
Construction exploded amid increased demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Last year alone, the county issued building permits for more than 10 million square feet of data center space, the highest one-year number in the county’s history. Together, data centers occupy 3% of the total land in the county, Rizer said.
Residents of Loudoun County and surrounding areas play pickleball Sept. 28 at Hal & Berni Hanson Regional Park in Aldie, Va. Tax revenue from data centers in the region made the park project possible, officials say.
'Love-hate relationship'
In fiscal year 2026, data centers produced $1.2 billion in property tax dollars — almost 40% of the county’s overall budget.
The wealth allowed officials to lower property taxes every year for the past 10 years. Tax rates on vehicles also were slashed.
Meanwhile, the county built a pair of new schools over the past two years, and another is under construction. A new recreation center opened last year in Ashburn. A $261 million recreation center on the other side of the county is in the planning stage.
Longtime county resident Joan Price said the lower property tax rate “is the good side of it," adding she finds data centers unsightly and has concerns about their potential health effects. "It’s a love-hate relationship."
A sign welcomes visitors to Hal & Berni Hanson Regional Park on Sept. 28 in Aldie, Va.
"I don't think we need any more data centers," said Sam Lechman, 35, who brings his three young children to a $91 million recreation complex in Aldie, Va., a project built with the help of tax revenue from data centers. "There are other ways to pay for these nice things."
Lechman, a county resident for more than a decade, said there’s "pros and cons" to the embrace of data centers. He said he enjoys amenities like parks and new schools, including one his daughter attends, but he believes the construction happened too quickly.
"I think they need to slow down and see what the repercussions are going to be," he said.
Loudoun County resident Greg Pirio poses for a portrait Sept. 28 in front of a data center near his home that he said caused health issues for him and his neighbors.
'We’ve been screwed'
Living close to data centers upended some lives.
When Greg Pirio moved to the county in 2010, he enjoyed long walks through the woods near his townhome. He’d often lead his dog to a nearby pond and pick wild berries. "It was lovely, rural nature," he said.
Last year, a massive data center came online a block from his home.
Now, he says he struggles to ignore the mechanical whirring of turbines and generators. He can sometimes feel the emissions from the building’s gas power plant in his chest and throat.
"It sounds like a jet engine," Pirio, 76, said. "Not a moment goes by when I don’t think about it."
Vantage Data Centers, which operates the VA2 facility, said it built a power plant on site because it could not connect to the region’s strained power grid.
Amazon is changing how it deals with communities as opposition to the rapid expansion of AI data centers intensifies.
The data center was built "by right" without board approval or community input, officials said. Local council members said they were also not notified when Vantage changed its site plans to include gas turbines.
A study commissioned by the Piedmont Environmental Council found pollution from the power system could lead to tens of millions of dollars in health-related damage to people living nearby and could cause 3.4 to 6.5 premature deaths per year.
Vantage Data Centers said the study used "worst-case assumptions" and state environmental regulators determined emissions levels at the VA2 data center are within safe, legal limits.
Pirio formed a local group to oppose the project and others like it.
He said he would sell his house but he doesn't think anyone would buy it. One family on his block sold their home well below market value, he said. Another house has been for sale for more than three months.
"Who wants to live near a data center?" Pirio said. "We’ve been screwed."
A data center is under construction in Loudoun County, Va.
Changing tide
Some Loudoun residents say they're still battling projects. The opposition mirrors a broader national backlash against data centers.
The county board of supervisors last year adopted new zoning language to ensure future projects come before the board for a vote. Last month, it voted to pause all new data center applications for one year as it finishes a review of the county’s policies and regulations. Members of the board also pushed back against Amazon’s controversial plan to build several data centers at a former university campus.
Rizer and other officials say the county is running out of viable land to build the facilities. His office is increasingly focused on ways to diversify the local government’s revenue streams.
Rizer noted he shares many of residents’ concerns. "We made some mistakes along the way," he said. "There are homes that are too close to data centers. … Today, I think we’d make different decisions. But you can’t go back in time."
Briskman said she urges other local governments to learn from the county: "We’re a cautionary tale.”
Related
Data centers cut property taxes and funded public projects. So why is Loudoun County hitting the brakes on development?
