Background Information

                     Stop the Development

 Location: 2300 Darbytown Road, Henrico , VA 23231

Background:

David Wagner dba Wagner Distribution Logistics proposes a 1.6 million square foot, 8 building data center to be built as the "Centra" data center directly behind the Fareva Manufacturing facility which replaced the Pfizer facility in the same location in 1990.  This is the equivalent of the size of 27 football fields.

Fareva, a French pharmaceutical company founded in 1985 by by billionaire Bernard Fraisse which reportedly generates over $1.6 billion in sales annually and is the largest contract manufacturing organization in France, recently put a wooded industrial-zoned parcel it had originally slated for expansion for sale. We do not wish to have the land used for the data center project at 2300 Darbytown Road.  

The proposed parcel while in an M1 industrial use category based on current zoning is currently wooded. Due to a toxic spill by Pfizer, the previous inhabitant of the Fareva plant, contaminated the groundwater on the site in 1992. This contamination requires continuous EPA monitoring, and the land was required to have an industrial classification as it was not suitable for residential housing or other more desirable uses. 

Unfortunately, the parcel sits across Darbytown road directly across from three residential subdivisions, and near Messner road home to the three schools for the students in this area, Baker Elementary School, John Rolfe Middle School and Varina High School. There are also single-family homes dotted along Messner. When examining the area from Route 5 to Darbytown Road there are dozens of residential subdivisions who would be directly and indirectly impacted by this data center including Eagle's Nest, New Market Village, Castleton, Osborne Landing and more.

Centra alleges to have spent $700k to begin the plans for a data center on the site while not engaging any of the neighboring communities until the PUP process began. The company provided deficient notice to neighboring communities and has participated in a community meeting at Varina High School library along with smaller meetings with residents within the Eagle's Nest and New Market Village subdivision.

Initially, a by-right provision would have allowed the construction of the data center to begin without public input. However, the Henrico Board of Supervisors recognizing the existence of the White Oak Technology Park with over 3000 acres of dedicated space for data centers in Varina--where Centra alleges it previously attempted to purchase space for but was unsuccessful--and the desire for public input through a public-use permit (PUP) process in order to properly tamp down the large number of permit applications coming before the Board of Supervisors regarding data centers outside of the dedicated Technology Park have brought us here. 

Since the PUP process began, word about the proposed data center has been met with stiff resistance from many members of the adjacent subdivisions and communities who would have to live with the consequences of a data center more suited for the Technology Park due to it's size, scope and potential to interfere heavily in the lives of the residents in the Varina community. When the White Oak Technology Park was developed the thought that large scale data centers would be infringing upon established neighborhoods and taking up any available industrial land throughout our county was inconceivable. Now we are put in the precarious position to inform our tax-paying citizens of the perils which come with data centers including addressing the construction, environmental harms, high levels of water use including a substantial amount from our municipal water supply at a time when water resiliency is a major concern in our area, the transport of used water throughout our community which will need to be chemically cleaned and returned to the facility, extreme levels of electricity needed to power data centers which ultimately will result in increases to our already high power bills, noise concerns from machines running 24/7 including chillers, generators and fans used to keep the buildings cool at a time when our local temperatures are climbing, traffic concerns as undercounted car trips are unrealistic and unsustainable, de-watering of wells which many residents in Varina rely on, runoff concerns which could impact our protected areas, wetlands and the Cornelius Creek and perhaps one of the most crucial, the presence of affordable housing in our area could disappear over time displacing the residents lobbying against the data center and change the entire demographics of our community. Communities in our local, regional, state and national footprint have sent a clear message that enough is enough when it comes to data centers. 

We have been clear, we understand the need for data centers and to address business concerns, we are not against properly placed data centers but we do not want them near where we live, work, educate our children, shop or worship. There are numerous uninhabited areas where these can be placed responsibly. 2300 Darbytown Road is not one of those places.

Varina is a uniquely positioned swatch of Henrico County. Not only does Varina house White Oak Technology Park, we also house the Richmond International Airport, a landfill, the Mondelez factory, industrial warehouse complexes including two along Seven Hills Road (one slated for expansion and the other currently being developed, another warehouse complex past Wilson road, and a new residential community abutting Route 5. We already carry an unusually high amount of the environmental load of the county, and after dedicating 3000 acres of land to a suitably situated data center park, do not believe it is in our best interest to support this or any future data center projects including one proposed along Richmond-Henrico Turnpike.

Our area is also continuing to settle into residential and commercial development along Osborne Turnpike and the Capital Bike Trail, we are currently at the beginning stages of the Route 5 Corridor Traffic Improvement study to address traffic concerns including congestion, bottlenecks, accidents and response times, increased commuting times and years long construction along Williamsburg Road a major feeder of our neighborhood.

According to a very limited presentation with few details, the proposed data center will house 8 buildings, each around 200,000 square feet for a total of 1.5 million square feet, not including roads, generators additional infrastructure needs, parking lots and security. There are predictions of 50 workers per building which we believe are undercounts based on two trips per day a very unrealistic situation for most workplaces.