Alexandria Asks FFX County To Reject Plaza 500 Data Center Substation Request

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Alexandria’s city government has written to the neighboring Fairfax County government, urging them to reject a proposal for a substation to power a planned data center just outside Alexandria city limits.

Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins wrote to the Fairfax County Planning Commission on behalf of the city council to "respectfully request that you deny the application for the Edsall Data Center Substation 2232." In the letter, dated August 3, Gaskins writes that, "The incompatibility of heavy industrial use in such proximity to a densely populated area of Alexandria residents is a clear and compelling reason to not support this application.”

Residents Oppose The Substation

The data center, planned for the Plaza 500 site of Edsall Road, near the Bren Mar Park neighborhood, is a project of Starwood Capital. Starwood Capital filed a building permit application and plans for the first of two data center buildings in July.

The data center can be constructed by-right on the site, but the required substation will need county approval. Virginia law requires public facilities, including electrical substations, to have a public hearing and review to determine their compatibility with area guidelines established in Fairfax County’s Comprehensive Plan. The process is known as a Public Facilities 2232 Review.

It is this approval that residents and neighborhood groups like the Save Bren Mar Coalition are opposing.

The Save Bren Mar Coalition argues that the data center and planned substation would be in some cases within less than 100 feet of residential property, far closer than any other data center allowed by the county.

Alexandria Government Joins Rep. Don Beyer In Opposition

In her letter, Mayor Gaskins wrote, “While we respect the authority of individual jurisdictions to make land use decisions, we felt the need to weigh in given the number of residences in the City of Alexandria that border the proposed data center and substation. Approval of this substation presents a serious threat to the health and safety of our residents and our ability to deliver livable residential conditions widely, including in some of our most vulnerable communities. Our concern is whether a facility of this size, together with the infrastructure required to power it, belongs this close to people’s homes. Data centers, substations and other industrial uses are approved locally, but the impacts – noise, environmental, energy, water usage, quality of life – are felt more broadly across jurisdictions. Alexandria residents will be directly impacted by this proposal.”

The area’s congressman, Don Beyer, who just won his district’s primary election, has already announced his opposition to the substation. In a letter to the Fairfax County government, he wrote, “I have serious concerns about the potential impact of this project on residents. Data center infrastructure should not be built in residential areas where its scale and likely impacts are fundamentally incompatible with the character and quality of life of adjacent neighborhoods.”

More than 100 residents attended an informational meeting between Dominion Energy and the Mason District Land Use Committee on July 28 to hear the company’s plans and express their concerns about the substation. Residents shared photos of a standing-room-only gathering.

When Will Fairfax Decide?

Fairfax County’s Mason District Land Use Committee is scheduled to make its recommendation on the substation on September 22, with a full Planning Commission hearing and a formal decision scheduled for September 24.