Hyde Park Application

I suspect the buildings will be in the 30-40 foot tall range.

 

Yeah, Mr Linux, agree - that's a load of crap!

 

$119.8 million was the winning number.

 

Holy ----!

 

Wondering why the community rejected the hospital plans?
I am asking around about the new Inova HealthPlex Hospital in Ashburn and neighbors are saying it is a very quite place.
I also have been there and regular driving by and it always a deserted empty quite place

A huge date center in the middle of the residential communities - is a gigantic mess

 

I have been watching the news about parents in Gainesville arguing/protesting against more Data Centers moving into their neighborhood because they do not want the DCs to be near their neighborhood like several of our neighbors near the Verizon Center. Many of the parents are claiming that the fans run 24/7 and they say they can hear it near there...

Im wondering why people across the street from the former Hospital site that now is slated to be a Data Center park did NOT fight or protest against the Data Center Development plans there? I wonder if they now will demand that the plans include tall trees blocking the potential noises, etc.

I, for one, am glad I didn't buy my house near there....I think Eugenius is correct that its going to be a gigantic mess...Why didn't they zone the property only for office space not Data Centers? They could have moved it to another industrial area like in Sterling where it is among doctor and medical offices? Why didn't they locate it in the Data Center Alley along Loundoun County Parkway? As they keep coming, they'll start putting in the midst of residential areas where they haven't built houses yet. We are lucky that they didn't put it across the road from Harris Teeter!!!

 

People have no idea what they agreed to. I am also wondering also, why are people not protesting?

A monstrous data center hub in the heart of residential area will make their property value decline due to a few significant reasons. First is the constant humming noise as it drives people crazy. If you live a few miles away, you might not be safe as well. I live couple of miles away and during a hot summer night I hear them loud and clear. Google it, people are struggling with headaches, and migraines, sleep deprivation due to the noise.

Second, diesel fumes. Data centers have diesel generators, and they need to burn it once in a few months as the diesel goes bad, good luck walking your dog outside during those days.

And finally enjoy your cheap electricity and water while it lasts, these monsters consume a lot of it, so it will be in high demand as an average data center consumes 450,000 gallons per day. And they will be able to pay the bill, will you?

 

Look for those diesel generators to be running non-stop from March to July in an attempt to reduce the stress on the grid.

Loudoun Now - State DEQ May Lift Data Center Diesel Generator Cap

 

There will be no one to protest to. Data centers there are by-right, which mean it does not take any votes to be approved. It is handled administratively.
Almost all of the comments from Broadlands resident said “build data centers, not houses.”
Of course I strongly suspect no of them live across from the site.

 

Most residents were against high density community and zoning ordinance changes to support it, not against housing in general.
The application was all about of changing the existing zoning, which was withdrawn and never voted on. It was not about data centers.

I am sure that if they would build normal single-family homes or townhomes using existing zoning for the area, nobody would have said a thing.

 

Yes, people did tell the county supervisors, at meetings and in letters, they prefer data centers over the higher density residential.
The lower type density housing you refer to was NEVER going to happen. The land value was too high, which is what we found out. Even the high density residential could not compete with data centers. How on earth do you think lower density could?

 

Lower density never could, I replied to your “build data centers, not houses.”
As I said earlier, the application was withdrawn never voted and who said what is pretty much irrelevant. Most speakers were against the high-density community application and rezoning, and a few were mentioned they prefer datacenter.
I know a handful group of people who are against datacenters but did not speak because the application was not about the datacenter, the builder was pushing for zoning change.

Also 2 dozen of speakers do not represent the majority of community and hundreds of residents, but we all know that.
You can protest to reduce impact of the future datacenter to get it noted by HOA and the board. why not?

 

The data centers have all rights to be there because they piggyback on the the existing commercial zoning.
It was said multiple times including by the board that this zoning laws are outdated and should be not applied to the data centers, rather data centers must have a different zoning. Data centers are full scale industrial facilities and comparing them to your regular office space is nonsense. Meanwhile the zoning committee and the board failed to adopt any new zoning regulations for years.

And now we have what we have industrial zones within residential areas.

btw here is the article in the business journal, people are still trying to wrap theirs head around how did it come to it afterall.
But the answer is rather simple, counties (not just Loudoun) rather "milk" cash cows aka data centers and get easy money than care about existing communities.

https://www.bizjournals.com/washing...center-loudoun-viewpoint-breaking-ground.html

 

I agree with your points except for one clarification.
There was a time, not so long ago, the county realized we had a rare commodity here….the backbone of the internet…..that could be monitized. So, they were encouraging the growth of data centers here. In fact, the first ones built sat empty for years before being used.
The county changed its zoning for office parks to include data centers as a by-right use in order to make it easier for them to build here.
No one could have predicted the massive boom that followed.
And Virginia law makes it impossible to take away land use rights once granted.
So, we now get stuck with data centers in Broadlands.
And the lack of support from the community and the HOA was a part of their thinking in changing course.
Not sure exactly when it will happen, maybe 6 months from now, but we will drive by that site and I will be surprised if there is one tree left standing.

 

Yes…. You can protest to the Board of Supervisors and the HOA against the data centers.
The result: both will say there is nothing they can do. And a possible side effect: the data center company simply ignores the county and community and does what it is legally entitled to.
My proposed option: meet with them and work with them in a positive way to get the best possible outcome.
What’s that old saying……you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Vinegar was used the first time so we see what we got.

 

Interesting article in WP from 2/10


Get ready Broadlands it is coming ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/02/10/data-centers-northern-virginia-internet/
washingtonpost:

 

Residents protest Amazon Data Center https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/...-protest-amazon-data-center-proposal/3279599/

 

I'm humbly requesting the county to please use $299. of my property tax to purchase 3D suburban planning and design software.

 

Sadly, as expected, the community has lost, despite 100s residents opposing the DC construction including legendary actor Robert Duvall.
Nothing new in this world, big money always wins.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/actor-robert-duvall-fails-to-stop-amazon-building-a-data-center

 

This is absolutely mind boggling ...
How EPA could even consider that environmental madness, basically to run diesel generators to support the data center increased power demand and so they keep running them 24/7 nonstop for months, maybe for years until Dominion increase the supply.
We and our kids will be breathing the diesel exhaust which is btw is harmful and carcinogenic

The contact information to raise concerns is in the article and I absolutely will, hopefully many people also

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/cancer-causes/chemicals/diesel-exhaust-and-cancer.html