Individual members of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors have mixed views on data centers, with some opposing them under current conditions and others saying proposals should be evaluated on their merits.
As of this publication, no data centers have been proposed in the county.
Andrew Overby, of the Dan River District and chairman of the board, said he’s not against any proposals, and feels the county needs to review all proposals on their own merit.
“If there was a proposal that came to the board that made sense and was environmentally sound, I would expect us to review it on its own merits. I’m never going to say that we don’t want any type of business because I don’t want us to categorically exclude anything,” he said.
If a situation came up where it made sense to consider a data center in the county, Overby said the board would review the proposal and go from there.
“I’m neither for them or against them. There are responsible ways of running a data center and then, there are the ways that some of the data centers have been portrayed. I don’t think that anybody has the full truth,” he said.
Noting that he used to live in Northern Virginia around data centers, Overby said they were not intrusive or anti-environment.
“There is a world I believe where we can co-exist, but we’re not going to have them on every street or every main road. Anything that we would bring would be in an industrial area, it would not be in a residential area,” he said.
Overby said he does not believe the county needs to direct the Planning Commission to create a data center ordinance.
“People think that these data centers pop up like Dollar Generals, and they are not like that. They take years of planning to bring one to an area. To my knowledge, we haven’t had anybody that has been seriously interested in bringing a data center to Patrick County. I don’t believe that we have ever been in a position to try to bring a data center to Patrick County. I don’t believe that it is that big of a concern at this time,” he said.
Based on his understanding, Clayton Kendrick, of the Mayo River District and vice-chairman, said he’d be against data centers locating in Patrick County.
“I know other places like Pittsylvania County are all gung-ho, but in my opinion let them have them,” Kendrick said. “I just don’t like the information that I’ve seen on them. I’m not saying I might change my mind some other day, but not right now. I just don’t think it would be a good thing.”
As the updated solar ordinance, Kendrick supports having the Planning Commission create a data center ordinance.
“I think they ought to have a data center” ordinance too, he said.
While he notes that technology is necessary, Steve Marshall, of the Blue Ridge District, said he believes the county needs to be a little slower and better in its planning process.
“We have three data centers I believe coming within probably an hour-hour-and-a-half of Patrick County over the next five to seven years. That’s going to affect Patrick County, there’s no possibility that it won’t, so we need to be planning for what those impacts are going to be,” he said.
Marshall said he’d absolutely support having the Planning Commission create an ordinance focused on data centers.
“I am just at the very beginning of exploring what’s going on around Patrick County as far as the data centers, because they’re all just being built now. I mean there’s a lot of examples I’ve looked at in other states that give me cause for great concern,” Marshall said, adding the county’s water resources are important to him.
Jonathan Wood, of the Peters Creek District, said he doesn’t think the county is a viable location for data centers because it lacks the necessary infrastructure and water systems.
“While that does play into it, I think the bigger thing that plays into it is we’re elected to represent the people of Patrick County, and if they’re not for data centers or anything like that, then we don’t need to bring those in,” he said.
Wood said he believes data centers are similar to solar panels, in that while they may require 300 acres today, that number will drop to 30 acres a decade from now.
“I’m not a fan of a data center in Patrick County any time soon unless major things are changed about them that make them more environmentally friendly and more friendly to the communities,” he said.
Because the world is changing, Wood believes the county will need to create more ordinances just to survive.
“I haven’t had a chance to look at a lot of them myself to see exactly what’s out there, but I think there needs to be an ordinance of some kind to regulate” data centers “because we don’t need to be a wild west type of county where everything goes,” he said.
Wood said he would support directing the Planning Commission to work on drafting a data center ordinance.
Richard Cox, of the Smith River District, said he attended a conference on data centers in May.
“If you listen to the people that wanted the data centers, they’re the greatest thing since oatmeal, but if you look behind that, I can’t see that Patrick County has the resources, the infrastructure to support a data center,” he said.
Unless different operations are developed, Cox said he cannot see himself supporting a data center in the county.
If an ordinance to regulate data centers in the county is proposed, Cox said he would consider it.
“I think” the Planning Commission “is more technologically aware than I am, so I’d leave that decision to them and would have to see what the wording was and how it was formed and so forth,” Cox said.
