Balico, the Herndon-based company that last month withdrew its original rezoning application for a data center campus and power plant in Pittsylvania, has resubmitted a scaled-down proposal. Company representatives are holding a community outreach meeting in Hurt at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The original rezoning application involved 47 parcels, totaling about 2,233 acres in central Pittsylvania County. The application requested that these parcels be rezoned from agricultural and residential suburban districts to heavy industrial districts to allow for a 3,500-megawatt natural gas power plant and 84 data center buildings.
Balico withdrew this application Nov. 4 after strong community opposition and statements of nonsupport from county board of supervisors members. Supervisors said they would not vote to approve the project, despite the large amount of tax revenue it could bring in.
The county could also see $120 million per year in tax revenue on the machinery alone once the project is built out, said Balico founding member Irfan Ali.
The company released a revised application Nov. 24, requesting that over 760 acres be rezoned for industrial use. The new project proposal includes only 12 data centers, grouped into two clusters of six.
It also includes turbines that Balico says will initially generate 300 or more megawatts of gas-fired power to support the center. The plans for the power plant were not adjusted in the new proposal.
Both the turbines and the power plant will use the Mountain Valley Pipeline for gas power, which is one reason that Balico was attracted to the area, Ali said in November.
The revised proposal does not include updated figures for tax revenue to the county, jobs or wages. Still, Balico claims the project “offers tremendous benefits to all corners of Pittsylvania county,” according to its Nov. 24 statement.
“It will generate millions of dollars annually for education, public safety, and recreation throughout the county, all without relying on property owners to foot the bill,” it says.
The statement also says that this project will create “more than 300 good-paying jobs in a high-tech industry that will remain in the community long after construction has finished and demonstrate that Pittsylvania County is open for business and investment.”
At previous community outreach meetings in October, residents railed against the proposal, saying they didn’t want a large industrial campus near their homes and farmland. They were also concerned about traffic, noise and light pollution, negative environmental effects, wildlife and setting a precedent for future similar developments in the county.
The Wednesday meeting will be held at Hurt Elementary School, 315 Prospect Road, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Balico representatives will answer questions from residents and show renderings of the campus at the meeting.
