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Visit Loudoun County VA and get back to me. Virginia mostly used by-right zoning, which treated data centers like just another office block. The result is lin

Visit Loudoun County VA and get back to me. Virginia mostly used by-right zoning, which treated data centers like just another office block. The result is linked below. Those cranes in the back of photo 2 are building yet another data center. Loudoun recently changed the zoning laws to end by-right development of data centers, but it's a bit too little, too late. Yes, some of those homes predate the data centers. Yes, not all of them - the county has allowed this mixed development for 20+ years now. 1 - https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2161850661-1.jpg https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyIm... 2 - https://oxfordamerican.org/media/pages/oa-now/how-data-center-alley-is-changing-northern-virginia/186f52466a-1737047951/hugh-kenny-ashburn-loudoun-county-data-center-piedmont-environmental-council-1200x.jpg https://oxfordamerican.org/media/pages/oa-now/how-data-cente...

gruez 2mo ago
> The result is linked below. Those cranes in the back of photo 2 are building yet another data center. Is this supposed to be bad? Maybe the datacenter in the first picture has an ear piercing whine, but neither of the pictures looks obviously bad.
jwlake 2mo ago
Unzoned means industrial. A slaughterhouse is MUCH worse than living next to a data center. If you want it zoned residential only do that.
- alistairSH 2mo ago
  It's isn't unzoned. It's zoned commercial. In VA, data centers are considered commercial, so allowed to be built by-right in existing commercial zones. Loudoun Co just updated their local zoning to override this and require re-zoning/approvals. (at least this is my understanding of the situation). So, you buy a house, and think a small office park or strip mall might get built next door. Instead, it's a 6 story block that looks like the Borg, belches exhaust from on-site generators, and buzzes constantly making you think you have tinnitus or something.

gruez 2mo ago

> The result is linked below. Those cranes in the back of photo 2 are building yet another data center. Is this supposed to be bad? Maybe the datacenter in the first picture has an ear piercing whine, but neither of the pictures looks obviously bad.

jwlake 2mo ago

Unzoned means industrial. A slaughterhouse is MUCH worse than living next to a data center. If you want it zoned residential only do that.

alistairSH 2mo ago
It's isn't unzoned. It's zoned commercial. In VA, data centers are considered commercial, so allowed to be built by-right in existing commercial zones. Loudoun Co just updated their local zoning to override this and require re-zoning/approvals. (at least this is my understanding of the situation). So, you buy a house, and think a small office park or strip mall might get built next door. Instead, it's a 6 story block that looks like the Borg, belches exhaust from on-site generators, and buzzes constantly making you think you have tinnitus or something.