The data center fight in Fluvanna County, Virginia
As of September 27, 2026, Fluvanna County, Virginia had a data center moratorium whose documented term has run out (action taken Sep 2025; it ended 2026-01-31).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
In Sep 2025 the board directed staff to postpone consideration of data center site plan applications until Jan 31, 2026 while it rewrote the code; the planning commission's minutes called it a moratorium and County Attorney Dan Whitten later said it was not one. In Dec 2025 the board amended the code to require a special use permit for data centers in industrial districts. On Aug 5, 2026, with an 843-acre agricultural parcel near Bremo Bluff being marketed as a data center site, Supervisor Fairchild asked for a resolution and a temporary pause on new applications to be placed on the Aug 19 agenda; Chair O'Brien opposed an outright prohibition. The Aug 19 outcome has not been located — check the minutes before citing
SourceNews
read 2026-09-05
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Virginia.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Virginia briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Virginia
- Virginia (data center power tax) (35 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Spotsylvania County (42 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Culpeper County (46 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Virginia (Dominion GS-5 large-load rate class) (50 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Virginia (statewide pause request) (51 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Virginia (2026 General Assembly package) (51 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Stafford County (62 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Front Royal (75 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-04
All 14 tracked actions in Virginia are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.