The data center fight in Spotsylvania County, Virginia
As of September 27, 2026, Spotsylvania County, Virginia has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Aug 11, 2026).
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
Resolution adopted 4-2 (Mullins and Frazier opposed) backing Sen. Sturtevant's call for the governor to 'issue a statewide moratorium on data centers to determine whether development should be permitted and, if so, under what conditions'. Sits on two standing local rules: a Feb 2026 vote requiring a special use permit for every data center, ending by-right siting even on industrial land, and an Aug 25, 2026 comprehensive plan amendment (3-2) capping data centers at 45% of the county's industrial-zoned land, with two supervisors voting no because they wanted a lower cap. The county had earlier welcomed some $35B in data center investment
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.
Recent news
- Spotsylvania supervisors approve statewide data center moratorium resolution
- Spotsylvania County backs call for statewide moratorium on data centers
- Loudoun, Spotsylvania counties consider data center bans
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 3 headlines archived.
Where the decision gets made
Board of Supervisors — Special use permits for every data center (required since Feb 2026), comprehensive plan (45% industrial-land cap, Aug 2026) and the Aug 11, 2026 resolution backing a statewide moratorium.
Meets: 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month, 5:00 p.m. unless otherwise specified.
Where: Holbert Building, 9104 Courthouse Road, Spotsylvania, VA 22553
Public comment: Use the Board of Supervisors Public Comment Sign Up Form on the county site; clerk 540-507-7010. The Chancellor District seat is vacant as of Sep 2026.
540-507-7010 · website
Read from the official page on 2026-09-05. Meeting details change — confirm before you go.
Who votes on it
| Name | Role | Phone | Recorded stance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lori Hayes | Chairman | — | 540-507-7010 | Voted for the 45% industrial-land cap on data centers, Aug 25, 2026 (Fredericksburg Free Press) |
| Drew Mullins | Vice Chairman | — | 540-507-7010 | Voted against the Aug 11, 2026 statewide-moratorium resolution; moved the 45% cap as a substitute on Aug 25 (WJLA; Fredericksburg Free Press) |
| Chris Yakabouski | Supervisor | — | 540-507-7010 | Voted against the 45% cap because he wanted less land open to data centers, Aug 25, 2026 (Fredericksburg Free Press) |
| David Goosman | Supervisor | — | 540-507-7010 | Voted against the 45% cap because he wanted less land open to data centers, Aug 25, 2026 (Fredericksburg Free Press) |
| Jacob Lane | Supervisor | — | 540-507-7010 | not recorded |
| Deborah H. Frazier | Supervisor | — | 540-507-7010 | Voted against the Aug 11, 2026 statewide-moratorium resolution; voted for the 45% cap Aug 25 (WJLA; Fredericksburg Free Press) |
From the locality's own roster page; "not recorded" means no public statement is on file, not neutrality.
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
- Stafford County (20 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Culpeper County (26 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Fluvanna County (42 mi) — Expiredterm ran to 2026-01-31
- Virginia (Dominion GS-5 large-load rate class) (47 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Virginia (statewide pause request) (47 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Virginia (2026 General Assembly package) (47 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Fairfax County (49 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Front Royal (57 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.