DATA CENTER ZOA TESTIMONY | Reston Citizens Association

DATA CENTER ZOA TESTIMONY: Lynne Mulston, Reston Citizens Association – July 16, 2024

Good evening, Chairman McKay, Supervisor Alcorn, and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. My name is Lynne Mulston and I serve as President of Reston Citizens Association. We are joining with many of our sister organizations across Fairfax County to consider the ramifications of by right data centers to our environment and residential communities.

We all know that data centers are industrial complexes that house acres of computer systems for storing virtual information. Massive infrastructure must be built to support these complexes, including transmission, water, and sewer lines. Expert analysis posits that data centers are slated to account for a fifth of the world’s electricity usage and more than 3% of carbon emissions by 2025.

According to World Wide Technology, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how we design and build data centers.” In simple terms, every data center is now becoming an AI data center.

Let’s look at the electricity component…

Traditional data centers are typically designed to support lower power densities, commonly ranging from 6-15kW per rack. These power densities are suitable for standard IT equipment such as servers, storage devices and networking equipment.

However, with the deployment of AI workloads, especially those involving high-performance computing (HPC) or deep learning, the power requirements per rack can be significantly higher, often ranging from 20-50 kW or even more. Training complex neural networks, for instance, requires substantial computational power, resulting in considerable heat generation.

“Global data center power needs are expected to double between this year and 2030.”

Yale Environment 360 reports that data centers’ electricity consumption in 2026 is projected to reach 1,000 terawatts, roughly equivalent to Japan’s total electric consumption.

Now, let’s look at water consumption…

Contrary to Mr. Gray’s testimony, in 2020, data centers consumed an estimated 174 billion gallons of water. A 15-megawatt data center can use up to 360,000 gallons of water a day. Yale Environment 360 reports that “Google’s data centers used 20 percent more water in 2022 than in 2021, while Microsoft’s water use rose by 34 percent. Let me ask you this . . . with the projected increase in draught conditions (in both frequency and severity), who is going to get the water first? Data centers . . . or the residents of Fairfax County?

Reston Citizens Association opposes any zoning ordinance amendment which allows data centers to be built by right, in any zoning district in Fairfax County.

By right development often bypasses community input and zoning regulations, denying residents a voice in decisions that directly affect their quality of life, property values, and local environment. Having a voice through the Special Exception process emphasizes the idea of empowerment and representation.

In the strongest possible terms, Reston Citizens Association supports the rights of citizens to notice and an opportunity to be heard, through an open and meaningful public hearing process, to allow transparency and case by case mitigation of impacts before any more data centers are to be approved.

Therefore, Reston Citizens Association calls on the Board of Supervisors to act to ensure that Board Chairman McKay keeps his word that Fairfax County will set the highest nationwide standard for data centers by accepting the Planning Commission recommendation of June 6, 2024, that all data centers in Fairfax County be treated as a special exception use, and require a public hearing, due to the importance of the decisions, and the magnitude of the impacts.

Specifically, every data center must:

Be reviewed and approved by the Board of Supervisors and have a public hearing through the Special Exception process;
Be at least 1,000 ft from residents;
Be at least 1-mile from our metro stations; and
It is asked that the Board of Supervisors commit to immediately act to pass comprehensive data center protections for items not covered in the zoning ordinance.

Thank you for your attention and consideration and thank you for the opportunity to express the views of Reston Citizens Association as we advocate for our citizens’ interests and contribute to shaping policies that affect the everyday lives of your constituents.