Data center restrictions tracker · Virginia

City of Virginia Beach, Virginia: data center zoning exclusion (2026)

Data snapshot 2026-08-15 · part of Pricing the Fear of Data Centers

City of Virginia Beach, in Virginia Beach city, Virginia, adopted a data-center zoning exclusion on June 2, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is pending.

The record reads: "On June 2, 2026, the Virginia Beach City Council voted unanimously to direct staff to draft a zoning ordinance amendment making traditional and hyperscale data centers non-permitted uses citywide, while allowing subsea cable landing sites… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
Zoning exclusionrestrictionpendingJune 2, 2026county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: Virginia Beach city. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.

Virginia context

Virginia has 29 documented local actions across 27 jurisdictions in this snapshot. At the state level, the state has a tax action (enacted, June 30, 2026), the state has a ratepayer-protection law (enacted), Dominion Energy territory has a large-load tariff (enacted, July 31, 2026), and Dominion Energy (GS-5) territory has a large-load tariff (enacted, November 25, 2025).

A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.

Sources

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