Data center restrictions tracker · Virginia

Loudoun County, Virginia: data center zoning exclusion (2025)

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

Loudoun County, Virginia, adopted a data-center zoning exclusion on March 1, 2025. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.

The record reads: "On March 18, 2025, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors eliminated by-right data center development county-wide, requiring a special exception with legislative review and public hearings. Phase 1 standards were approved September 16… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
Zoning exclusionrestrictionenactedMarch 1, 2025county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: county. County: Loudoun County. 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

Back to Pricing the Fear of Data Centers