A request to rezone a light industrial area has a community up in arms about both current noise and whether the property could someday be used as a data center.
Community members have launched a ‘Save Bren Mar from a Data Center’ website encouraging residents to oppose the zoning change to a large property at the end of South Pickett Street.
The owners of Plaza 500, at 6295 Edsall Rd., say they do not plan any physical changes to the property and have not revealed future plans, but they are asking Fairfax County officials to update the zoning to I-5. Right now, the property in split between I-3 (light industrial) and I-5 (general industrial). The building currently houses Smoot Lumber, a moving company, a building maintenance company, a door manufacturer, a fitness center and more.
The building was constructed in 1973. A company registered as a foreign agent purchased the building earlier this year for $165 million.
Changing to entire 511,000 sq. ft. building to I-5 would allow for more warehouse and other permitted uses and make leasing empty portions of the building easier, according to the owner.
In addition, the owner has offered to mitigate the effects of any possible future development with significantly larger setbacks than what is required by law and “no further encroachment or impervious surface.”
Neighbors are concerned about increased noise from the facility as more spaces are leased, but they are also concerned about the theoretical possibility that the owner of the property could redevelop the site and build a data center, one of the permitted uses in the new proposed zoning.
While the property owner did not mention the term “data center” in its rezoning request, Fairfax County’s staff report notes: “Staff is concerned that a data center would have specific design implications and impacts which should be evaluated if such a use was proposed to ensure that all impacts are satisfactorily mitigated.”
In other parts of the country, residents have complained (and studies have shown) that data centers are environmentally unfriendly and noisy.
The Save Bren Mar from a Data Center website founders are encouraging residents to attend the Fairfax County Planning Commission meeting at 7:30 pm Wednesday, Nov. 16 at the Fairfax County Government Center. They also are encouraging residents to email Fairfax County staff and officials to oppose the rezoning.
