Loudoun County Transportation and Land Use Committee Meeting - July 28, 2025

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Transportation and Land Use Committee (TLUC) met on July 28, 2025. Supervisor TeKrony chaired, Supervisor Glass participated remotely, and Chair Randall was absent. The committee adopted the consent calendar, heard public comment, received the six-month land-use review implementation update, recommended approval of the Belmont Cove rezoning, and acted on the Phase 2 data center standards and locations scope.

Consent Calendar

• Motion by Supervisor TeKrony, seconded by Supervisor Kirschner, passed 4-0-1 (Chair Randall absent).
• Approved items: Environment and Energy Work Plan quarterly update; Advisory Plans Examiner Board FY2025 annual report; Facilities Standards Manual Public Review Committee FY2025 annual report; Environmental Commission FY2025 annual report and bylaws amendment; Housing Advisory Board FY2025 annual report and Advocacy Committee report; Affordable Dwelling Unit Advisory Board FY2025 annual report; Planning Commission CY2024 annual report and bylaws update; and Housing Choice Voucher Resident Advisory Board FY2025 annual report.
• Chair TeKrony encouraged the Housing Advisory Board to explore affordable housing by design (smaller units and lot sizes) in its tiny homes work and thanked the Environmental Commission.

Public Comments & Testimony

• A development-industry speaker (Mr. Capretti) said the project steering committee includes three representatives from the building industry association, three from NAOP, and one from the Chamber of Commerce, with about 36 industry participants across 11 committees; he expressed support for the collaborative land-use review process and for staff giving the industry direct feedback.
• Ted Lewis, a Little River District resident, described noise from the True North Data Center that began in late June 2025 and continued for six days and nights while emergency generators ran as an energy supplement. He argued the generators were intended for emergencies, not routine power supplementation, and urged stricter regulation of emergency generators and air-quality requirements.
• Jim Bingle, speaking for the Piedmont Environmental Council, urged the board to consider data-center external costs such as greenhouse gas emissions and higher electricity bills. He highlighted distributed energy alternatives, and noted that sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) used in gas-insulated substations is estimated to be 24,300 times more climate-hostile than CO2, persists more than 1,000 years, and amounts to the equivalent of about 50 typical coal power plants.

Information Item: Administrative and Legislative Land Use Review Assessment

• Staff and the Alvarez & Marsal consultant reported on the first six months of implementing 69 recommendations from the land-use review. The project is expected to take 18-24 months, with reports to TLUC every six months and completion targeted in roughly four six-month stages.
• A governance structure has been created, including an executive leadership committee, a project steering committee with industry representatives, and 11 task force groups covering topics such as legislative processes, permitting, proffers and bonds, development review, training, technology, and a scorecard. Staff said all 69 recommendations are moving forward.
• Early accomplishments include consolidating bond templates from more than a dozen to three, adding Landmark workflow improvements, updating checklists, creating a customer-service team in permitting, hiring an assistant county attorney, a planner III, a senior planner, four permit technicians, and recruiting a training manager. Future work includes a scorecard, traffic-study process improvements, reducing referrals, and dashboards.
• No formal action was taken on this information item.

Action Item: Belmont Cove Rezoning and Appendage (LEGI-2023-0074)

• Staff presented the 14.6-acre site west of Russell Branch Parkway, east of Belmont Manor Lane, and south of Route 7 in Ashburn. The applicant sought to rezone about 8.1919 acres to R-16 ADU for 78 single-family attached units, together with zoning concept plan amendments and modifications.
• Staff said the applicant increased the share of units with no more than 2,600 square feet of livable space to 60 percent, added sidewalks, and amended landscape buffers, but staff could not support approval. Outstanding issues included unit sizes larger than envisioned for the suburban mixed-use place type, missing sidewalks on all street sides, public/civic space location and amount, and a Russell Branch Parkway buffer reduction that staff viewed as maximizing development rather than meeting modification criteria.
• Applicant representatives said density is about nine units per acre, they added plantings in the Russell Branch Parkway buffer, proposed about 12 affordable for-sale units, discussed possible first-time homebuyer contributions, a 10-by-20-foot pavilion, universal-design outreach, and reduced unit depth to add sidewalks.
• During discussion, Vice Chair Turner asked the applicant to explore some units around 2,300 square feet and a possible reduction of 42-foot units to 40 feet. Supervisor Glass asked about extending a trail and supported unit-size and first-time-buyer considerations.
• Vice Chair Turner moved, and Supervisor Glass seconded, a motion to recommend approval with findings that the residential mix would better balance the suburban mixed-use place type, transportation impacts are mitigated through road and transit contributions, and environmental impacts are addressed through tree conservation, pollinator gardens, native plantings, reforestation, and low-impact development practices. The motion passed 4-0-1.

Action Item: Data Center Standards and Locations, Phase 2 (CPAM-2025-0001 & ZOAM-2025-0001)

• Staff presented the proposed Phase 2 scope, which combines a Comprehensive Plan amendment and zoning ordinance amendment. It would update data center and utility substation use standards, examine noise, on-site power generation, energy storage, and parking, relocate footnotes from Table 3.025-1, and delete urban employment zoning districts. No mapping component is included.
• Staff noted a correction to the staff report: the grandfathering resolution vote was 5-4, with Supervisors Burksman, Glass, TeKrony, and Turner opposed, not the name listed in the report.
• The board member initiative from March 18, 2025, directing research on on-site energy generation was folded into Phase 2. Staff met with board members, and the Planning Commission expressed support on June 12, 2025. The draft schedule anticipates a September 2025 board item and final board action in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a possible extension into 2027.
• In committee-of-the-whole discussion, Vice Chair Turner raised how to tighten standards for new data centers without making existing ones nonconforming, including possible Tier 4-equivalent generator emissions and noise standards, 500-foot setbacks, building-mounted equipment height, and substation issues. Supervisor Kirschner cautioned against overregulation that would discourage retrofits and stressed flexibility and incentives for the roughly 200 existing data centers. Deputy Director Burkett noted the possibility of separate standards for new versus redeveloping/expanding data centers.
• Supervisor Glass asked staff to research the condominium-creation process for data center parcels and its interaction with grandfathered site plans and permits. Chair TeKrony raised substation screening, security lighting near homes, footnotes, periodic consultation with the Environmental Commission, and possible public innovation-forum engagement. Staff confirmed those topics can be included.
• The committee first passed a motion directing staff to research, summarize, and present the condominium process and how condominium ownership affects county ordinances and the land development process as part of Phase 2. The vote was 4-0-1.
• The committee then passed the main motion recommending that the Board of Supervisors approve the draft Phase 2 project plan in Attachment 1. The vote was 4-0-1.
• Chair TeKrony moved a separate policy recommendation that Chapter 2 of the 2019 General Plan state that the Transition Policy Area is focused on open space, environmental protection, and housing, and that data centers should not encroach into the TPA outside the designated transition light industrial, industrial, and transition industrial/mineral extraction place types where they are conditional uses. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Turner and passed 3 yes, 1 abstention, 1 absent.
• Chair TeKrony then moved to direct staff to develop policy language precluding data centers in the Dulles Cloud South area identified in the Department of Economic Development's 2022 Loudoun Data Center Land Study. That motion failed on a 2-2 tie, with Chair Randall absent.

Key Outcomes

• Consent calendar adopted: 4-0-1.
• Belmont Cove rezoning recommended for approval: 4-0-1.
• Phase 2 data center project plan recommended for approval: 4-0-1.
• Condominium research directive added to Phase 2 and passed: 4-0-1.
• TPA data-center encroachment policy recommended: 3-1-1 (one abstention, one absent).
• Dulles Cloud South preclusion motion failed: 2-2, one absent.
• Next steps: staff to return in about six months; Phase 2 ROIA expected in September 2025; final Phase 2 board action targeted for Q4 2026.