A map shows four parcels outlined in yellow that are part of a preliminary application by developer Penzance to build a data center in Fredericksburg. (Screenshot from public GIS site)

Less than a month ago, Fredericksburg Mayor Kerry Devine signaled that he was open to exploring a possible data center in Celebrate Virginia South.

However, it appears that the city’s first serious, server-packed suitor wants to lay fiber optic cables at another location — 83.5 acres along the Cowan Boulevard corridor near Interstate 95.

On Thursday morning, staff from several city departments will review a preliminary application from Southern Maryland-based developer Penzance, which proposes to build a data center campus on four parcels of land once considered for a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic.

“There is definitely interest in doing a data center project there,” said lawyer Charlie Payne, who will represent Penzance before the city’s Technical Review Committee (TRC).

Payne said the size and scope of the project have not yet been finalized, although he stressed it is very early in the process. “But I would say it will be somewhere between 2 and 3 million square feet. That is the area the applicant wants to build there.”

The project would require a rezoning from Planned Development-Medical Center (PDMC) to Industrial-2 (I-2), which is the required classification for data centers and related infrastructure. Payne said other potential obstacles to the project include a proposed four-lane parkway – known as the Gateway Boulevard extension – that would run through the property.

On July 25, residents from the Fredericksburg area flocked to a meeting to discuss the environmental impacts of data centers.

The informational meeting, hosted by the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, ended prematurely and abruptly when fire department officials deemed that the meeting room at the downtown branch of the Rappahannock Regional Library exceeded its allowable capacity.

However, residents and environmental activists had previously raised concerns ranging from the noise pollution from the plants to the enormous water and electricity requirements for their operation.

Payne said the Penzance project will not require water withdrawal from the Rappahannock River and will instead draw water from the city’s supply system. Cooling could use a water reuse system, a closed loop system, air cooling or a combination of these, he added.

“Because they know the city, they will be following the course of this process very closely,” Payne said.

The Free Press sent a list of questions about the pre-application to city spokeswoman Sonja Cantu, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Payne noted that data centers can generate between $12 million and $17 million in gross tax revenue per million square feet annually. Fredericksburg’s personal property tax rate on computer equipment and peripherals is $1.25 per $100 of assessed value and is based on a depreciation scale that peaks after five years.

Payne, who has facilitated the approval of more than 20 million square feet of data centers in five jurisdictions, said it typically takes 60 days to submit a rezoning application after TRC review, and the subsequent public process can take between six and eight months.

“That’s how it all starts,” he said.

Charlie Payne, a central character in this article, is an attorney for Hirschler Fleischer, a major donor to the Free Press.