There have been persistent rumors floating around about a data center being a possibility at Staunton Crossing, to the point that an AFP reader has been trying to get somebody on the record in City Hall to hopefully debunk things for us all.
Good news on that point: she was able to get Staunton City Council member Brad Arrowood to be the rumor killer for us.
“There are no plans for a data center, and there have not been any plans under consideration during my term,” Arrowood wrote in an email to the AFP reader, which he consented to allow us to republish for public consumption.
Arrowood went on to relate that he personally would oppose any proposed data center project in the city, and that he believes fellow City Council members share that view.
Data centers are an obvious point of concern for locals really everywhere in the here and now, given what we know about the drain that data centers put on electricity and local water availability.
They also take up a lot of space without generating more than a few sustained jobs, after the construction phase.
I can see why the Staunton Crossing location would be a focal point of concern for locals who don’t want one of these things in our backyard; its location at the nexus of two interstates is ideal for a lot of possible business and industrial suitors, including those in the data center development sector.
It’s also a concern, directly, because a 2019 planning document associated with the Staunton Crossing development specifically lists a data center as a possible use.
Arrowood, in his email, noted that 2019 is “four years before the most senior members of this City Council were seated.”
“At that time, public sentiment was that Staunton was ‘missing out’ or being ‘left behind’ by not having a data center in the city, before we all learned how much power and water the typical data center uses. I’d like to have that recommendation removed from the proposed uses,” Arrowood said.
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Chris Graham
