B.F. Saul data centers on Shaw Road (Sterling)

❓ Still unanswered

Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?

• When will the Board of Supervisors vote? 🙋 I'll find out
• Where would the separate substation the company wants be built? 🙋 I'll find out

📌 Other

Supervisors voted unanimously to ask staff for a legal analysis of ending the 2025 grandfathering rule, due at the October 6, 2026 board meeting. Until the board acts, the rule stays in effect.

⏸️ Pause on new data centers

Supervisors voted 7-1 to pause new data center applications for 12 months while the county rewrites its data center rules. The county attorney had warned that true moratoria are rarely allowed in Virginia.

🗺️ Zoning change

Supervisors voted 7-2 to end by-right data centers. New data centers now need a 'special exception', with public hearings before the planning commission and the board.

📌 Other

On the same night, supervisors voted 5-4 to 'grandfather' data center applications already in review, so they can still be approved by staff without a public hearing. In September 2026, 17 such applications (about 11 million square feet) were still in review.

✅ Approved

Supervisors voted 5-4 to rezone 83 acres south of Leesburg along the Dulles Greenway for JK Land Holdings' Greenlin Park: up to 1.4 million square feet of data centers with a 55-foot height limit, noise limits and a 300-megawatt power cap for five years.