Residents urge board to pause approvals for Iron Horse data center amid study and tax concerns

Several residents used the citizens-time slot to urge the Board of Supervisors to deny or pause approvals for the proposed Iron Horse hyperscale data center and to preserve the county's study of cumulative impacts.

Alicia Coney, reading for the Hanover County Democratic Committee, called for "complete public disclosure of the identity of each proposed developer and ultimate operator, anticipated electrical and water demands, proposed power generation and cooling systems, infrastructure requirements, expected permanent employment, projected public revenues, requested incentives, environmental effects, and potential cost to residents." She said the committee opposes industrial-scale data centers in Hanover County.

Speakers raised a range of fiscal and environmental concerns. Bob Nelson warned that fiscal-impact studies commonly assume local personal property taxes on data-center equipment that, in some cases, are exempt when a bank is a tenant; he cited a recent Manassas council experience and urged the board to require a condition that no data-center occupant be an entity exempt from personal property taxes. Ashley Covington told the board the Planning Commission's 5-2 recommendation ignored missing analyses and noted that a single hyperscaler's daily water use could be "up to 1,200,000 gallons of water a day." Holly Mankie referenced the county's reported roughly $35,000,000 operating balance and questioned urgency on approvals.

Board members did not take new action on the Iron Horse proposal during this meeting; the remarks were made during citizens time and constitute advisory input to the board as it continues a multi-month study of hyperscale data-center impacts.