Fact Sheet: Data Centers in Chesapeake

Version 1.1, 7/16/2025

Recommendations

The City of Chesapeake should designate large Data Centers (e.g. >25,000 sq. ft. building footprint) as a Conditional Use.
The City should develop a Data Center Policy, similar to the Solar Energy Policy* adopted by the City in 2019, to manage the development of data centers in the City before the development of new large Data Centers.

The Policy should address factors including allowable zoning designation (e.g. M-1 vs. M-2 Land Use), required setbacks, permissible noise and vibration levels, noise analysis methodologies, power and water consumption, backup power generation (e.g. diesel vs.gas turbine), landscaping, security, construction, and other factors affecting the fiscal, economic, and environmental impact of proposed projects.
The Data Center Policy and City Ordinance should also address how the City will handle violations of the Policy by projects after operation begins. The City Noise Ordinance currently exempts HVAC and backup generator operation and needs to be amended.
In the Comprehensive Plan, the City should address the potential need for greatly expanding electricity generation across the region to support data center power needs.

A recent example of a data center policy and ordinance is the one adopted by York County in June 2025 - https://www.yorkcounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/64749/item5f_Proposed-Ordinance-No-25-16

Meets growing need for computational capacity for internet, smartphones, streaming video, social media, and now AI.
Potential of new tax revenues.
Return on City investment in the 175-mile, city-owned fiber optic network.
A typical data center provides employment during construction and a small, but well-paid, high tech workforce, on the order of 50 full-time employees, during operation.
Diversifies local economy and may attract high-paying high-tech jobs and industries that may co-locate with data centers.

Power Consumption substantially higher than other types of commercial or industrial operations. Energy consumption for a 300,000 sq. ft. facility can run anywhere from 40 MW to 120 MW, equivalent to usage from 24,000 to 72,000 homes.
Persistent Low-Frequency Noise from large array of required HVAC equipment. For example, 40 MW of heat dissipation would require 22 x 500-ton HVAC chiller units.
Huge Potable Water Consumption through evaporative cooling in standard HVAC systems. A mid-sized data center may use 300,000 gallons per day, equivalent to about 3% of the output capacity of the Northwest River Treatment Plant.
Rapidly Expanding Electricity Infrastructure for generation and distribution across the region. On a state-wide level, unconstrained new data center construction is projected to nearly triple the power requirements in Virginia from 11,000 GWh/month today to over 30,000 GWh/month by 2040.