Suffolk is looking to define data centers as places with the primary function of storing and processing data; offices and buildings with network hubs, such as hospitals, would be exempt.
The Suffolk Planning Commission recommended the definition and a ban on the facilities to City Council during its Tuesday meeting. The council will vote in October.
Multiple commissioners said that gives time for Suffolk to consider where and how the industry fits in the city.
“This pause is for us to have a conversation, not for us just to pause and say we kick the can down the road and do nothing,” Commissioner Johnnie Edwards said. “We are living in the 21st century, and there are going to be data centers.”
“How we do it, that’s up to us.”
Council in June asked the commission to consider amendments to Suffolk’s development ordinance while staff works on restrictions and rules on where centers should be allowed.
Planners warned the council then that the city’s regulations for warehouses could be construed to allow data centers. The commission's recommended amendments close that loophole.
Data centers, under the recommendation, are establishments with the sole purpose of storing, managing, processing or transmitting data that house computers, network equipment, systems, servers, appliances and other components related to digital data operations; places that have network centers, such as hospitals, that aren’t the core of their business would be exempt.
Chesapeake in August restricted where data centers can be developed. Virginia Beach put a one-year moratorium on large data centers also. But Edwards urged Suffolk not to wait.
“We have the land,” he said. “It’s time for Suffolk to lead and stop waiting on Virginia Beach and Chesapeake to tell us what we’re going to do.”
Several commissioners want to be part of the conversation when additional zoning rules and regulations on data centers come forward to council. Chair Anita Hicks talked about requesting a joint “meeting of the minds” with council on the matter.
“The faster we get ahead of this, the better we will be as a city,” said Commissioner Selena Thornton-Manuel.
