State Code Allows Front Royal and Warren County to Ban Data Centers

When it comes to data centers in Front Royal and Warren County—one of the hottest topics in local politics at the moment—I have encountered the idea that neither jurisdiction has the authority to ban them. There is little support for such a claim, and the weight of the authority overwhelmingly leads to the conclusion that a town or a county in Virginia does have the authority to ban data centers.

We will start, as I suppose we must, with the Dillon Rule. Virginia is a “Dillon Rule” state, as many are fond of pointing out. This means that localities cannot do what the state legislature has not empowered them to do.

Some have speculated that because the Virginia legislature has not “granted” authority to mention data centers as specific entities that localities can prohibit, there is no authority for a locality to prohibit them. This is not how either our zoning statutes or the Dillon Rule works.

The Virginia Code states:

• 15.2-2280. Zoning ordinances generally.

 Any locality may, by ordinance, classify the territory under its jurisdiction or any substantial portion thereof into districts of such number, shape, and size as it may deem best suited to carry out the purposes of this article, and in each district it may regulate, restrict, permit, prohibit, and determine the following:

1. The use of land, buildings, structures, and other premises for agricultural, business, industrial, residential, flood plain, and other specific uses;
2. The size, height, area, bulk, location, erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, maintenance, razing, or removal of structures;
3. The areas and dimensions of land, water, and air space to be occupied by buildings, structures, and uses, and of courts, yards, and other open spaces to be left unoccupied by uses and structures, including variations in the sizes of lots based on whether a public or community water supply or sewer system is available and used; or
4. The excavation or mining of soil or other natural resources.

So to those with concerns over the Dillon Rule, there it is in black and white: “any locality may…prohibit…the use of land, buildings, structures and other premises…” and may regulate “the size, height, area…of structures.” This provides our local governments with the ability to ban data centers by name (by “prohibiting…the use of land” for data centers) and by characteristic (by limiting square footage, electricity and water usage, and determining setbacks, height requirements, and other characteristics that make large-scale data centers impossible). It bears mention that the Dillon Rule itself is a judge-made rule from the 19^th Century that is both anachronistic and at odds with both the spirit and letter of the Virginia and U.S. Constitutions. The time is ripe for an intrepid locality to challenge it and relegate it officially to the dustbin of history.

Turning to the case law, judicial review of zoning decisions is limited. The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that, “[o]n judicial review, a court is limited to a determination whether the decision which resulted from the legislative action was reasonable.”

It would be important, then, for the County and the Town to build a solid administrative record that demonstrates why a ban on data centers is reasonable. There is plenty to consider. Data Centers use up to five million gallons of water per day, according to some reports, which is enough for 10-50,000 people. Even if the centers are able to recycle their water (which is a dubious claim for a variety of reasons), our infrastructure cannot sustain such demand in light of its current commitments.

Here in Warren County, we have a documented history of either dry or drought conditions every year or two for at least the past ten years, with moderate to severe or extreme drought conditions in 2019, 2023, and 2024. The region is currently under a drought watch, and the Town has imposed both voluntary and mandatory water use restrictions three times in as many years. Water levels in the Shenandoah River, which is the Town’s only source of water, are as recently as May of this year, at the lowest levels in recorded history, at a time when we are seeing more new home construction than we have seen in a long time.

The Town also just recently raised electricity rates on a population that is again experiencing inflation because of increased oil prices. A data center will only increase the demand for electricity, leading to increased prices and an increased possibility of brownouts during extreme heat and cold events when residents need energy most.

Data Centers are furthermore at odds with the Town and County’s focus on tourism, efforts that it often directs at nearby families who are seeking a break from the overcrowded and vandalized landscapes we find in the data center corridors of Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Nobody will spend a weekend in Warren County to canoe by a data center humming away in the Shenandoah’s viewshed or cruise up Skyline Drive to overlook more of the same brutalist industrial architecture they are trying to escape. Both the residents and the visitors to Warren County value the natural beauty and rural environment that make it special.

There is more, but this alone is enough to support the reasonableness of such an approach before any legal challenge, which in itself is more the stuff of conjecture and fearmongering than reality. Warrenton in 2025 became one of the first localities in Virginia to ban data centers after its experience with an approved Amazon site, which itself faces legal challenges. Although it is difficult to prove a negative, so far, there do not appear to be any legal challenges to the ordinance a year later. On a practical level, a developer seeking to build a data center is more likely to seek another site than commit to an uncertain legal challenge to a local ordinance banning them.

If one supports data centers or opposes a ban on them, the argument that it is because the law does not allow it or because the Town or County will get sued is a weak argument. The weight of authority tips heavily in favor of a ban, and of a successful defense of such a ban should it come to that.

Scott Lloyd
Warren County

Scott Lloyd is a Virginia lawyer, former Front Royal Town Councilman, and a candidate for Chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee.

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