FR-WC EDA-Hosted Data Center Update Leads to Active Q&A Session With Public and Public Officials

The overview of trends, community benefits, and ongoing challenges faced by Data Center development hosted by the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority at noon Thursday, November 14, at the Villa Avenue Community Center led to a lively question and answer session with local attendees. Those attendees included both county and town staff and/or public officials.

As noted in FR-WC EDA Chairman Rob MacDougall’s invitation to “Community Leaders” and others interested in the topic, the presentation “Data Center 101” was done by three representatives of Kimley-Horn, a national planning and engineering consulting firm steeped in Data Center development and community partnerships. Those representatives, presented to attendees by MacDougall, were John Carnes, Jamie Cox, and Kim Kennedy.

FR-WC EDA Board Chairman Rob MacDougall introduces the national planning and engineering consulting firm Kimley-Horn team to the local audience as one of those team members, Jamie Cox, preps tech machinery. Below, the final slide seeks questions and provides contact info on Kimley-Horn consultants. Royal Examiner Still Photos Roger Bianchini/Video Mark Williams.

Royal Examiner was there with Mark Williams on the event videotaping so that readers can access the entire presentation and resultant Q&A, including hard questions like potential public utility impacts on things like water usage at the same time a community like ours is under ongoing drought conditions. One upside of data center development is the increased commercial tax revenue they may bring to a community.

Following the meeting’s adjournment around 1:30 p.m. we tracked down Warren County Planning Director Matt Wendling and Front Royal Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke for reactions to what they heard. First, Wendling noted that when a data center was up for consideration here several years ago, “There were a lot of concerns, specifically about utilization of natural resources … This meeting helps us bring everything up to where we’re at today with the technology and the buildings, which informs us on a lot of those technical concerns that we had back then.

“I think it was a productive meeting. I can’t see one way or the other if it will be something that people of the county and the board would support. But it was very informative, and I think it was beneficial for us. It’s one of those things where the more information you have, the more information the public has, the better decisions can be made by the community and the leaders of the community,” Wendling concluded.

Kopishke took a similar tone: “I thought this information session was a great opportunity to learn more about data centers. While there are no projects currently on the horizon and the use is not enabled within our zoning ordinance, gathering information and getting educated on a topic, especially a controversial one, is always beneficial for the community and stakeholders,” she concluded.

One thing the Kimley-Horn trio stressed was that Data Center developers are increasingly aware it is to their benefit to become proactive on problem solving with the communities they are seeking to do business with.

On the left are Kim Kennedy, Jamie Cox, and John Carnes from Kimley-Horn National Planning and Engineering Consulting Firm. And yes, the attending public and public officials asked questions and good ones.

See the entire Data Center 101 presentation and question and answer period in this exclusive Royal Examiner video.