Homeowners along Kings Highway in Stafford County are bracing for a fight over four massive data center proposals that would rise near their backyards, local farmland and the Rappahannock River. The projects, collectively known as Kings Corridor, would sit near homes and subdivisions in a stretch of southeastern Stafford that includes current farmland and agricultural areas not far from Fredericksburg, King George County and George Washington's boyhood home.
The complex includes four proposed data center sites along Route 3, also called Kings Highway, according to WJLA. One of the proposed locations sits across the river from a subdivision in Spotsylvania County, raising concerns for residents on both banks. Stafford's planning department lists the four projects under review as Forest Lane, Simms Farm, Sisson North and Sisson South, all within the George Washington Election District, per Stafford County listings.
Neighbors Describe Light, Noise and Shadow Fears
Arlene, who opposes the proposed data centers, told WJLA she wants the area to remain farmland. David, another resident, said the proposed data centers conflict with agricultural zoning and could avoid due process, and he raised concerns about noise from the facilities. He added that the area's nature, river, eagles and wildlife could disappear if the data centers are built.
Kevin French said a large data center across the river would likely create nighttime light effects visible to a large subdivision, the station reports.
The Parsons family is concerned about property values and impacts to well water. Sharon Parsons described the Rappahannock River as endangered, while Joe Parsons said nearby construction could make his shallow well water cloudy and require new filtration systems — he has a shallow well because deep wells were not required when it was drilled.
Developer Points to Tax Revenue
Developer attorney Charles Payne said Kings Corridor is projected to generate $245 million annually for Stafford County at full build-out, which he said would amount to just over 20 percent of the county's total budget. Those revenues, he said, would support school funding and essential county services.
Payne said the plan invests more than $80 million in county water infrastructure projects and keeps 55 percent of the site as open space. The developer plans to restore damaged land and waterways, and says the data centers will use treated wastewater for cooling rather than groundwater or surface water. That claim echoes Stafford County Utilities' own description of a reclaimed-water system the county is developing to recycle wastewater for industrial cooling at new data centers, according to Stafford County Utilities. The project also includes sound management, buffering, setbacks, preserved viewsheds, natural vegetation and mature tree areas, and Payne said it complies with Stafford County ordinance requirements.
Residents say the Board of Supervisors needs to ensure any water-use commitments are written into enforceable conditions rather than left as developer promises. Stafford County residents broadly want the Board of Supervisors to listen to them as the review moves forward.
A Pattern of Approvals Along the I-95 Corridor
Separately, the county's Planning Commission voted 4-3 in August to recommend approval of a 590,000-square-foot Accokeek Center complex with two data centers and an electrical substation near the Rappahannock Regional Jail off I-95 and Route 1, according to WJLA.
Along the Kings Highway corridor specifically, the Forest Lane piece of the assemblage covers 845 acres at the northeast corner of Kings Highway and Forest Lane and seeks rezoning from A-1 and M-1 to M-2 for data center uses, plus a conditional-use permit for an electrical substation, according to Potomac Local. As of that report, the application remained under staff review. The outlet also cited plans for roughly 11 million square feet of data centers across the broader Kings Highway assemblage, and noted residents raised concerns about air pollution and health risks at a Board of Supervisors meeting. Potomac Local's reporting places the Kings Highway projects within a broader pipeline of roughly 18 data center proposals moving through Stafford County.
Statewide Power and Water Demands Loom Large
Virginia data centers used roughly 5,050 megawatts of power in 2024, and Dominion Energy reported 70,000 megawatts of large-load energy requests sitting in its queue at the end of 2025, according to Virginia Mercury.
Nationally, data-center electricity consumption is expected to double or even triple by 2028, and a single large facility can require up to 5 million gallons of water a day, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Northern Virginia already hosts about 300 data-center facilities across a handful of counties, with dozens more planned or in development, the group reports.
Other Virginia localities have hit the brakes on similar proposals this year. Charles City County's Board of Supervisors delayed a vote in June on rezoning a 515-acre parcel for the Roxbury Technology Park after local opposition, and Fauquier County's Planning Commission recommended denying a rezoning request for the planned 800-megawatt, 2.2-million-square-foot Gigaland data center the same month, later adopting guidelines meant to curb new development and protect its rural character, according to Data Center Dynamics. In Prince William County, supervisors deferred a decision in September on rezoning roughly 58 acres from agricultural use to a planned business district, after developer Stack Infrastructure requested its second deferral since May.
What Comes Next for Kings Corridor
The Kings Corridor project will be considered by the Stafford County Planning Commission, which is expected to vote on it next Wednesday, October 14. If it clears that vote, the project will go to the Stafford County Board of Supervisors for a final decision. For residents like the Parsons family, David and Arlene, that vote is the moment when concerns about light, noise, wildlife and well water collide with the developer's promise of hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue.
