Strasburg Town Manager Mellanie Shipe stood before the town council recently to walk through exactly how a $4 billion to $4.5 billion data center campus slated for the edge of town qualified for by-right approval — a designation that let developer Takanock bypass a public hearing. Shipe said the presentation wasn't meant to win anyone over. It was meant to show, step by step, how town staff reached their decision on Project Tallmadge.
According to The Northern Virginia Daily, Shipe told council members that the by-right classification traces back to Strasburg's Unified Development Ordinance, adopted in 2014 and in force when the town issued its first written determination on September 3, 2024. That ordinance relies on land-based classification standards developed by the American Planning Association, which group land uses by function rather than by industry label. Under that system, code 4240 — defined to include electronic data processing services and making data-processing resources available to customers — was already listed as a by-right use in both the highway commercial district and the business park/limited industrial district where the Project Tallmadge property sits, Shipe said.
Shipe emphasized that code 4240 was not added specifically to accommodate the project. Town staff classified the proposed data center under that code because its function fit an already-allowed activity, she said, adding that the determination identified an existing permission rather than granting a new one. She also noted that Strasburg's former ordinance used broader categories rather than a specific data-center definition — a choice she said isn't inherently wrong, citing Olathe, Kansas; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Wood Dale, Illinois; and the Sanford area of North Carolina as other localities that classify data centers under the same broad code. Lynchburg, by contrast, has adopted more specific data-center classifications beneath that broader category, though Shipe said other localities' ordinances don't control how Strasburg applies its own.
By-Right Doesn't Mean Green-Lit for Construction
Shipe was careful to draw a line between a by-right determination and permission to build. A by-right use simply means the use is allowed in that zoning district under the ordinance — it's an administrative decision based on the ordinance's text, she said, not a judgment on whether the project is desirable. By-right status alone does not authorize Takanock to begin construction, and Shipe said the land-use classification only addresses what an operation does, while the development's size still triggers separate infrastructure, utility, stormwater, and environmental standards that must be met before anything moves forward.
That distinction matters because Strasburg has already sent several rounds of correspondence to the developer. After the initial September 2024 determination, the town issued follow-up letters on April 8, May 1, and August 18 of 2025, per the same Northern Virginia Daily account. Strasburg staff have since completed their second review of Takanock's site plan, and the developer is expected to submit revised generator information for a third round of review — a detail that points to where much of the remaining scrutiny is concentrated.
Residents Press on Generators, Substations and Gas Infrastructure
That scrutiny was on full display from two speakers at the meeting. Kaylee Tanner, a Strasburg resident running for town council, questioned how accessory-use zoning requirements apply to the project's other structures, pointing to power-generation equipment, substations, generators, gas metering stations, and propane yards as components she wants clarified. Tanner compared an outdated version of the former ordinance with a corrected 2023 version the town recently made available, noting a wording shift — the older text said accessory structures *may* require a special use permit, while the corrected version says they *shall* be subject to one. She asked the council to request a written explanation of which components count as primary versus accessory and whether permits are required for each.
Sara Santmier, a county resident living less than three miles from the site, raised a broader set of concerns, questioning whether the property was properly zoned for a data center of this size and intensity and whether environmental, traffic, noise, and utility requirements have actually been met with permits in hand. Santmier said people living outside town limits would still feel the development's effects and deserved consideration in the process. The concerns echo the scale of what's being built: Takanock's site plan incorporates up to 400 megawatts of on-site natural gas power generation, according to Data Center Dynamics, which would let the 87-acre campus run off-grid until permanent utility connections are completed.
What the Town Projects — and What It Could Use
The financial stakes behind the debate are considerable. Data Center Dynamics reports Takanock's own projections put the total investment at $4 billion to $4.5 billion, with roughly $47 million in annual tax revenue for Strasburg and Shenandoah County — an estimated $1.4 billion over 30 years. Water-use modeling presented to the town council estimated average demand for the project at 6,673 gallons per day, with peak demand potentially reaching 164,194 gallons per day under compound power system failures, the Northern Virginia Daily reported.
Takanock itself was formed in 2023 by Kenneth Davies, the former founder of Google Energy and former head of Microsoft's global renewable strategy, and is backed by $500 million in equity capital from ArcLight Capital and DigitalBridge, according to Data Center Dynamics. The company has pursued a similar playbook elsewhere: Hoodline reported on Takanock's Project Baccara in Maricopa County, Arizona, which pairs two 1-million-square-foot data halls with a 700-megawatt natural gas power plant and has drawn similar resident concerns over air quality and noise.
A Statewide Shift Collides With Local Vested Rights
The Strasburg dispute is unfolding just as Virginia's governor moves to tighten the rules for projects like this one going forward. On September 18, Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 22, unveiling a Data Center Accountability Framework intended to eliminate by-right zoning statewide for data centers using more than 25 megawatts of power and require local public approval processes, according to Virginia's state government. Loudoun County made a similar move in March 2025, requiring special exception permits and public hearings for all AI data center applications, per the Compute Law Blog.
But Virginia remains a Dillon's Rule state, meaning local governments hold zoning authority over data center siting while being legally barred from imposing outright development moratoria, the Compute Law Blog notes — and each application must still be reviewed individually on its own legal merits. Strasburg's town council did respond with its own tightening measures, adopting a new ordinance in 2025 that addresses data centers more specifically going forward; council members also held line-by-line work sessions on draft industrial design standards covering setbacks, noise thresholds, building heights, and landscaping, converting what had been discretionary language into binding rules, per the Northern Virginia Daily. None of that changes what governed Project Tallmadge back in 2024, Shipe said — the former ordinance determined what was allowed when that decision was made, while the new 2025 rules apply only going forward.
Scott Terndrup, who chaired the town's ordinance committee back in 2014, told the council that the town planner at the time had discussed the classification system and by-right uses directly, and that he documented the reasoning behind ordinance changes specifically so future officials could understand the thinking. Terndrup added that the ordinance was always intended to be reviewed and updated annually. Shipe closed her remarks by reiterating that the zoning determination isn't a vote on whether Project Tallmadge is desirable, and that by-right status doesn't mean town staff or council either support or oppose it. The absence of the words hyperscale data center in the ordinance, she said, doesn't by itself prohibit the use — and understanding how the decision was reached doesn't require anyone to agree with it.
