Chesapeake residents continue to share concerns about proposed data center in Great Bridge area of the city

Yahoo

04-06-2025

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Chesapeake residents against a proposed data center got a chance to hear directly from city officials about the project during a meeting Tuesday night.
Planning Commission recommends against Great Bridge data center
The city's quarterly happened at Oscar Smith Middle School, giving city leaders a chance to meet with constituents about any topic.
The hot topic on the minds of many residents from the Great Bridge part of the city is the data center that could be built on 23 acres near Etheridge Manor Boulevard and Centerville Turnpike.
'Why do they want to put this 350,000-square-foot noise machine butting up right against property lines,' said Great Bridge resident Dennis Cashman, a Great Bridge resident, said.
Many who live near the proposed location took the opportunity to come to the town meeting with hopes of getting clarity about the project.
'They're going to hear everybody's concerns, and they're certainly going to hear our concerns too, since we're all part of Chesapeake,' Cashman said.
The facility would be Hampton Roads' first industrial scale data center. Some say that Virginia is the industrial center capital of the world.
'We do need data centers,' Cashman said. 'It's all about location.'
Chesapeake's Planning Commission voted in May not to recommend the project. The proposal is now set to go before City Council at its June 17 meeting, when there will be a final say on whether it will move forward.
'Chesapeake has a lot of already zoned industrial sites,' Cashman said. 'Why don't we build it in an existing zoned industrial site?'
The plans for this facility came about a year ago.
Resident Lee Damore feels they have been left in the dark about the project because they just learned about it recently.
'We residents found out about it a month ago,' Damore said. 'I've been door knocking [to get the] petition signed [and] I'm still getting people giving me deer in the headlights.'
Mayor Rick West told 10 On Your Side outside of the town meeting that the city has heard from a lot of residents about why they don't want this center. He encouraged them to keep sharing their thoughts ahead of the upcoming meeting.
'Talk about the facts, talk about your concern, and then listen and be open to the fact that you know Council is going to make a decision,' Deamore said. 'Chesapeake has a council that's always listening to its citizens, and that's who we are.'
Residents who are opposed to the data center are having a community meeting about it at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hickory Ruritan Club, at 2752 S. Battlefield Blvd.
10 On Your Side also reached out to the lead developer of the proposed data center for this story and did not receive a response.
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