Amazon AWS: Amazon's 7.5m sq ft data center park in King George County, Virginia, may soon be approved

Amazon's plans for a 7.5 million square foot data center campus have received preliminary approval from the King George County, Virginia, planning commission. Amazon will be the project's end customer, according to the Free Lance-Star.

Birchwood Power Partners requested an amendment to the County's Comprehensive Plan, rezoning of land from Limited Agricultural (A-1) and Rural Agricultural (A-2) to Industrial District (I), proffer particular exemption amendments, and an 869-acre data center park.

Birchwood has been requesting approval to reconstruct the former coal plant site for more than a year, but this was the first time Amazon was mentioned. Planning records indicate that Birchwood intends to build eight data center facilities totaling four million sq ft over 15 years. Construction begins 18–24 months following zoning approval.

Several adjoining parcels could be developed for another 3.5 million sq ft. Nine smaller buildings and two substations are proposed. The campus needs new electrical distribution lines and three substations.

Staff recommended all proposals. The Planning Commission advised against including the southernmost 265-acre parcel south of Route 3 that might have housed three structures and a substation. It also advised declining substation requests.