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How Much Traffic Will the Stafford Buc-ees Generate?
Both the Virginia Department of Transportation and an independent transportation planning firm have raised concerns with Stafford County staff about how construction of a 74,000-square-foot Buc-ees travel center will affect traffic in the area of Courthouse Road in Stafford. The Texas-based chain has submitted an application for a conditional use permit to build a store and fueling stations at the intersection of Courthouse Road and Austin Ridge Drive in the Garrisonville district.
Virginia agriculture thrives despite mounting challenges
For the fifth consecutive year, Memorial Day weekend will pass without the Pungo Strawberry Festival, once a mainstay on the region’s calendar that put a welcome spotlight on agriculture in Hampton Roads. It’s especially disappointing this year when, by all accounts, it was a banner year for the crop. While the event is missed, it’s worthwhile for residents here to show some appreciation for our area’s farmers, whose toil, skill and dedication annually produce a tremendous bounty for our dinner tables. Their hard work deserves acclaim and support as they face a future made more challenging by a changing climate.
Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Prince William Digital Gateway
The controversial Prince William Digital Gateway, a rezoning allowing a massive data center development at the edge of the Manassas battlefield, is facing one fewer hurdle following the dismissal Thursday of the first of three lawsuits filed against it. The lawsuit was filed in December 2022, about a year before the Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted in December 2023 to rezone about 1,700 acres northwest of the battlefield and along Pageland Lane to allow a corridor of up to 37 data centers.
Logistics giant moving ahead with more Sterling data center plans
Prologis Inc. is moving ahead with plans to redevelop with data centers some warehouses it’s long owned in Sterling, the heart of Loudoun County’s “data center alley,” where the company has other similar data center projects in the works. The San Francisco logistics real estate investment trust filed a special exception application Tuesday, asking for extra density above what the underlying zoning allows for data centers at 42121 and 45181 Global Plaza.
Virginia Has the Biggest Data Center Market in the World. Can It Also Decarbonize Its Grid?
While short-lived, the denial came as a surprise. This March, Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia that is home to the greatest concentration of data centers in the world, made an unexpected move: It rejected a proposal to let a company build a bigger data center than existing zoning automatically allowed. … County supervisors would later reverse the decision, approving a smaller version of the project. But the initial denial sent ripples throughout Virginia, where concern over the rapid growth of data centers and what that means for the state’s ambitious decarbonization goals is growing.
Va. Attorney General Miyares challenging heavy truck emissions rule and other federal proposals
Joining 23 conservative-led states’ efforts, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has signed on to legal challenges to new federal rules designed to advance emission reductions and address what scientists say is causing extreme weather events. Miyares has challenged several rules, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations for tractor trailer and passenger vehicle tailpipes, power plants and meat and poultry processors.
Youngkin outlines efforts to ‘Accelerate Southwest Virginia’
Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday unveiled “Accelerate Southwest Virginia,” a multi-faceted, “holistic” approach designed to promote development by addressing roadblocks to future success. The governor’s remarks came during the keynote address of the Southwest Virginia Economic Forum at the David J. Prior Center at UVA Wise. More than 300 people from across the region attended the daylong event.
City manager’s pending departure sets up complex scenario for Roanoke City Council
A city manager steps down and the mayor replaces him. It’s a rare situation, but not unheard of in Virginia. The most recent example happened in Roanoke this week, when the city council unanimously accepted Bob Cowell’s resignation, effective June 7, then approved a resolution that makes Mayor Sherman Lea the acting manager, starting the next day.
City agrees to state giving Hotel Petersburg developers $2.2 million so project can finish on time
City Council agreed Tuesday night to $2.2 million in state tourism-funded gap financing to push the long-awaited Hotel Petersburg project across the finish line this fall. The $2.2 million equals 1% of the anticipated yearly revenue the hotel and all of its amenities will generate. It would be paid back over 20 years by the developer, Nathaniel Cuthbert of Tabb Street Development LLC.
In rare agricultural land auction, large Suffolk farm near downtown lands in developer’s hands
On a drizzly Wednesday morning in a Suffolk hotel ballroom, hundreds of acres of farmland came up for grabs. For a local developer, it’s a great opportunity for his company in the region’s fastest growing city. For others, the sale represents another swath of prime Suffolk farmland destined for transformation into suburban subdivisions or something similarly clad in concrete.