• Qualifying applications accepted on or before 12 February 2025 can currently continue without obtaining a special exception for data-centre use
  • Supervisors have asked for the number of eligible applications and a legal assessment before deciding whether to withdraw that protection

The fact

Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors voted on 1 September to review the county's data-centre grandfathering resolution before deciding whether to revoke it. The Board requested an assessment of how many applications remain eligible and whether reversing the resolution would be lawful. The exemptions remain in place while that work is carried out.

The Board adopted the grandfathering resolution on 18 March 2025 alongside zoning changes that require special-exception approval for data centres in districts where they were previously allowed by right. Qualifying applications accepted on or before 12 February 2025 can continue without obtaining that additional approval if they retain grandfathered status under the resolution. The earlier by-right route allowed qualifying projects to proceed through administrative review, while the special-exception process brings the proposed use through public review and a Board decision.

The assessment

The grandfathering review reaches projects that entered Loudoun's system before the county changed its zoning rules. If the exemption is removed, some of those applications could be shifted from an administrative route into the special-exception process, bringing an additional public hearing and Board vote before the data-centre use is approved.

That could matter even where a project has already spent time on design, land and other pre-construction work. The issue is not that Loudoun has rejected those projects, but that the approval route they expected to follow may no longer be fixed. How significant that becomes depends on how many applications are covered and whether the county concludes that their status can legally be changed.

For BTW readers, Loudoun is testing how much certainty a project keeps when planning rules change after an application has entered the system. If grandfathered projects are required to seek special exceptions, developers would have another local decision to clear before moving towards construction.

What to watch

Watch for the county attorney's legal findings, the confirmed number and status of eligible applications, and any subsequent Board vote. If the resolution is reversed, project-specific special-exception filings or hearing schedules will show which developments actually move onto the new approval route.