Nancy Kotting, cultural resources specialist
Cemetery on Potomac Creek Campus site includes four known Seddon family burials and indications of 12 or more unmarked burials believed to be enslaved individuals
Stafford County data center complex
Stafford County Planning Commission backed a new 590,000 square foot data center complex. It is waiting on permits, since August 27, 2026.
How much power it needs, how much water it would use and who would use it have not been disclosed.
How to read this page. Every fact links to the source it rests on; a number in brackets is its place in the source list. A figure no source gives reads Not disclosed, and nothing is estimated. Where sources give different figures, each is shown with who gave it, and another source's figure never stands in for the record's own. Entries are added and never overwritten; corrections are listed under What happened.
What is known
Each figure as its source gave it. The number in brackets is its place in the source list.
- Land
- Not disclosed
- Power it would draw
- Not disclosed
- Water
- Not disclosed
- Who leads it
- Not disclosed
- Who would use it
- Not disclosed
- Jobs once it runs
- Not disclosed
- Tax each year
- Not disclosed
Every field, with who said it and when (Researcher view)
Impact figures
| Field | Value | Who says so | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How much power it needs | Not disclosed | |||
| How much water it would use | Not disclosed | |||
| How loud it would be | Not disclosed | |||
| Jobs once it runs | Not disclosed | |||
| Tax it would pay each year | Not disclosed |
The record's fields
| Field | Value | Who says so | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who is building it | Not disclosed | |||
| Who is constructing it | Not disclosed | |||
| How much land | Not disclosed | |||
| Where its power comes from | Not disclosed | |||
| Grid connection | Not disclosed | |||
| How it is cooled | Not disclosed |
The developer's figure is what the company said; what a permit allows is the ceiling a permit sets; measured means observed. Water is in gallons a day or a year, whichever the source stated; a tax claim given as a range shows both ends, each linked to the source that gave it.
Still not public, and where it would show up
The record adds each the day a source gives it. Why these documents.
- Water useA state water right filing or a water supply agreement.
- Who would use itA lease announcement or a tenant named in a filing.
- Power the campus would drawA utility or public service commission docket, an interconnection filing, or an air permit for an on site plant.
- Who is behind itA land record, a zoning application or a company's own announcement.
- Jobs and taxAn incentive agreement, a county's economic development filing or a fiscal note.
What was decided
Acts of Stafford County and the cities in it about data centers, on the record with their source. A rule about the area is not a decision about this record.
| Date | Who | Decision | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stafford County | Stafford County Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend Board of Supervisors deny Potomac Creek Campus data center due to cemetery concerns | fredericksburgfreepress.com | |
| Stafford County | The Stafford Technology Campus rezoned 524 acres on both sides of Eskimo Hill Road from agricultural to light industrial. | youtube.com | |
| Stafford County | In 2024, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors approved the Stafford Technology Campus, the largest data center project in county history. | youtube.com | |
| Stafford County | The US Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District received permit application NAO-2025-01543 for Project Sisson on 2025-10-20. | nao.usace.army.mil |
What happened
-
(content date)
Stafford County Planning Commission backed a new 590,000 square foot data center complex. [4]
-
(source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Potomac Creek Campus proposed 975,000 square feet of data center space on 99 acres south of Eskimo Hill Road [5]
-
· Status: permitting (source date; the content gives no date of its own)
Stack topped out its first building at a 1 gigawatt data center campus in Stafford County, Virginia. [2]
-
· Status: proposed (source date; the content gives no date of its own)
A data center was proposed for 850 acres of land in Stafford County, Virginia. [3]
The full Stafford County data center complex timeline, in order
10 corrections to this record
Every correction, with its reason
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier: fredericksburgfreepress.com is a news outlet (tiered by kind, the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier: the tier the record already gives datacenterdynamics.com. The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier: the tier the record already gives datacenterdynamics.com. The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier: wjla.com is a news outlet (tiered by kind, the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
-
· the source url of a status history row
The source was a news.google.com wrapper url, which names no publisher and does not last. Resolved to the publisher's own page by the monitor's resolver on 2026-09-20 (docs/batch-va-record-fixes-0920.md, item 3). The outlet and the date on the row are unchanged. The old and new text.
-
· the summary of a projects row
Hyphenated compound split to meet the writing rule (DECISIONS section 12); the words are unchanged. The old and new text.
Every correction on the record is on the corrections page.
What was said
Willie Shelton Jr., planning commissioner, expressed concern about desecration of cemetery and opposition to placing data center on graveyard
Protect Stafford is a grassroots coalition working to ensure data center development in Stafford County is responsible, community informed, and sustainable.
Every statement about data centers in Virginia, by speaker
4 more statements on this page
unnamed narrator
Data centers promise to generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for local governments.
unnamed narrator
Data center opponents raise concerns regarding noise and water overuse for cooling.
unnamed narrator
Virginia is home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world.
The site
Where in Stafford County is not in the public record. The pin marks the county seat, not a building, and the outline is the county.
Tap a pin for the data center, the parcel for its record
- This record: Proposed, ringed
- data center
- Dashed edge: the exact site is not in the public record
- Smaller pins: 35 other published records in Virginia
Details
- this record's location, ringed
- parcel outline, from the county parcel record
- city limits, U.S. Census Bureau, on a town level record
- county boundary
The other pins are the published projects in the same state, each in its stage color. The imagery beneath is the USGS national orthoimagery, public domain, shown so the land around the site can be read.
- Where
- Stafford County, Virginia
- How exactly it is located
- County level, the county seat
- The parcel
- No parcel outline in the public record
- Nearest homes
- Not computed for a record placed at a place center
- Nearest records
- Nearest records are not computed for a record placed at a county seat.
Questions about this project
4 questions answered from the record
Who is building Stafford County data center complex?
-
Not disclosed. No source on file names the developer. The sources read for this record are listed under Sources.
How much power and water does Stafford County data center complex say it needs?
-
Power: not disclosed by any source on file. Water: not disclosed by any source on file.
Where does Stafford County data center complex stand today?
-
It is waiting on permits, since August 27, 2026. The newest entry, August 27, 2026: Stafford County Planning Commission backed a new 590,000 square foot data center complex. [4]
What has Stafford County decided about it?
-
Stafford County: Stafford County Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend Board of Supervisors deny Potomac Creek Campus data center due to cemetery concerns (reported May 29, 2026, source); and Stafford County: The Stafford Technology Campus rezoned 524 acres on both sides of Eskimo Hill Road from agricultural to light industrial. (reported February 26, 2026, source). 4 events are on the county's rows; a rule about the area is not a decision about this record.
Sources
Reporting
- Peterson Co. files for 16-building data center campus in Stafford County, Virginia, Data Center Dynamics, October 21, 2025, trade press
- Stack tops out first building at 1GW data center campus in Stafford County, Virginia, Data Center Dynamics, May 26, 2026, trade press
- Data center proposed for 850 acres of land in Stafford County, Virginia, Data Center Dynamics, July 29, 2025, trade press
- Stafford County Planning Commission backs new 590K-square-foot data center complex - WJLA, WJLA, August 27, 2026, local outlet
- Stafford County Planning Commission recommends denial of data center after cemetery concerns, www.fredericksburgfreepress.com, May 29, 2026, local outlet
5 sources on file.
Cite this record
Data Center Record, "Stafford County data center complex", https://datacenterrecord.org/projects/stafford-county-data-center-complex-va, last verified September 20, 2026.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "Stafford County data center complex", https://datacenterrecord.org/projects/stafford-county-data-center-complex-va. Data: Data Center Record, datacenterrecord.org, CC BY 4.0.
The structured rows are CC BY 4.0. Link to this page; that is what turns a reuse into a citation. Prose stays under copyright.
For researchers
- Slug
- stafford-county-data-center-complex-va
- Status value
- permitting
- Stage
- Proposed
- Tier
- skeleton
- Tags
- skeleton
- Place id
- us/va/stafford-county
- Coordinates
- 38.4153, -77.4156
- Location precision
- county
- Location source
- County seat (Stafford), Wikidata, placed at county level
- Coordinate source
- wikidata county seat
- Location source number
- Not disclosed
- Location last verified
- September 16, 2026
- EPA registry id
- Not disclosed
- Use type values
- not_disclosed
- Tenancy value
- not_disclosed
- Cooling type value
- not_disclosed
- Capacity basis
- not_disclosed
- Water basis
- not_disclosed, gallons_per_day
- Acreage basis
- Not disclosed
- Interconnection value
- not_disclosed
- Capacity, if disclosed
- Not disclosed
- Rating of the county's rows
- Not disclosed
- Published
- 2026-09-04
- Last verified
- 2026-09-20