Orange County updates on data centers and transmission

The Piedmont Environmental Council is providing an update on local land use, environmental, and transmission-line issues in Orange County, Virginia.

• Data center zoning changes: In April, the Orange County Board of Supervisors removed data centers as a by-right use from the Industrial Zoning District, and the Orange Town Council also removed data centers as a by-right use earlier this year.
• The town updated its definition of “data center” to describe modern hyperscale data centers; PEC says it will continue to advocate for limits on facilities over 40,000 square feet and for rules blocking an onsite gas power plant without adequate review and a special use permit.
• PFAS biosolids: Synagro Central, LLC’s renewal request to apply PFAS-contaminated biosolids on Orange County farmland advanced after a June 16 public hearing; DEQ’s final permitting decision is now pending.
• Transmission line: Valley Link changed proposed routes for its 115-mile, 765 kilovolt Joshua Falls-Yeat transmission project; Orange County filed comments with FERC, and the corridor was named to Preservation Virginia’s 2026 Most Endangered Historic Places list.