The position
Do not approve new data centers under Chesapeake’s current framework. Adopt enforceable restrictions strong enough to prevent neighborhood harm and make developers pay every direct public cost. This is stricter regulation, not a claim that the city will ignore lawful applications or impose an unsupported permanent ban.
Required protections
- Strict daytime and nighttime noise limits, including tonal and low-frequency noise.
- Meaningful residential and agricultural buffers, with stricter limits for closer sites.
- Full acoustic treatment for cooling equipment, transformers, batteries, and generators.
- Nighttime post-operation testing and full-load generator testing.
- Closed-loop cooling, strict limits on withdrawals and wastewater, and continuous monitoring of any discharge.
- Public maps of noise, transmission lines, substations, roads, water, and sewer impacts.
- Permit suspension or revocation for repeated violations.
- Developer payment for grid, road, utility, emergency-service, and inspection costs.
If Council approves one anyway
Every dollar of local data-center tax revenue should be allocated by ordinance before another project is approved. The money should supplement existing funding, never subsidize the data center, and be locked into direct public benefits.
- 50% education and school facilities.
- 20% public safety staffing and compensation.
- 15% stormwater and flooding.
- 10% small-business infrastructure and low-cost city-owned work or market space—not discretionary grants.
- 5% agriculture, drainage, processing, and working-land protection.
Speech to Council — July 2026
Do not call a discretionary delay a moratorium. Adopt strict limits on noise, water, buffers, power infrastructure, and public costs now. Make them strong enough to deter harmful projects from locating here.
If Council approves data centers under the claim that they benefit the public, create a Data Center Lockbox before another approval. Put education first, then public safety, flooding, small-business infrastructure, and agriculture. Do not let the revenue disappear into the General Fund, and do not use it to subsidize the projects that created the costs.
The ask is simple: adopt strict restrictions now. If Council forces a data center on Chesapeake, lock every local tax dollar into direct benefits for Chesapeake residents.
The goal
Economic development should improve life for people already here. A project that transfers noise, infrastructure costs, environmental risk, or utility pressure to residents should not receive special treatment.