The proposed Goochland technology overlay district. Courtesy Goochland County
Goochland’s proposed tech overlay district is onto its next step after a recommendation of approval from the county’s planning commission.
The commission voted 3-2 at its Thursday evening meeting to recommend the county move forward with its plan to create is both a “technology overlay district” and a “technology zone,” that would span about five miles along Route 288, going from Interstate 64 south to Patterson Avenue, sitting adjacent to Hockett Road.
The meeting was the second of two public hearings held by the commission on the controversial proposal.
Much of the proposed district includes West Creek Business Park, which spans around 3,500 acres. The park contains about 1,700 acres of undeveloped land and currently houses mainly office tenants such as CarMax, Capital One and Performance Food Group.
The new tech-friendly area would allow for multiple tech-related users, from pharmaceutical companies to biomedical researchers to data centers.
Another use the county is proposing to permit within the TOD is a “utility generating facility,” which is defined as either a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) facility or a natural gas peaking plant.
If implemented, an SMR on the site would have a capacity of up to 300 megawatts, per county documents.
Both the technology overlay district and the potential inclusion of an SMR on the site have caused a stir in the rural county, where residents, especially those living in neighborhoods adjacent to the site, such as Readers Branch and Mosaic at West Creek, have raised concerns about potential noise, health and safety impacts that a TOD could bring.
Last week, the first of the planning commission’s two public hearings on the matter brought out several hundred citizens who relayed their concerns over the course of several hours.
At this week’s meeting, residents again came out in large numbers to express their concerns.
“(SMRs and natural gas peaking plants) are even more noxious facilities than data centers, and their inclusion does nothing to address the worries of residents, it makes the situation worse,” said one resident.
“I do not believe that SMRs in their current state of development are the magic pill that some believe them to be,” added another. “It is for that reason that I strongly recommend that Goochland County not be the test bed for such experimental technology. Our families, yours included, should not be the guinea pigs of progress.”
Following the public hearing portion of the meeting, commissioner Guy Kemmerly made a motion to recommend approval of the TOD and tech zone, with recommendations that the county Board of Supervisors consider four conditions.
Those conditions include making “energy generation facilities” like SMRs allowable only through a conditional use permit (CUP), imposing a 500-foot setback from residential property for data centers permitted by-right and requiring CUP approval for locating closer in those areas, limiting by-right building height to a maximum of 80 feet for structures adjacent to residentially zoned properties and reducing decibel limits lower than the currently proposed 65 decibels during the day and 60 decibels at night.
“I do agree with the fact that we do need to put the energy generating facility or facilities into CUP, that does give you, the public, the opportunity whenever there’s a CUP to do exactly what we did tonight,” commissioner Dwain Cosby said during the discussion.
“It’s a lot to consider…I’m excited that we’re not moving forward with SMRs by-right, we’ve heard that loud and clear from lots of people, and I agree with y’all,” commissioner Jess McLaughlin added.
County residents remained vocal throughout the commission discussion.
“I don’t think we’re rushing it, we’ve been doing this since what, June?” said commissioner Curt Pituck, to audible boos from the crowd gathered.
In a 3-2 vote, the planning commission recommended approval and recommended that county supervisors consider the added conditions suggested by Kemmerly. Commissioners McLaughlin, Cosby and Pituck voted to recommend approval, while commissioners Amanda Kowalski and Kemmerly voted against it.
The proposal is now set to go before county supervisors at their Nov. 6 meeting for a final decision.
The push for the technology zone comes amid a busy time of sizable new proposals in West Creek. Earlier this month, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. announced plans to invest $5 billion to build a new manufacturing facility on a 227-acre site at 12575 West Creek Parkway. Eli Lilly said activity is set to begin on the site in the coming weeks.
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