A planned data center complex in Strasburg was among the topics in Monday’s public forum there. Local leaders and developers answered questions submitted by residents. WMRA’s Ayse Pirge reports.
Monday’s public forum focused on two topics– both related to data center development. One of them is Project Tallmadge, a two million square foot planned data center complex in Shenandoah County. It would cover 87 acres, right next to Interstate 81. The other is how the town will review future data center proposals.
As of July last year, future data center projects in Strasburg require a special use permit as well as additional public review. The Strasburg High School’s old gym was filled with attentive residents, who had submitted questions related to both this data center complex and general questions about data centers, which included issues such as water usage, drought resilience, and energy demand.
Strasburg Mayor Brandy Hawkins Boies and the chief commercial officer of Takanock, the company behind Project Tallmadge, were among the panelists answering questions.
Brenda Tennett is a Strasburg resident. She has concerns –
BRENDA TENNETT: About air quality, and the noise, and possibly pollution, and what… effect it might have on children.
The planned data center complex is not far from where Tennett lives.
TENNETT: If I don’t know all the answers, then I’ll have to put my house on the market to get out of the area.
But, she says –
TENNETT: If they do some of the things they say they’re going to do, and if that works out, it might be different.
There will be a town council work session on July 6, and a town council meeting on July 14.
