The Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority has confirmed that a company is evaluating a site in Roanoke County for a data center.
The authority, which represents Roanoke city, Roanoke County, and four other localities, voted earlier this month to enter into a deal with Clearview Dynamics for a parcel at Wood Haven Technology Park, despite vocal opposition from data center opponents.
Tuesday’s news release confirms the company’s plans for the site.
“The authority is confident in saying the project represents an economic development and fiscal benefit return," says John Hull, the authority's executive director. "It is a good project.”
The news release says Clearview Dynamics will develop the data center in compliance with Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s recent executive order. And the company commits, quote, “to being a responsible partner in this community.”
Hull says the project fulfills the authority’s goal of creating jobs and generating tax revenue for localities.
“The amount of revenue that’s created by virtue of a data center campus is easily 10 times what an equivalent sized manufacturer would produce on that site," Hull says. "Those revenues are needed for things like education, fire and EMS, parks and recreation, the services we all rely on in our daily lives from daily government.”
If it moves forward, the data center in Roanoke County will draw water from the Spring Hollow Reservoir through the Western Virginia Water Authority.
Clearview Dynamics is still in its due diligence phase, and is conducting engineering and geotechnical assessments, utility capacity studies, and environmental reviews.
