CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The town council of Orange will recommend to the planning commission that hyperscale data centers, the largest category, not be permitted within its boundaries, Mayor Harrison Cluff told Cville Right Now this week. Decisions on how to handle smaller facilities still need to be made.

Following an information session and council meeting Monday that lasted nearly four hours, the council unanimously agreed on the proposed restriction.

“The one big thing we came up with is that we asked the planning commission not include hyperscale data center development in the town,” Cluff said. “And that was unanimous.”

Orange is only about 3.4 square miles, so space for a massive facility would be difficult to come by, anyway. Would Orange consider smaller, so-called boutique data centers in the future?

“That we have to have more discussions about,” Cluff said. “I don’t know if we’ll eliminate another size classification or not. If we decide to go forward, we will certainly develop guidelines based on the information we heard. We know the pitfalls to look out for.”

Monday’s meeting included an hour-long informational presentation by Bill Donohue, who shared the positive and negatives about the impact data centers could have on Orange. He also spent nearly two hours after his presentation fielding questions from town and Orange County residents in attendance, Cluff said.

“He got lots of questions. First from the council, then from the public,” Cluff said. “We wanted people to get answers.”

Cluff noted that the town of Orange will be updating its comprehensive plan in 2027 and that a policy and strategy for data centers will likely need to be included. He said that considering the tax revenue such facilities can generate for a municipality like Orange needs to be part of that conversation.

“We have to say, ‘How are we going to support the things we want around here?'” Cluff said.

On Sept. 25, the Orange Town Council released a letter to the public, signed by four of its five members, affirming it was not “engaging in any discussions with any data center developers or companies.”

According to the letter, including Cluff, Orange is not involved in talks with any data center developers or companies, is not currently reviewing any data center applications, and is not actively recruiting data centers to the town. The letter also said the council isn’t considering annexing any property from Orange County and that it’s not “aware of any conversations between data center developers or companies and any private property owners within the town boundary or in the town environs.”

Councilman Jason Cashell, who has said he opposes any sort of data center development within the town limits of Orange, did not sign the letter and told Cville Right Now he had questions about some of the facts the letter presented.

“It was so broad that it really left the town open for speculation and for future mistrust,” Cashell said in September. “I wanted to pump the brakes, to take our time. At our last town council meeting, the mayor told everybody that had gathered, ‘Hey, listen. Since December, we have not had any conversations with data centers.’ But the letter doesn’t say, ‘Since December.’ It just says, ‘In general.’ In fact, it says categorically, that we have not engaged in any discussions with data center developers or companies. I’ve got a real concern there because it’s inconsistent with what I’ve seen.”

Cashell did not respond to a request for comment about Monday’s meeting.