Before hearing public comment, City Council members announced that they will limit the possibility of data centers in Virginia Beach.

Jesse Ankney · 4 June 2026

“Data Centers” looms over the head of Councilmember Stacy Cummings

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – On June 2, City Council attended a briefing and heard public comment concerning data centers.

“The council unanimously agreed that we will not entertain any data centers in the city of Virginia Beach,” announced Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer.

Dyer’s announcement came at the beginning of Virginia Beach City Council’s formal session.

Concerns on data centers in Virginia Beach surfaced on account of Virginia’s prominence in the data center market and a recent plan presented to the city’s Planning Commission on the development of the city’s Interfacility Traffic Area (ITA). The plan proposes rezoning a part of the ITA from land in the city’s Agricultural Reserve Program to an I-1 Light Industrial District.

Currently, the city’s zoning ordinance does not specifically address the case of a data center. An I-1 Light Industrial District has no definition in the zoning ordinance, only a paragraph on legislative intent and a list of permitted structures. Uses for I-1 Light Industrial Districts include airports, nightclubs, office buildings and fiber optics transmission facilities.

After its formal session, City Council heard public comments, and 11 of the 16 speakers voiced their opinions on data centers. None of the speakers at the meeting spoke in support of data centers.

Prior to its formal session, Kathy Warren, director of planning and community development, and Peter Wallace, director of information technology under Deputy City Manager Monica Croskey, briefed City Council on data centers.

The briefing included information on internet infrastructure, the different classifications of data centers, and on current zoning laws in Virginia Beach.

During the briefing, council members voiced concerns with the ambiguity of the city’s zoning laws and considered how a data center might affect residents.

“Let’s do something practical,” Dyer said. “These data centers are not good neighbors.”

Michael Berlucchi, City Council member representing Virginia Beach’s District 3, called Amanda Jarrett, deputy city manager over tourism, economic development, planning and agriculture to the briefing podium to answer questions about data centers. Jarrett attended the meeting to brief City Council on a different topic. 

Jarrett stated that the city has no data center projects in queue, is not actively recruiting data centers to move to Virginia Beach, and that data centers are not being contemplated for the ITA. Furthermore, Jarrett emphasized that there are more efficient ways to use the city’s land, citing the high acreage, power, and water demands required by data centers.