We need your voice to stop the approval of a proposed 5-acre substation (artistic rendering shown above). This substation is only being proposed because of an approved (but not yet built) data center. It would be just 67 feet away from a townhome community, connecting to transmission lines that would run straight through a Resource Protection Area, and be in one of the most densely populated parts of Virginia with 28,000 residents living within 1-mile.
In the four years since the data center proposal was submitted, the public hearing for this 5-acre substation application is the only opportunity for public comment this data center campus has had, and it is the last chance to stop this poorly conceived project.
Speak up and say NO to this 5-acre substation
Fairfax County’s Planning Commission is holding a public hearing for the substation (part of the public facilities 2232 review process) on December 2, 2026 @ 7:30pm (postponed from Sept. 24) to determine if the substation can move forward. Add your voice to the growing chorus of advocates who have requested denial of the substation.
- VA Delegate Watts expressed early opposition to this proposal (2/25/25)
- Nature Forward joined 32 other orgs and officials requesting County staff recommend denial (7/29/26)
- US Congressman Don Beyer released a statement requesting denial (7/30/26)
- City of Alexandria Mayor & City Council wrote a letter requesting denial (8/3/26)
- Fairfax County Supervisor Andres Jimenez (supervisor of this district) requested denial (8/6/26)
- VA Senator Bennett-Parker wrote a letter opposing the substation (8/18/26)
Join us on Zoom on Nov. 19 @ 12pm
Join our Lunch & Learn webinar to inform your comments for the December 2 public hearing (in person, via video or phone, or in writing)!
Email the Planning Commission
Use the form below to send an email to the Planning Commission asking to support all of those requesting denial of the Edsall Road substation.
Why is the Plaza 500 data center proposal so bad?
The story of the Plaza 500 data center proposal in Fairfax County is shocking. Its administrative approval (without any public input) was rushed through before Fairfax County passed its 2024 guardrails for where data centers could be built.
Imagine a 466,000 square foot data center complex, including a 5-acre high-voltage substation at the doorstep of two residential communities, flanked by two streams lacking sufficient natural buffers, with industrial-sized transmission lines further undermining the creek buffers, adjacent to an area the City of Alexandria envisioned for redevelopment with residential and commercial uses, under a mile from the Franconia/Springfield metro.
The Plaza 500 data center is so poorly placed that an official 2024 report to the Virginia General Assembly cited Bren Mar as an example of a neighborhood suffering from “inadequate planning and zoning” (see page 97, search for Bren Mar).
Thank you to Save Bren Mar!
A huge thank you goes out to the Save Bren Mar community group who has led the effort to follow this bad data center proposal every step of the way for the past several years. Visit their website for detailed information, opportunities to volunteer, sign on letters, etc.
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