A Data Center Is Proposed Near You: What to Know and What to Ask

A data center is a large, windowless building full of computer servers, plus the electrical and cooling equipment that keeps them running. Modern campuses can include several buildings, an electric substation, rows of rooftop or ground-level cooling units and dozens of backup generators. Developers choose a location mainly for available electric power, a large flat parcel, fiber and zoning that allows the use, which is why proposals often land on farmland or industrial land at the edge of suburbs.

You are not alone in having questions. Data Center Watch, a research group that tracks local opposition, estimated that $18 billion of projects were blocked and $46 billion delayed between May 2024 and March 2025, with at least 142 local groups active across 24 states.⁹ It found the opposition bipartisan, with concerns centered on utility bills, water, noise, property values and green space.⁹ Those figures are the group’s own estimates, but they show that residents’ questions shape outcomes.

The first practical step is to find out exactly what has been filed. Ask the county or city planning department for the application number, the site plan and any studies submitted, and whether the use is allowed by right or needs a rezoning or special use permit. That answer decides how much say the public has; see zoning for data centers.

Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) found in 2024 that data centers are increasingly built or proposed near homes, that noise is one of the biggest nuisances, and that the industrial scale of these buildings makes them largely incompatible with residential use.¹ Most of the sound comes from cooling: fans pulling air across chillers and condensers create low-frequency noise and vibration, and residents tend to complain about its constant, 24-hour presence more than its loudness.⁵

That is why the measurement method matters. Many noise ordinances use A-weighted decibels (dBA), which discount low frequencies. A Prince William County presentation in January 2025 said the A-weighted scale does not effectively address data center low-frequency noise, and proposed residential limits of 52 dBA by day and 47 dBA at night alongside C-weighted (dBC) limits of 65 and 60.⁶ Those were proposals at the time; check what your jurisdiction has actually adopted.

Distance and enclosure are the main fixes. Fairfax County’s 2024 rules require data center buildings to sit at least 200 feet from residential lot lines and generators at least 300 feet, unless the building stands between them, with pre- and post-construction noise studies and screened equipment.³ Ask whether the proposal includes a sound study, where it measured and whether a post-construction test is a condition. See noise, setbacks and buffers.

Water use varies more by design than by size. A facility using evaporative cooling consumes water every day, while one with closed-loop or air-cooled systems uses little on site but more electricity. Nationally, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated U.S. data centers consumed about 66 billion liters (roughly 17 billion gallons) of water directly in 2023, up from 21.2 billion liters in 2014.² The same report put indirect water use at power plants serving data centers near 800 billion liters, and projected direct use could double to quadruple by 2028.²

For a neighbor, the national number matters less than four local facts:

• Source: will the site draw from the public water system, private wells, a river or treated wastewater?
• Peak demand: the highest daily use on hot summer days, not just the annual average.
• Effect on others: whether the utility or state has confirmed capacity without limiting existing customers or nearby wells.
• Discharge: where cooling water and stormwater go, and what permits apply.

Ask the applicant to state these in writing and the water provider to confirm them. Our guide to data center water requirements explains the cooling choices behind the numbers.

A large data center often needs a new substation and sometimes new high-voltage lines, which may cross land well away from the site itself. In Maryland, more than 100 property owners refused survey access for the proposed Piedmont transmission line in 2025, and the developer went to federal court; the line still needed a state certificate of public convenience and necessity before eminent domain could be used.¹⁰ If a line is planned across your property, see eminent domain and transmission easements.

Electric rates are set by state regulators, not the county, but they are a fair question at a local hearing. JLARC found that Virginia data centers were paying their full cost of service at the time of its study, but that growing demand was likely to raise other customers’ costs, with a typical Dominion residential bill projected to rise $14–$37 a month by 2040 to pay for new generation and transmission.⁷ Ask whether the utility serves the project under a large-load tariff with minimum bills or collateral, which is designed to keep stranded costs off other customers. Our guide to data centers and electricity bills covers the evidence.

Once running, a data center has a modest staff and little daily traffic. Construction is different, and on a phased campus it can last years. JLARC found that most of the industry’s economic activity in Virginia comes from construction rather than operations, which also describes where the traffic is.¹ In Port Washington, Wisconsin, a city engineer estimated as many as 5,000 construction workers and trucks could use local roads at the peak of a campus build, prompting temporary signals and widened intersections.¹¹ For a 600-acre campus in Middleton Township, Ohio, more than 1,000 vehicles a day were expected at peak, and the developer paid about $2.5 million for a roundabout built before construction began.¹²

Ask for the traffic study, the truck routes and work hours, and who pays to repair local roads; see traffic impact studies.

Backup generators are the other operational concern. JLARC noted their emissions.¹ Under federal rules, emergency engines are limited to 100 hours a year of non-emergency operation, and EPA’s May 2025 guidance clarified when up to 50 of those hours can be used for utility demand response at the request of a local grid operator.¹³¹⁴ The guidance is nonbinding and may change.¹³ Ask how many generators are planned, the fuel, the testing schedule and which state air permit applies; see air permits for generators.

Where a data center needs a rezoning, special use permit or special exception, the planning commission and the governing board hold public hearings, and the conditions they attach (setbacks, sound limits, screening, water source, generator rules) are what the project must live with. Comments are most useful before the hearing, while staff are still writing their report and the applicant can still change the plan.

Process rules carry weight. In August 2025 a Prince William County judge voided the board’s December 2023 approval of the Digital Gateway, a planned campus of 37 data centers on about 2,100 acres, after residents showed the county had not properly advertised its public hearings.⁴ The Court of Appeals of Virginia upheld that ruling in March 2026; the county and Compass dropped out, and QTS asked the Supreme Court of Virginia to hear the case, which was pending as of mid-2026.⁸ The point stands: notice, timing and the record matter. See public hearings for data center projects and community engagement.

Specific questions get specific answers, and answers given at a public hearing become part of the record. A short list that covers most concerns:

1. 01How far are the buildings, cooling equipment and generators from the nearest homes, and what setback does the code require?
2. 02Was a sound study done, measuring dBC as well as dBA, and will a post-construction test be a condition?
3. 03What cooling system is planned, what is the peak daily water demand and what is the source?
4. 04Will the project need a new substation or transmission line, and where would it run?
5. 05How many backup generators, what fuel, how often are they tested and under what air permit?
6. 06What are the construction hours, truck routes and road repair commitments?
7. 07What conditions or agreements bind the developer, and who enforces them after approval?

Not every proposal is a poor fit; some sites have room for wide buffers and use little water, and local governments weigh tax revenue alongside these impacts. The goal is a decision made on facts, with conditions that hold. Confirm specifics with your planning department, and consult an attorney if your own property rights are directly affected.