James City County wants to regulate data centers; Henrico shows one approach
Good morning! Also in today's edition...Williamsburg goes after park protest signs...more details on Lanexa home invasion death...W&M announces commencement speaker.
James City County supervisors want to regulate data centers– massive warehouses stacked with computers and networking equipment that manage our internet services -- before they come knocking.
They have asked staff to research the issue and look for best practices around the state to avoid some of the headaches that befell Northern Virginia, which has the nation’s largest collection of data centers. As Northern Virginia runs out of room, data centers have been expanding elsewhere in the state.
Somewhere between 65 to 85 percent of internet traffic goes through Virginia, depending on whose estimate you use, Colonial Williamsburg CEO Clifford G. Fleet III told a meeting of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce with gubernatorial hopeful Abigail Spanberger last week.
Undersea cables bring traffic ashore at Virginia Beach and it follows routes paralleling Interstates 64 and Interstate 95, he added.
Data centers can generate considerable taxes, but as they have grown in size, they demand gobs of power and generate noise problematic for residential neighborhoods.
Northern Virginia is home to 35% of the world’s hyperscale data centers, according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Several counties there failed to keep zoning laws up to date as centers sprouted next to homes and then expanded, angering nearby homeowners. The Cardinal News talked to Northern Virginia officials who had advice for other localities.
Spanberger, who grew up in Henrico County, told the Williamsburg chamber Henrico was a good role model for how to benefit from data centers without negatively impacting neighborhoods.
Henrico required Meta and other operators of data centers to set up shop in industrial parks that were screened from homes.
Last year, the county launched a program to use the taxes from the growth in property values in its White Oak Technology Park to subsidize affordable housing, addressing a common challenge for James City County as well.
Henrico appropriated $60 million for an affordable housing trust , to be administered by the nonprofit Partnership for Housing Affordability working with nonprofit as well as for-profit builders.
The goal was “to dedicate (data center tax) revenue toward something that actually can benefit our citizens, not just go to…. the rainy-day fund,” said Henrico Board Chairman Tyrone E. Nelson. He said the idea grew out of the county’s decision to build a data center in the Varina district, which he represents.
While White Oak houses other facilities besides data centers, all the growth in its values have come from data centers over the last few years, said Sheila Minor, director of finance for Henrico County.
Henrico estimates it will receive $13.6 million in real estate taxes from data center countywide this year, and $19.3 million in the fiscal year that begins in July, Minor said.
Round 2 in Williamsburg park fight: city demands protest sign removal
Ruth Kaiser, who is protesting the possibility of a children’s park in the Peacock Hill pasture downtown, got a surprise last week: a letter from the city’s zoning administrator saying she needs to remove protest signs on her property.
Zoning Administrator Heather Markle sent a certified letter to Kaiser and others who had put up signs protesting the park, saying the signs violate a city zoning ordinance prohibiting portable signs.
Markle’s letter to the Kaisers said they would face legal action if they did not remove the signs within seven days. She said they had the right to appeal, as long as they pay a $300 filing fee.
“Notices of Violation of Section 21-749(a)(8) of the City Code were sent to several addresses on March 19, 2025, including single-family residences and businesses,” city spokeswoman Nicole Trifone told us Monday. “They were not all related to the same sign. This section prohibits ‘portable freestanding signs, except for sidewalk signs permitted by subsection 21-745(3) and menu boards permitted by subsections 21-745(4), 21-746(4) and 21-747(5)’."
Mayor Doug Pons did not return an email from Williamsburg Watch asking for comment on the optics of the move, which one protester said violated his first amendment rights.
Trifone said the city’s action did not violate free speech because it was related to the design of the signs, not their content.
“The First Amendment of the United States Constitution allows the city to regulate signage within the city so long as such regulation is content-neutral,” she said. “Article VI of Chapter 21 of the City Code contains the City's complete sign ordinance. As the referenced ordinance is drafted and is applied throughout the City without regard to the content of the signage, the City ordinance does not violate the First Amendment.”
Lanexa couple tangled with homicide victim the day before home invasion death, police say
A James City County couple charged with homicide in the January death of a 67-year old Lanexa man had fought with him the day before his death, according to the police report of the incident.
Harley James McClure Hutchens, 29, lived next door to Jose Medellin in the 9400 block of Diascund Reservoir Road, according to the police report of the incident. Medellin told police he had lived with Hutchens’ mother, who had recently died, for the past 10 years.
Medellin called 911 Jan. 30 to report an attack by Hutchens. He said Hutchens came to his house with his girlfriend and they became disorderly, breaking pictures inside the house. Medellin said he tried to escape but was pushed to the ground outside, his wallet was taken, and Hutchens knelt on his chest and choked him, according to the police report.
Medellin refused treatment at the time, but the report said police observed he had bruises on the left side of his face, an injury to his lip, and clutched the lower side of his chest complaining of pain from Hutchens’ kneeling on him.
The next afternoon police received another 911 call to the house around 1:30 p.m.
When police arrived, they said the caller — identified as 28-year-old Amber Nicole Johnson — was outside the house and complained she had been struck near her eye by Medellin, who was inside the house.
Police found Medellin unconscious, not breathing, and cold to the touch. He was pronounced dead by James City County Fire personnel who arrived later.
A witness told police he was with Hutchens and Johnson that day and the couple confronted Medellin about why he called police the day before, and what he said to them.
Police said the witness told them Johnson and Medellin got into a fight, Medellin fell to the ground, and Hutchens positioned himself on top of him with his knees on Medellin’s biceps. Hutchens spent seven minutes on top of Medellin until the victim stopped moving and talking and then left the house, the witness said.
Police charged both Hutchens and Johnson with homicide and abduction. They are being held without bail in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.
W&M invites conservationist M. Sanjayan to speak at 2025 commencement ceremony
M. Sanjayan, a leading conservation scientist, will be the commencement speaker at William & Mary’s 2025 graduation ceremonies May 16, the university announced.
Sanjayan is CEO of conservation International and host of the PBS series “Changing Planet.” He was named one of TIME Magazine’s top 100 leaders for environmental protection and restoration.
The commencement ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. in Zable Stadium.
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