Warrenton Town Council approves Amazon data center over objections of angry crowd

Defying a loud and unruly crowd that filled the Fauquier High School auditorium, the Warrenton Town Council voted 4-3 early Wednesday morning to approve a special use permit to allow Amazon to build a data center in the town.

The vote capped a contentious day of council meetings that began with a work session at 9 a.m. during which several members hammered away at Amazon Web Services representatives on issues ranging from potential data center noise to projected tax revenues. (See accompanying story, “Town council wrestles with data center conditions.”)

The evening meeting heard nearly 130 citizens speak in opposition to the 37-foot high, 1,000-foot-long building proposed for Blackwell Road near the northern entrance to the town. The speakers talked of their love of Warrenton, a little “gem” of a town in the center of the rolling farms of Fauquier County, and the inappropriateness of allowing a huge windowless building there.

The crowd of nearly 400 people cheered and applauded almost all of the speakers, although a plumbers' union official who favored the data center did not receive a warm welcome. Demonstrably angry, audience members also shouted at council members at times as they tried to conduct business. And they were clearly not happy when council members Jay Heroux (Ward 5), Brett Hamby (Ward 3), Jim Hartman (Ward 4) and Heather Sutphin (Ward 1) – a majority – voted to approve the Amazon project at 2:15 a.m.

The motion to approve AWS’s application was presented by Jay Heroux, a member of the council appointed in September who is a vice-president of Definitive Logic, an IT company that lists AWS as a partner. Heroux was attacked by several speakers on Tuesday who called on him to recuse himself from decision-making and voting on the project. Heroux said he had consulted town attorney Martin Crim and relied on his advice to continue to participate and to vote.

The emails

At about 7 p.m., before Mayor Carter Nevill opened the public hearing, Paul Mooney (at large) had asked town staff to allow him to see more than 3,000 emails between Amazon Web Services or Dominion Energy and former town manager Brandie Schaeffer/acting town managers Chris Martino and Tommy Cureton/Mayor Carter Nevill that were the subject of a failed Virginia Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Mooney said he was told he could see the emails if the council approved, so he asked for a vote. He was joined by Councilman Bill Semple, who pressed to be allowed to see the emails before voting on the Amazon project.

That move failed, defeated by Heroux, Hamby, Hartman and Sutphin – though another vote at the end of the meeting will allow them to read the emails as soon as the town staff pulls them together and gets them ready for viewing. 

In support of the proposal

Heroux and Hamby had been strong supporters of conditions written and attached to Amazon’s application that allowed the application to be approved. Town documents obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests and discussions at town meetings indicated that the two had met privately with Amazon representatives to create and finalize conditions to govern the data center’s emission of noise.

After the public hearing Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, Heroux and Hamby laid out succinctly their reasons why an Amazon data center just off Blackwell Road was a good idea. Hamby called it “an economic development opportunity” that would produce no traffic and no need for more school seats, would require minimal town services and could produce annual tax revenue of $2.3 million for the county and $800,000 to $1.2 million for the town.

Heroux added that the 42 acres of land that Amazon purchased for its data center had been in the town since 1960 and zoned industrial since 1970. He said if the data center were not approved Amazon could build a distribution center there – obviously with more impact. He also argued that the proposed data center “does not ruin the entrance to the town” as the stretch of Lee Highway that it would front is already purely commercial. And he noted that the Amazon project only used 42 acres — or 30% of a site — in the town’s 130-acre Newtown District designated in the comprehensive plan.

Opposing the data center

Bill Semple, who would vote to oppose the project, countered with arguments that what his fellow council members were doing was not legal. He said the project did not comport with the town’s comprehensive plan, and the council’s actions did not follow the town’s ordinance governing special use permits that were designed to protect the health and safety of citizens. If the town did not follow the rules, he said, their actions “could be construed as unauthorized and therefore null void and without effect.” He said Amazon had not provided information required by the SUP rules – a point made by the planning commission when it voted 3-1-1 on Dec. 20 to recommend denial.

He argued that one key impact on citizens’ lives – so far ignored -- was the likely running of underground power lines through his Ward 2. And he questioned the tax revenue from the project, since tax revenues depend on the money Amazon spends on data equipment and the company had revealed only that morning that their project would be built out over seven years. “What you’re seeing is a huge delay in whatever revenue there will be,” he said.

Councilman Mooney (at large), who took office in January and who would vote against the project, took his cue from the crowd: “It pains me to admit that I've joined a town leadership that has lost completely the trust of its citizens,” he said. He said he was concerned that the council did no investigation into early contacts between the former town manager and Amazon, that members of the council met privately with Amazon officials to draft conditions for approval, and that while Amazon had a month to review those conditions, he only received them three hours before the meeting.

He also called on Heroux to recuse himself from the proceedings “to give the public back some small, small part of the confidence it has lost in us. “

Councilman David McGuire, who, like Mooney, is new to the council, said it was important that they listen to their constituents. He also complained about a lack of transparency in the process: “I never thought I'd sit on a dais as an elected official and ask to see information to make a vote and then be denied by my colleagues. That's unthinkable,” he said, referring to the denied email access.  

He also complained about the timeline for approval. “There is a rush. I don't know why. It's like Councilman Mooney mentioned. We received the noise study. We don't have enough time to read it.”

Scores of citizens have appeared to oppose the Amazon project at previous planning commission and town council meetings. Indeed, about 100 spoke at the previous town council meeting on Jan. 10. In those speeches, the arguments grouped around likely noise and inappropriateness of a data center in town — and the likelihood that approval of this one would bring more.

This time there were more pleas, and a sense of desperation. “Look around this room. The anxiety, outrage and animosity is palpable. None of us want to be here doing this and we are not here as a result of good governance,” said town resident Chuck Cross.  

“Do not betray us, thank you,” said Warrenton resident and anti-data center activist Cindy Burbank. 

“We all feel you are not listening,” said Jen Nemerow, a Warrenton realtor who lives near the old wire factory on Falmouth Street, a potential site for more data centers.

She followed the Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall, 92, who said he had lived in Fauquier County for 27 years. “Virginia is the last station before heaven,” he said. “Let’s keep it that way.” He was given a standing ovation.

There was some questioning of whether the hundreds of citizens at the meeting were a fair representation of Warrenton or Fauquier folks. Hamby had said in the past that he was sure there were numerous residents who were in favor of the data center. Sutphin, who participated by phone because she was home ill, said, “I've had emails, messages, phone calls, from people expressing they're scared or intimidated to come to these meetings, because of the way they see people mistreated.” A shout from the audience punctuated her statement.

But others disagreed. Some speakers who opposed the center said they were the silent majority. “I'm gonna say it again for the record, claiming the silent majority is a favorite game of [those in favor] but I tell you, there's no such thing,” said Mooney in explaining his vote against the project.

One thing does seem clear: The divisions created by the data center process and vote will not quickly disappear. Said McGuire, looking at the audience, “And you know what?  You will be heard. This fight is not over. This fight is not over.”