A data center could only come to Lee County through a special use permit, under a zoning change the Board of Supervisors approved a year ago. Since then, county officials have said at public meetings that no data center deal is in place, while residents have kept asking for a pause or a public vote.
That is the picture from the board’s own minutes. The Lee Daily Register reviewed them from October 2025 through August 2026, along with the county’s audio recording of the September 15, 2026 meeting.
The rule the board passed
On October 21, 2025, the board voted 4 to 1 to change the county’s zoning ordinance. According to the minutes of that meeting, the change added definitions for a data center and for data center mechanical equipment. It also listed data centers as a special use in the county’s two industrial districts, M-1 Limited Industrial and M-2 General Industrial.
Supervisors Josh Flanary, Mike Kidwell, Brian Shoemaker and Roger Waddell voted yes. D.D. Leonard voted no.
The planning commission had first advertised data centers as a permitted use in those districts, Clint Carter, then the county’s building inspector and zoning administrator, told the board. After the hearing and phone calls, he said, it was clear the public preferred a special use permit. That process gives people a chance to speak on what comes into their neighborhood. A permitted use would have meant permits issued without further public hearings.
Carter also said a special use permit would apply to one parcel at a time. In February 2026, as county administrator, he told the board that any such permit would need approval from both the planning commission and the Board of Supervisors.
What officials have said since
- October 21, 2025: Asked whether a data center was interested in coming to Lee County, Carter said not to his knowledge. Then-County Administrator Robby Wright said there is a special tax rate for data centers. It applies only to the computer equipment inside them, he said, and everything else is taxed at the standard rate.
- February 17, 2026: Carter said that “at this point there is no data center coming,” according to the minutes. Flanary said the county was not in talks with anyone. Kidwell answered a resident’s question about putting data centers on the ballot with no.
- April 21, 2026: Leslie Litton, director of the county’s Economic Development Authority, said she wanted to “put certain rumors to rest.” The minutes record her saying that Lee County does not have a deal for a data center and is not building an access road for one.
The road Litton described is a gravel road at the Constitutional Oaks site. She said its purpose is to finish environmental studies and raise the site’s rating with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, which would make it easier to market. She said the EDA’s main focus is developing the county’s industrial park, which is rated tier 2 and aimed at light manufacturing. She is also working to have the road paid for entirely by grants rather than local money, she said.
What residents have asked for
The question has come up again and again during public comment. At the October 2025 hearing, a Jonesville resident asked for a two-year moratorium, saying nearby areas were taking that step. In May 2026, another speaker said a ten-year moratorium would be a better choice and that citizens should get to vote on any data center.
Speakers at the July 21, 2026 meeting raised the cost of electricity, the water supply, jobs and transparency, and again asked for a ballot question. At the September 15 meeting, according to the county’s audio recording, a resident urged the board to adopt a moratorium or let residents vote.
The board’s minutes through August 18, 2026 do not record a vote on a moratorium or on a ballot question. They also do not show a data center permit request coming before the board.
How a project would have to be approved
Under the 2025 rule, a data center would need land zoned M-1 or M-2, and then a special use permit for that specific parcel. That means public hearings before the planning commission and the Board of Supervisors, where neighbors can speak.
That land is limited, according to Carter. At the 2025 hearing, he said there are “not that many parcels” zoned M-1 and M-2, and that much of that land is already developed for the uses it was zoned for.