Residents in Franklin, Roanoke counties use FOIA requests to uncover data center plans

Residents in Franklin and Roanoke counties used public records requests to uncover details about proposed data centers as scrutiny of the projects grows, WVTF reported.

In Franklin County, resident Laura Carter told WVTF that her FOIA request about the county’s zoning ordinance and process uncovered references to “Project Flash.” The project was later identified as a proposed data center development at Summit View Business Park, just north of Rocky Mount.

As details emerged, residents opposed the project, and the county announced in mid-August that it was not moving forward.

In a separate case, the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance used records requests to piece together a potential agreement involving a data center at Wood Haven Technology Park in Roanoke County.

That project ultimately fell through.

“It’s a helpful illustration of how some of these deals can come together, but it is also a case where we got lucky this time,” Ben Verschoor, alliance organizer, told WVTF. “We should be taking measure to ensure it doesn’t happen.”

Source: Virginia Mercury

Email the Franklin City Council:
Paul Kaplan, pkaplan@franklinva.com,
Mark Kitchen, mkitchen@franklinva.com,
Richard Grizzard, rgrizzard@franklinva.com,
Gregory McLemore, gmclemore@franklinva.com,
Linwood Johnson, ljohnson@franklinva.com,
Wynndolyn Copeland, wcopeland@franklinva.com,
Jessica Banks, jbanks@franklinva.com,

Franklin is an independent city in Southside Virginia.

Roanoke County is a county in the Roanoke Valley. Its county seat is Salem, an independent city.

Franklin County is a county in the Blue Ridge. Its county seat is Rocky Mount.

Roanoke is an independent city in the Roanoke Valley.