BRISTOW, Va. — The growing demand for massive data storage facilities and the concerns from neighbors about their changing backyards are bumping up against each other in this Prince William County community, but a developer is promising a "buffer" to help ease concerns.
The Stanley Martin Company, known for building residential homes, wants to turn a stretch of land along Devlin Road in Bristow into 4 million square-feet of two-story data storage facilities.
To do so, the county will have to approve a re-zoning of the area.
Tuesday night, representatives from the developer met with a few people who live in the area to answer questions and concerns.
Truett Young with Stanley Martin promised a 100-foot, tree-filled buffer between homes and the data facilities.
Young said the buildings would be set back to keep them mostly out of sight from the neighborhood.
If the county signs off on the rezoning, construction wouldn't begin for a couple of years.
Young said the availability of electricity with nearby high-voltage transmission lines and high speed fiber optic data connections make the area ideal for data centers.
Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are already building data storage in the area.