NOTE: We are NOT requesting any donations though it may appear so when you sign. Any donation requests are being made by Change.org for their own purposes. We simply request your signature and that you please contact the Planning Commission. Thank you for your support. We as the community of Brandy Station are immensely grateful!

Join the fight to Protect Culpeper's Farmland! Your voice is needed as we work together with the county to shape Culpeper's future. 

See updates below for the status of this on-going fight to save our community!

Please sign the petition to save the community of Brandy Station by opposing a technology zone land use change to Light Industrial for a data center complex (45-60ft tall buildings) that, when fully built out, would expand across 350+ acres of farmland and 75-100ft tall power lines over residences and farms of Brandy Station. 

• This part of Brandy Station is not a place for Industrial property
• The subject property was removed from Culpeper's Technology zone by county officials as it was noted not to be in a good location for Data Centers and such development for many reasons to include a lack of infrastructure and a large area of impacted residences and agricultural operations.
• This proposal is not in concurrence with Culpeper's Comprehensive Plan that is there to protect from harm the residents of Culpeper. 
• Towering powerlines would likely cross, through eminent domain, the organically farmed property of Honey Brook Farms. 

From Virginia's Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC)

The proposed XX Tech Park rezoning could include over 4.6 million square feet of data centers — the equivalent of 25 Walmart Super Centers — in an area characterized by working farmland, less than a mile from the new State Park at Culpeper Battlefields set to open on July 1 and near the historic Brandy Station Graffiti House. 

Not only are there already eight data center campuses that have either been approved or built in Culpeper County, the proposed location is absolutely the wrong place for an industrial data center campus. Brandy Station is historically and agriculturally significant, the gateway to the county and home to many people who want to see its rural lands protected.

Brandy Station also lacks the key infrastructure necessary for data center development and would require a large substation and an imposing new transmission line through two to five miles of privately-owned rural lands. The data centers at XX Tech Park alone could require between 700 megawatts to 1.8 gigawatts of power. For comparison, all of Culpeper County currently uses about 240 megawatts of power.

Dominion Energy is obligated to provide power to a new data center once it’s approved, and the state can use eminent domain on Dominion’s behalf to claim right-of-way for new transmission lines through private property. Adding insult to injury, these transmission lines are collectively paid for by all Virginians with an electric bill, rather than by the data centers that require them. In other words, farmers, homeowners and residents are forced to subsidize this industry through electric bills and their land.

What’s next for the XX Tech Park? After the Planning Commission makes a recommendation for approval or denial, the application will move to the Board of Supervisors, which will likely hold its own public hearing later this summer.

Additional statements made below are based in facts and are verifiable.

​1 - The effect on people’s lives and livelihoods would be significantly negative. Proof is in the way Zoning Plans are typically adopted. Light Industrial is typically kept far away from residential communities and prime agricultural areas for this reason.

2 - The destruction of good farm land and the harming of a community for the hope of future revenue is short sighted. Evidence would be hard to find showing that taxes have stayed low when this approach is adopted.  It is smoke and mirrors to claim that taxes will be kept lower because of Light Industrial project such as Data Centers. Usually, the companies involved negotiate significant tax breaks that leave the county with having to pay for infrastructure upgrades to accommodate them...meaning higher property taxes for its residents. The Counties of Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William, which were at one time rural communities like Culpeper, have the highest tax rates in all of Virginia. Insanity has been described as doing the same thing again and again expecting different results.  

​3 – Environmental Damage – Unfortunately the environmental damage is not fully realized until the impact has been felt, but there is enough information available from other Light Industrial sites that should cause us to be careful. This is another reason Industrial land has typically been kept away from communities where people live and grow food. So we are going to risk our water, our air, our health, our views, our land, our landfills, our way of life and our community for …. What?..... Potential tax revenue and to make a few people richer. If you were asked to allow a wealthy landowner to come in and ruin your community under the promise of lower taxes in 10 years, what would you say?

​4 – Property Values will be affected. It is a known fact the negative affect power lines and Industrial areas have on property values. It is one thing to have chosen to buy a house near power lines and industrial areas but a whole other thing to be forced to live with them, outside of your will, because some people want to profit.

​5 – Traffic and Construction will be a nightmare for the current residents and those who visit our county for its beauty. The construction of the first phase would be nearly six years based on the applicant's explanation. If all three phases go in, the community is looking at upwards of 10+ years of significant disruption

​6 – Make people think twice – If  the local residents had known this was to occur when they bought their land, most would not be living here. Many would move out and be replaced by those who do not share the values reflected in our Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Regulations and many who live in Culpeper. Can the residents of Culpeper expect and believe that county officials are keeping their oath of office to uphold the governing documents of our county and the will of the people who elected them? A disregard of policy and laws does not benefit the governed. Has one ever witnessed elected and appointed officials believe they know better than the people they have been elected to serve and disregard them? This form of arrogance has no place in our form of Government.

​Most of the people living in Culpeper do not want to try and make Culpeper more like Loudoun or Fairfax. They are here because of what Culpeper offers. It has a quality of life that is becoming very hard to find and which the residents support. We do not need to compromise on what is right for our residents over a fear of not having enough revenue in the future.  

​The same arguments being used today in Culpeper were used 25-30 years ago in Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William? Culpeper is one of the few primarily agricultural counties remaining in the Northern Virginia area. 

All that glitters is not gold. Do we really want to become Fairfax, Loudoun, or Prince William?

This project is for the money and will hurt people who cannot really advocate for themselves. Please sign the petition to opposeCase No. Z-463-24-1: Request by Culpeper Acquisitions, LLC (Steven Jennings) to rezone 425.96 acres from CS (Commercial Services), RA (Rural Area), and A1 (Agricultural) to LI (Light Industrial).