Frederick County, VA Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

A, which conditions rezoning and conditional use permit approval on a package of upfront studies and fixed dimensional requirements rather than leaving siting to case-by-case discretion alone. Subsection A(1) requires, before approval, a site assessment examining the facility's sound profile on residential units and schools within 500 feet of the property boundary, plus a separate assessment of the proposed facility's effect on ground and surface water resources, agricultural resources, parks, registered historic sites, and forestland on the site or immediately contiguous land, along with details of any new or existing substations and the anticipated transmission voltage needed to serve the facility.

Subsection A(4) then sets the dimensional floor: structures must sit back at least 200 feet from the common property line wherever the adjoining land is zoned RA, RP, R4, R5 or MH1, with the base zoning district's dimensional standards under Article IV applying instead when the adjoining land carries a different zoning. A Category C zoning district buffer, defined in Article VIII, Part 802, must also wrap the property's perimeter, though that buffer is waived where the adjoining property is zoned B3, TM, M1 or M2.

Mechanical equipment siting is folded into the same standard: ground-mounted mechanical equipment is barred from the primary setback, and both ground-mounted and rooftop equipment must be screened from public roadways and adjoining properties, with generators enclosed in a manufacturer-approved enclosure or housed inside the primary structure.