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

The zoning ordinance defines "data center" at Roanoke County Code § 30-28 as "a facility used primarily for the storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data, which houses computer and/or network equipment, systems, servers, appliances and other associated components related to digital data operations," plus supporting power, cooling, and utility infrastructure. That definition feeds directly into the "Industry, Type I" use type at § 30-29-6, whose examples expressly list "data centers" alongside electronics assembly, bottling, printing, and food-processing plants. Because "Industry, Type I" carries no asterisk in the permitted-use tables at § 30-61-2 (I-1, Low Intensity Industrial) or § 30-62-2 (I-2, High Intensity Industrial), it is allowed by right in both districts, without the additional Article IV design standards that apply to asterisked uses such as Custom Manufacturing.

A data center sited in I-1 still has to meet the district's ordinary site development regulations under § 30-61-3: a minimum one-acre lot with 100 feet of frontage if served by a private well and septic system (or 15,000 square feet on 75 feet of frontage with public sewer and water), a 30-foot front setback (20 feet if all parking sits behind the front building line), 10-foot side and 15-foot rear yards, a 45-foot height cap where the site adjoins residentially zoned land (unlimited height elsewhere, provided setbacks increase two feet for every foot of extra height), and coverage capped at 50 percent building and 90 percent lot.

Roanoke County has adopted no separate noise, water-use, backup-generator, or residential-buffer standard aimed specifically at data centers; a proposal is reviewed the same as any other Industry, Type I use in an industrial district.