Virginia local moratoria
Every local infrastructure moratorium in the inventory for Virginia, current through September 23, 2026.
6 instruments — 4 in force, 1 pending, 1 past.
State policy is tracked separately: 18 actions (18 bills) in state_legislation.csv. These are not included in the local count above.
| Jurisdiction | Type | Enacted | Sectors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Chesapeake | City | 2026-07-21 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Fluvanna County | County | 2025-09-17 | data center | ⚪ Replaced |
| Front Royal | Town | 2026-07-06 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Loudoun County | County | 2026-09-16 | data center | 🟢 Active |
| Suffolk | City | Unverified | data center | 🟡 Pending |
| Virginia Beach | City | 2026-08-18 | data center | 🟢 Active |
Detailed entries
City of Chesapeake
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-07-21 (City Council adopted Resolution 26-R-042 by a 9-0 vote)
- Normalized date:
2026-07-21(exact) - Duration: 8 months from adoption, or until City Council takes final action on comprehensive plan amendment PLN-COMP-2026-002, whichever occurs first
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
va-city-of-chesapeake-2026 - Legal basis: Resolution 26-R-042, adopted by Chesapeake City Council 9-0 on July 21, 2026
- What prompted it: Council sought to pause discretionary review of data center land-use applications while comprehensive plan amendment PLN-COMP-2026-002 is pending
- Affected projects: No single named project; applies citywide to discretionary data center land-use applications pending before the Planning Commission or City Council.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. The Resolution 26-R-042 deferral remains in force, running 8 months from its July 21, 2026 adoption (to approximately 2027-03-21) or until Council takes final action on comprehensive plan amendment PLN-COMP-2026-002, whichever occurs first. On August 18, 2026 the City Council separately and unanimously adopted a zoning ordinance amendment that removes data centers from by-right development, requires a conditional use permit for all future data center proposals in the M-1/M-2 industrial districts, and prohibits data centers from drawing groundwater; this closed a loophole that could have let a data center proceed administratively despite the moratorium, but it is a permanent zoning change layered on top of, not a replacement for, the still-active Resolution 26-R-042 deferral. The zoning change was prompted partly by Praetorian Fund's August 2026 purchase of the Frank Williams Farm Tract (Coastal Virginia Commerce Park); because that site does not connect to public utilities, city officials confirmed the moratorium independently applies to it. No repeal, extension, or expiration of the moratorium itself was found in sources reviewed through 2026-09-23.
- Outcome: Enacted deferral of discretionary data center land-use applications pending completion of a related comprehensive plan amendment.
Fluvanna County
- Type: County
- Status: ⚪ Replaced
- Date enacted: 2025-09-17
- Normalized date:
2025-09-17(exact) - Duration: Until 2026-01-31
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
va-fluvanna-county-2025 - Legal basis: Board motion approving a moratorium on new data center applications; related resolution of intention and ZTA 25:10
- What prompted it: Data centers were by-right uses in I-1 and I-2 districts, and the Board directed staff to prepare amendments requiring special use permits.
- Affected projects: No named project or MW total identified in the captured packets; contemporaneous rezoning comments raised concern about possible data center use.
- Detailed status: Replaced / expired
- Outcome: ZTA 25:10 moved data centers from by-right use to special use permit treatment in I-1 and I-2 and modified the data center definition.
Front Royal
- Type: Town
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-07-06, Front Royal Town Council work session, 6-0 vote (Vice Mayor Amber F. Veitenthal and Councilmembers DeDomenico-Payne, Ingram, Rappaport, Sealock, and Wood; Mayor Cockrell present but votes only to break ties), per the town's own approved council minutes.
- Normalized date:
2026-07-06(exact) - Duration: 90 days from adoption (to approximately 2026-10-04).
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
va-front-royal-2026 - Legal basis: Resolution Establishing a Temporary Ninety (90) Day Moratorium on the Acceptance of Data Center Land Use Applications, adopted 6-0 by Front Royal Town Council at its July 6, 2026 work session. Town Attorney George Sonnett advised the moratorium was structured as an administrative action (rather than a legislative zoning-ordinance amendment) because, in his opinion, Virginia law does not authorize a legislative moratorium through the zoning ordinance.
- What prompted it: The town sought to preserve the status quo while it drafts a permanent zoning text amendment to define data centers separately from 'technology' uses and prohibit data centers in all town zoning districts; no data center application had been received as of adoption.
- Affected projects: None named; Town Manager Joseph Petty confirmed no data center applications had been received as of the July 6, 2026 vote.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. The Town Council's July 6, 2026 resolution imposing a 90-day moratorium on accepting data center land-use applications (rezonings, special uses, site development plans) remains in force, with its term running through approximately October 4, 2026. The companion permanent zoning-ordinance prohibition has not yet been adopted: a September 8, 2026 work session reviewed revised ordinance language from outside legal counsel, and the Council decided against setting a public hearing date that month over concerns about the wording, so the permanent measure remains pending as of this research date.
- Outcome: Front Royal Town Council adopted a 90-day administrative moratorium on data center land-use applications while it drafts a permanent zoning prohibition.
Loudoun County
- Type: County
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-09-16, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, 7-1-1 vote (Supervisor opposed on the base pause; a separate 7-1-1 vote with Supervisor Briskman opposed approved a grid-reliability substation exception), per the Board's own press release.
- Normalized date:
2026-09-16(exact) - Duration: Open-ended; in effect while the Board continues Phase 2 of its Data Center Standards and Locations initiative (zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan amendments), which is anticipated to be completed in 2027. County staff are to return with a formal resolution memorializing the pause at the Board's October 20, 2026 Business Meeting.
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
va-loudoun-county-2026 - Legal basis: Board of Supervisors action taken September 16, 2026 enacting a temporary pause on Board consideration of certain legislative (Special Exception) applications for data centers and substations, pending a formal resolution to be brought to the Board's October 20, 2026 Business Meeting; per the County Attorney, Virginia law does not permit a blanket moratorium on administrative applications, so the pause applies only to legislative applications and does not affect roughly 17 land-use cases (11+ million square feet) 'grandfathered' under the county's March 2025 Data Center Grandfathering Resolution, which continue through the by-right administrative process.
- What prompted it: Regulatory gap and community pressure over rapid data center growth in the county ("Data Center Alley"); effort led by Algonkian District Supervisor Juli Briskman, tied to the county's ongoing Phase 2 Data Center Standards and Locations initiative (begun September 2025) addressing data center/substation siting, noise, building heights, on-site power generation, and battery storage standards.
- Affected projects: At least 17 land-use cases representing more than 11 million square feet of data center development are 'grandfathered' under the county's March 2025 resolution and continue through by-right administrative review, unaffected by this pause.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. The Board of Supervisors voted 7-1-1 on September 16, 2026 to enact, effective immediately, a temporary pause on Board consideration of certain legislative data center and substation applications while Phase 2 of its Data Center Standards and Locations initiative continues; a companion 7-1-1 vote (Briskman opposed) approved an exception allowing consideration of applications involving a 'grid reliability' substation during the pause. The pause does not apply to administratively processed, 'grandfathered' data center cases. A formal resolution memorializing the pause is scheduled to come before the Board at its October 20, 2026 Business Meeting; separately, the Board is set to receive legal analysis on October 6, 2026 on whether the 2025 grandfathering exceptions can be ended for cases that have not yet achieved vested rights.
- Outcome: Loudoun County Board of Supervisors enacted an immediate, open-ended pause on Board consideration of most new legislative data center and substation applications while it completes Phase 2 of its data center zoning and siting standards.
Suffolk
- Type: City
- Status: 🟡 Pending
- Date enacted: —
- Normalized date:
—(unverified) - Duration: Proposed pause on data center applications pending a UDO text amendment; Council vote expected October 2026
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
va-suffolk-undated - Legal basis: UDO Text Amendment OTA2026-008, recommended by the Planning Commission on 2026-09-15
- What prompted it: City's development ordinance does not mention data centers; warehouse-use rules could be construed to allow them; council wants to avoid being 'blindsided' as happened with solar farms.
- Affected projects: —
- Detailed status: Pending as of 2026-09-23. Council directed the Planning Commission on 2026-06-17 to draft a UDO amendment prohibiting data centers while regulations are developed. The Planning Commission recommended the ban and a data-center definition to Council on 2026-09-15 (OTA2026-008); Council is scheduled to vote in October 2026. Not yet a binding pause; staff have informally been treating applications cautiously in the interim per earlier reporting, but no adopted ordinance exists. [VERIFY instrument number; adoption date; primary source (news-only evidence) not confirmed at confidence 0.55 in the 2026-09 refresh]
- Outcome: —
Virginia Beach
- Type: City
- Status: 🟢 Active
- Date enacted: 2026-08-18, Virginia Beach City Council, unanimous vote.
- Normalized date:
2026-08-18(exact) - Duration: 12 months from adoption, or until City Council takes final action on an ordinance regulating data centers, whichever occurs first (to approximately 2027-08-18).
- Current end date:
— - Sectors: data center
- Moratorium ID:
va-virginia-beach-2026 - Legal basis: Resolution adopted by Virginia Beach City Council on August 18, 2026, pausing the issuance of permits related to any new data center for 12 months or until Council takes final action on an ordinance regulating data centers, whichever occurs first; follows planning staff's finding that data centers are currently classified, by default, as wholesaling/warehousing/storage/distribution uses permitted by right in industrial districts.
- What prompted it: City zoning ordinance does not specifically define or regulate data centers; concerns raised over resource consumption (water, electricity), noise, and land-use compatibility, following an informal June 2026 Council statement opposing large-scale/hyperscale data centers.
- Affected projects: No large-scale storage/computing data center currently operates in Virginia Beach; existing subsea-cable landing and carrier-neutral colocation facilities (e.g., Globalinx) are not affected.
- Detailed status: Active as of 2026-09-23. Virginia Beach City Council unanimously adopted a 12-month moratorium on new data center permits on August 18, 2026, the same night Chesapeake City Council closed its by-right loophole. The moratorium does not affect existing facilities such as Globalinx's subsea-cable colocation operations, and is intended to apply to future larger-scale and hyperscale data center proposals while the city studies zoning definitions, setbacks, and noise standards. No repeal, extension, or replacement ordinance was found in sources reviewed through 2026-09-23.
- Outcome: Virginia Beach City Council unanimously adopted a 12-month moratorium on new data center permits while it develops zoning definitions and regulations for the industry.
Source: moratorium_inventory.csv · Methodology · Codebook.