Cross Mill
Cross Mill Center (ZMAP-2023-0002 and SPEX-2023-0007), Leesburg district
proffer, approved, signed 2025-05-06
Developer: Sycolin Rd Assemblage LLC
Scale: 300 MW · 22.73 acres · 556,746 sq ft
The 300 MW figure is not a project size, it is a proffered ceiling on grid draw during peak periods for the first five years. Square footage is the maximum data center use allowed; the same approval permits smaller warehouse or flex alternatives.
Verification: read from the signed document
A strong version: A fund that scales with the project, with a community seat on the body that spends it
amount: $10,000 · cadence: one time · scales with project: yes · community seat: no
Loudoun does not do community funds, because it does not need to trade for revenue. The only cash proffers here are a $10,000 historic preservation contribution and a fire and rescue contribution of $0.28 per gross square foot per zoning permit, adjusted for inflation from 2024. The fire and rescue amount scales with the building, which is why this is marked as scaling.
A strong version: Incentives come back if the facility stops operating, not only if a jobs number is missed
Not applicable to this deal.
No incentive was given, so there is nothing to claw back. Virginia proffers are enforced by withholding zoning permits and certificates of occupancy rather than by repayment.
A strong version: A bond, escrow, or letter of credit that pays for teardown and site restoration if the operator walks
Not addressed in the agreement.
instrument: none
No decommissioning term. The county with the largest concentration of data centers in the world has no teardown security in this approval.
A strong version: The operator pays for its own interconnection and carries a minimum bill that survives it leaving
Not addressed in the agreement.
interconnect paid by: unknown · governed by: Dominion Energy tariffs at the Virginia State Corporation Commission, which the county does not control
Cost allocation is a state matter and is not addressed. What the county did get is unusual and worth copying: a proffered ceiling of 300 MW of grid draw during peak grid periods for five years, with quarter-hour metering of withdrawals reported annually to the zoning administrator for three years. That is a load-management term, not a cost term.
A strong version: A stated cap or closed-loop cooling, plus public reporting
reporting: no · cooling: closed loop
The proffer requires low water usage or liquid cooling systems, meaning air-cooled or adiabatic chillers or closed-loop liquid-to-chip, plus low-flow fixtures. No treated discharge may reach Sycolin Creek without treatment and the stream buffer is preserved. There is no volume cap and no reporting requirement.
A strong version: A numeric limit measured at the nearest residence or property line
limit: 55 dBA · measured at: The lot line of any contiguous lot that permits a single-family dwelling, counting lots across Crosstrail Boulevard and Sycolin Road as contiguous. · setback: 95 ft
The strongest noise term in this set. A 55 dBA cap at the residential lot line, a noise study before the first site plan, another within six months of every certificate of occupancy, mitigation within 60 days of any exceedance and a follow-up study, all certified by an acoustical consultant or professional engineer. Generators must be EPA Tier 4, or Tier 2 with selective catalytic reduction, placed at ground level only with opaque screening. Compare the Zebra East approval four months earlier in the same county, which allowed 70 dBA at the property line.
A strong version: Binding job commitments with a consequence, not projections
Not addressed in the agreement.
enforceable: no
Jobs are not a proffer subject in Virginia land-use approvals. No number was promised and none can be enforced.
A strong version: Local subcontracting goals and haul-route road repair paid by the operator
Not addressed in the agreement.
local subcontracting: no · road repair: no
No local contracting or road repair term in this approval. Other Loudoun approvals do carry road cash: the Zebra East approval included $63,000 for a median and $142,000 for pedestrian improvements.
A strong version: No NDA, the agreement is public, and an independent audit on a schedule
NDA: no · agreement public: yes · dashboard: no · audit: annual · independent: yes
The application, staff report, proffers and the recorded vote are all public. No nondisclosure agreement appears anywhere in the record, which is the norm for a Virginia legislative land-use case and the opposite of how these deals are done in most states. Compliance is verified by outside professionals: noise studies certified by an acoustical consultant or engineer, and annual reporting of metered grid withdrawals to the zoning administrator for three years.
A strong version: A but-for test before any abatement, with the forgone revenue stated
Not applicable to this deal.
abatement: 0% · PILOT: no · forgone: $0
No abatement and no payment in lieu. This is the point of Loudoun. Data centers pay full real property tax and a computer equipment tax of $4.15 per $100 of assessed value, a rate the county has held while cutting the vehicle rate. Data center computer equipment alone is budgeted at $879 million in FY2027, and data center real plus personal property tax is about $1.3 billion of roughly $2.9 billion in local tax funding. The county banks against the concentration risk through a revenue stabilization fund targeted at 10 percent of budgeted data center tax revenue, holding about $119.7 million. Every other community in this benchmark is negotiating for a fraction of what Loudoun simply charges.
Approved 5 to 4. Distribution lines will be buried but transmission lines stay overhead. source
Loudoun ended by-right data centers in March 2025 but grandfathered 22 pending applications, and supervisors moved in 2026 to revoke that grandfathering and to draft a temporary moratorium. source
Sterling residents report 70 to 80 decibels from an off-grid campus running gas turbines against a 55 decibel rule, and the county has never issued a noise violation against the operator. source