APPOMATTOX COUNTY, Va. – A Connecticut-based tech company wants to build a massive data center campus in Appomattox County, and the community is divided.
The project, nicknamed “Project Hercules,” is a 452-acre, $3 billion development proposed by Avaio. It would include six buildings and bring an estimated 200 to 250 jobs to an area residents say has few local employment options.
“If it brings jobs, I’m all for it, period,” said Daniel Henry, who lives in Appomattox County. “We don’t have any jobs. We have to drive all the way to Lynchburg or Amherst or places like that. So we need more jobs.”
Not everyone shares that enthusiasm.
“I don’t want it here,” said Harry Franklin Jr., another county resident. “I’m afraid it might take too much water.”
A potential economic turning point
Appomattox County Economic Development Authority Chair Garet Bosiger says the project could be transformative for a county that has struggled economically.
“It would help our citizens with jobs and also with relieving the tax burden because there’s no industry here now. We’ve lost everything in Appomattox,” Bosiger said.
Bosiger pointed to what he sees as a broader pattern: “Every county that has a data center has lowered their local taxes. We don’t always have to be in the bottom of school buildings, teacher pay.”
The jobs, he added, would pay well above local averages. “You get good jobs. There aren’t a lot of them. We’ll have 200, 250 jobs, but they’ll pay two or three times more than the average job in this area will pay.”
Henry echoed that sentiment with one condition: “We need anything we can get as far as jobs go — as long as the community gets those jobs.”
What Avaio says about the project
Avaio spokesperson John Delacio sought to distance the project from the data center controversies that have cropped up elsewhere in Virginia.
“What we’re planning here is not what you hear about in Northern Virginia. It’s not what you hear about when you see data centers lining the highways — data centers that were built 10 to 15 years ago,” Delacio said.
Delacio said the project would use less water and produce less noise than current local restrictions allow, and that residents would not see an increase in their power bills. Avaio would also cover the full cost of construction for the campus and any additional infrastructure needed, including extra power generation.
On water usage, Bosiger said the impact would be minimal. “One data center would require as much (water) as 15 residences — 15 houses. We have 45,000 gallons of contracted water available, so we use a fraction of that.”
Dominion Energy would still need to provide an additional 250 megawatts of electricity for the center, which will require new infrastructure to be built.
Community skepticism runs deep
For some residents, the promises don’t hold up against lived experience.
Demibrooke Kerr, who lives in Appomattox County and previously lived in New Jersey, says she has seen firsthand what modern data centers can do to a community.
“It’s all just a lie. We’ve heard first-hand the noise all through the night, all through the daytime,” Kerr said. “It’s the same technology that they are talking about there that won’t be noisy and won’t be problematic — but it’s been nothing but problematic for Vineland, New Jersey residents.”
Kerr was among the hundreds who attended a Monday night community meeting to discuss the project.
“Appomattox is a small town and wants to keep that small-town charm. We do not want big business here,” she said.
Meetings underway, questions remain
The Appomattox County EDA hosted the Monday night meeting to get ahead of community concerns — before any ground has broken.
“Not a stone has been moved, not a shovel of dirt moved — so as soon as we could, we’re holding these information meetings,” Bosiger said.
There was no public comment period at Monday’s meeting, but the county set up a dedicated email address (ADPquestions@appomattoxcountyva.gov) for residents to submit questions and concerns.