Data Center Timeline

AWS presents to the New Kent Economic Development Authority.

From the minutes:
The EDA members received a presentation on data centers from AWS representatives Alex Kang, Jordan Tate, and Stephanie Mouman. Data centers are very secure facilities which may house/store information from numerous companies. Key takeaways from the presentation include when searching for potential sites to construct a data center, certain factors are considered such as power, water, fiber and easy access, with emphasis on power as the most important.

On April 28, 2025, the New Kent County Board of Supervisors authorized a sole source contract with Dewberry Engineering to:

• Examine and categorize existing county parcels/sites.
• Identify and rank locations where data center development could serve as the “highest and best use.”

Read more…

The County’s own timeline references:

“Individual BOS meetings — Insights, thoughts, concerns and general direction.”

Who attended those individual BOS meetings?

Which supervisors were briefed?

What information was presented?

What concerns were raised?

What “general direction” was given?

Were all five supervisors given equal information and equal opportunity to provide direction?

Where are the records of those meetings?

On November 25, 2025, the Chairman of the New Kent County Board of Supervisors declared his intentions for NKC data centers clear in his address to the Charles City County Board of Supervisors.

Watch this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDxgwkXsg-Q&t=1261s

QUESTION RAISED BY THE RECORD

At this point in the New Kent TOD development process, what information concerning the Route 33 corridor was public, and what information had only been shared through internal County discussions?

Draft materials proposing a “Technology Overlay District” (TOD) were presented to the Planning Commission in February 2026, with further review and public hearings by the Board of Supervisors scheduled for early 2026.

Read the presentation:

https://www.newkent-va.us/DocumentCenter/View/9842/TOD-Presentation-22026-PDF

New Kent’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to direct county to discontinue working on the TOD and using it as framework for data center regulations.

Instead, the board asked the staff to continue with the directive to prepare a draft data center ordinance for view by September.

Read about it:

https://nkccnews.com/local-news/2026/07/15/technology-overlay-district-shot-down-in-new-kent-county/