AINEWS
Algonkian District Supervisor Juli Briskman says Amazon's July filing could let four data centers on the former George Washington University campus skip a public hearing and Board of Supervisors vote.
A $427 million land deal in March, a county zoning amendment the next month, and a four-building concept site plan filed July 28 have put one question in front of Loudoun County: whether Amazon's plan for four 805,092-square-foot data center buildings on the former George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn can be approved without a public hearing.
Algonkian District Supervisor Juli Briskman says the project should not be. In a statement, she said she would "fight the proposal every step of the way" and warned that the filing relies on "outdated" zoning policies that could let Amazon skip a public hearing, Planning Commission review, and Board of Supervisors approval (GW Hatchet).
The timing is what gives the dispute its shape. Amazon Data Services bought the 122-acre campus in March 2026 for $427 million. One month later, in April 2026, Loudoun County adopted a Zoning Ordinance Amendment that eliminated by-right data center approvals and pushed new projects into a special exception process with environmental impact review. Because the campus was acquired before the new rules took effect, the most likely reading is that the Amazon filing is asking to be grandfathered under the campus's existing Planned Development-Office Park zoning, and therefore does not have to clear the new review. Whether the county agrees is the question Briskman is now putting in front of the board.
The filing, which names the project "Bridgefield Tech Center," covers four data center buildings totaling 805,092 square feet, according to a Loudoun County initial application dated July 28 (Northern Virginia Magazine). An Amazon spokesperson called the application "the first formal step in a lengthy review process" (Loudoun Now). Under the March 2026 sale terms, George Washington University can continue operating programs on the campus for up to five years.
A university spokesperson, Julia Garbitt, said the institution did not brief the Loudoun Board of Supervisors before the sale for confidentiality reasons, a decision Briskman criticized as something a responsible broker would not have done (GW Hatchet).
The campus, established in 1991, previously hosted GW's nursing school and engineering, physics, and chemistry research. Replacing it with four industrial-scale data center buildings is what Briskman called "a profound loss for our community."
As of July 2026, Northern Virginia has 266 operational data centers, 23 under construction, and 99 planned; Loudoun County alone accounts for roughly 54 million square feet of data centers already built, and local reporting routinely calls the county the "data center capital of the world" (DCPulse). Industry trackers have projected the Bridgefield project's cost above $2 billion, though that figure has not been independently verified.
The next decision belongs to Loudoun County staff, who will determine which zoning path the filing travels. A special exception path would put a public hearing, a Planning Commission review, and a Board of Supervisors vote on the calendar. A by-right path under the older PD-OP zoning would not. The county has not yet said which path applies. Once a path is set, residents can submit comments through the county's standard public comment process; the first formal opportunity to weigh in comes at the Planning Commission public hearing, if the case is routed there.