The Six Data Centers in My Quiet, Pristine Town (InsideSources DC Journal)

Reston, Virginia, known as America’s premier, master-planned community, seems an odd place to be quite comfortable with six data centers.

The picturesque community is 22 miles outside of Washington, D.C. Through its Master Plan, it has long shunned manufacturers and any activity that in the remotest way pollutes, is noisy, or unsightly. Yet Reston’s acceptance of six data centers within its 16 square miles offers lessons for towns considering permitting them and shows why the current opposition to these facilities is often widely overblown.

Having lived in Reston for 27 of the past 30 years and been active in the community of more than 60,000, I have never once heard anyone complain about these facilities. Simply put, there is next to zero controversy surrounding them.

Lexington’s Paul Steidler, a Reston resident for nearly 30 years, has seen this firsthand and discusses this in InsideSources DC Journal here.