Data centers are allowed only by Special Use Permit in the M-2 Heavy Industrial District, rather than being permitted by right.

Data centers generally require Major Site Plan approval by the Planning Commission.

The Special Use Permit process requires a concept plan, demonstrations of adequate water, sewer, and electricity capacity, and public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors with specified public and mailed notice.

A new data center or an expansion or modification adding at least 100 megawatts of electrical power must include a site assessment addressing sound, substations, transmission voltage, and effects on water, agricultural resources, parks, historic sites, and forestland.

Data centers abutting residentially used or zoned property or a public park must submit pre-construction and post-construction noise studies prepared by a Virginia-licensed professional engineer; mitigation is required if applicable County noise limits are exceeded.

All data-center mechanical equipment must use sound-mitigation measures, such as sound-muffling materials, anti-vibration mounts, sound-absorbing barriers, or acoustic insulation.

Data centers must use air-based cooling systems and demonstrate that the systems are sufficient; water-based cooling is not authorized by the stated standard.

Data centers may not establish wells for their operations and must submit a water-use assessment showing no adverse effect on public water or sewer capacity, including during drought conditions.

Before construction, the applicant must provide evidence that the owner or facility operator has been approved by the serving utility company.

A data center must be located on property containing a power station or existing transmission line, or immediately adjacent to property or an easement containing one; new off-site transmission lines may not be constructed specifically to serve the data center.

Primary data-center structures must be at least 200 feet from property lines abutting noncommercial or nonindustrial zoning or a public park.

Accessory structures and ground-mounted mechanical equipment must be at least 75 feet from property lines adjoining existing residential development, approved residential plats, or districts permitting residences.

A vegetated buffer at least 50 feet wide is required along property lines abutting or across a road from residential, commercial, mixed-use, or special districts or uses; the buffer must be at least 100 feet wide if 70 percent or more of the site's existing open or vegetated area is cleared.

Data centers within 1,500 feet of specified rural, conservation, residential, commercial, agricultural, park, or overlay-zoned properties must submit a three-dimensional viewshed analysis from at least one vantage point along all property lines.

Ground-mounted mechanical equipment is prohibited in front yards, and generators, cooling systems, storage facilities, and other mechanical infrastructure must be enclosed and screened from adjacent streets, uses, and buildings.

Street-frontage fencing may not consist of chain-link fencing, including chain-link fencing with slatted inserts, and barbed wire is prohibited within 35 feet of a public street.

The owner or operator must coordinate with the Nelson County Fire Marshal on emergency-response materials, education, and training and provide emergency personnel with a key or access code to the property.

Generator testing is limited to weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Data centers must conduct annual noise testing and submit the results to the Administrator by July 1 each year for the life of the use.

If annual testing shows noise above 60 dBA at the property line, above 50 dBA at the nearest neighboring dwelling, or above other applicable conditions, the operator has 48 hours to mitigate the violation; otherwise, operations must be suspended until compliance is demonstrated.

Before construction or land disturbance, industrial Major Site Plan applicants must provide financial security, generally equal to 110 percent of the estimated cost of required improvements.

The County may require applicants to pay for professional engineering, legal, surveying, architectural, or related review services when standard application fees do not cover anticipated review costs.

Data centers are excluded from both the major and minor utility-service use definitions and therefore cannot be classified under either utility-service category.

Data centers are listed as requiring a Special Use Permit, creating a defined approval pathway rather than prohibiting them outright. Data centers are listed in the Use Matrix as requiring a Special Use Permit.

The Planning Commission must act on a complete Special Use Permit application within 100 calendar days, or the application is deemed approved, unless it is withdrawn or the period is extended by mutual agreement. Failure of the Commission to act within 100 calendar days.

The Board of Supervisors must decide a Special Use Permit application within 12 months, unless the applicant agrees to an extension or withdraws the application. These review deadlines and deemed-approval provisions provide a defined decision timeline.

A data-center site assessment is required for a new facility or expansion only when the expansion reaches the ordinance's 100-megawatt threshold; the sources describe the threshold as 100 megawatts or more and, elsewhere, as exceeding an additional 100 megawatts. The 100-megawatt threshold.

Data centers may be located on property with a power station or existing transmission line, or immediately adjacent to such property or an easement. New off-site transmission lines may not be built specifically to serve the data center. This infrastructure-siting provision.

Site plans generally must be approved or disapproved within 60 days after official submission and acceptance, or within 35 days after required state-agency approvals are received; modified and resubmitted plans have a 45-day review period. Site Plans shall be approved or disapproved within 60 days.

Zoning permit applications must be acted on within 30 days, and failure by the Administrator to act within that period results in deemed approval. The 30-day zoning-permit deadline and deemed approval.

A valid site-plan approval remains effective for five years after approval if building permits have been obtained for construction in accordance with the plan. The five-year site-plan validity period.

A complete application accepted before the ordinance takes effect may continue to be processed under the regulations in effect when it was accepted. will be processed in accordance with the regulations in effect when the submittal was accepted.

Previously approved site plans, zoning permits, and other development approvals remain valid until their expiration dates and may be carried out under the approval terms and development standards in effect when approved. The transition protection for prior approvals.

An approved Special Use Permit runs with the land and is not affected by a change in ownership, unless a specific time limit or other expiration provision applies. The provision that a Special Use Permit runs with the land.

The ordinance preserves vested property rights, with determinations made under Virginia law; the Subdivision Agent may determine whether rights in a land use or division are vested. The vested-right protection.

A lawful nonconforming use may continue as it existed when it became nonconforming, and a change in ownership does not affect that right, subject to limits on abandonment, reconstruction, alteration, and expansion. These nonconformity protections.