This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mike Graham, a 57-year-old resident of Chantilly, Virginia. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
When my wife and I were looking for where to move in 2002, we kept coming back to Chantilly. We wanted some shade, old growth, and a little bit of woods for our kids to enjoy. It was the perfect place.
Over 20 years later, a walk in the woods near my home is my peace. To find a family of river otters in a stream, or to go see the birds in the trees — it just tickles me to death.
Mike Graham
Now, developers have just cleared that land to build a 402,000-square-foot data center less than a mile from my home. I don’t want to lose what I have. A walk in the woods gives me peace, and they’re taking a big piece of that away from me. We never considered moving until now.
Are all my Google Photos kept in a cloud somewhere? Yeah. Unfortunately, the cloud is not a cloud at all. It’s made up of big, hideous buildings. The development, while inevitable, is disappointing.
I was shocked when I heard a data center might be built near me
I’m right on the border of Loudoun County, which is known for its concentration of data centers. So, when I first heard about the plan to build a data center less than a mile from my home, I was alarmed, shocked, and angry.
I love to go out and take pictures in the woods — that’s how I spend my spare time.
In the woods surrounding the data center plot, I’ve captured a North American river otter, woodpeckers, owls, and even a great blue heron colony. I worry about what turning a natural area into a hardscape will do to the ecosystem.
Mike Graham
I fought against it at a public hearing
In 2023, I spoke alongside over a dozen other people at a meeting of the Fairfax County Planning Commission, the body that recommends approval or disapproval of development to the Board of Supervisors. I wrote a speech and listed every flora and fauna in that ecosystem that could be affected.
The meeting went on past midnight, and as soon as everybody was done speaking, the planning commission voted in favor of the build. I felt so disappointed and dejected.
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We have a voluntary HOA, which doesn’t have the funds for legal counsel to help us fight the data center.
Mike Graham
My wife and I won’t move until we retire
The biggest concern I have about being so close to a data center is the potential buzzing noise many of them can produce. I don’t have any plans for how we’ll deal with it, because I really don’t think there’s much we can do.
My wife and I had never considered moving, but now we’re planning to move once we both retire within the next decade. I’m thinking somewhere a little more peaceful, like the mountains or a beach.
In the meantime, I just want the data center to be a nice neighbor.
Do you have a story to share about living near a data center? If so, please reach out to the reporter at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.
