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ANSWER: First of all, I would challenge the premise of the question that I voted against the will of the people. I voted against the will of some of the people, not all of the people. I ran on a platform of being a commissioner for all of the people, not selected groups in selected parts of the county. I received a lot of feedback supporting the data center along with those who were against it. Basically, I found the arguments against the data center unconvincing when taking into consideration the location being rezoned for the project. I also found it curious that so much of the opposition that flooded the commissioners with emails and phone calls were not residents of Stokes County.
As to my comment above on the location of the project, the county staff and I have been working for the past 20 years to recruit businesses to the Highway 311 corridor between Walnut Cove and the Rockingham County line. The reason is that this corridor is one of the few locations in the county where the geography and topography of the county can support the infrastructure for large and small businesses. Much of this corridor is already zoned for commercial businesses, which is evident by the businesses already located there. As I stated at the commissioner meeting, the land for the data center project is bordered on three sides by parcels already zoned for commercial /heavy industrial uses. This corridor has a good highway that's close to the interstate, it has natural gas, it has rail service, and it has a power plant a rock's throw away that will eventually be converted to nuclear. This is not one of Stokes County's scenic by-ways. It should be no surprise to anyone that the county has marketed this area for large and small business.
The most important consideration in my decision to support the data center was return on investment for all the citizens of Stokes County. Data centers have a unique characteristic among large businesses in that their daily operations are relatively low disruption to communities while providing huge amounts of property tax revenue to counties because of the value of the assets housed in a data center. They also provide a decent level of high paying jobs. Projections are that this data center, when fully operational, could provide up to $40 million in property tax revenue per year, which is more than half of Stokes County's current total budget. As Stokes County manager, and now commissioner, I have observed many needs being unmet in Stokes County during the last two decades. A perfect example is the dilapidated buildings that are still in use both by the Stokes County School System and Stokes County Government. Much additional funding is needed to effectively provide the wide range of services that Stokes County residents deserve. Half of that revenue from property taxes must come from individual landowners or businesses. I vote for it to come from businesses to relieve the tax burden on individuals. That being said, I can't just blow off the financial possibilities the data center could bring to Stokes County. The data center, plus the future conversion to nuclear power at Belews Creek are "game changers" that could eliminate the need for numerous other businesses that might spoil the natural beauty and rural character of Stokes County.
A final consideration in my support for the data center was the current lawsuit the county is involved in related to the recent commissioner board decision to turn down a 665-acre solar farm at the proposed data center site. Should the county lose the lawsuit, it could end up with another ugly solar farm in the Walnut Cove area that would also include a large battery storage facility that brings its own negative issues like noise. Solar farms also provide a miniscule amount of tax revenue to the county compared to a data center. In my opinion, another solar farm landing on this property would be a travesty compared to a data center.
In conclusion, I am very respectful of the opinions of those who oppose the data center, but I felt it was in the best interest of the county as a whole to approve the data center for Stokes County's future.
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