Franklin County residents concerned about possible data center

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. (WDBJ) - Franklin County residents are raising concerns about the possibility of a data center being built at Summit View Business Park after a local woman used Freedom of Information Act requests to uncover county communications with a company that builds them.

Laura Carter, a Franklin County resident, began submitting FOIA requests for county supervisors’ emails in the spring. Her initial focus was the county’s zoning ordinance rewrite. While reviewing hundreds of emails, she found a reference to something called “Project Flash.”

Carter said she first became engaged in county affairs after learning about a zoning ordinance open house and began attending board meetings starting March 26.

“Just seeing how these people were acting about certain issues that affect the whole county really started to raise alarm bells for me about a lot of different things,” Carter said.

She said she found the Project Flash reference while reviewing emails from Board Chair Lorie Smith, who had been updating another supervisor who was out following surgery.

“One of the line items referenced Project Flash, and the citizens had never heard of this, you know. I hadn’t heard. So, I’m like, hmm, you know, why is there this project? You also have to pay attention to the fact that our board has been having closed session, closed session, closed session, meeting after meeting,” Carter said.

Carter also received a non-disclosure agreement and a confidentiality agreement between the county and a company whose name was redacted. The redacted confidentiality agreement showed that the company had a Delaware address, where Crusoe AI is incorporated. She then submitted additional FOIA requests specifically for emails related to Project Flash.

Those requests generated Microsoft Teams meeting invites for an April meeting between county leaders and representatives from Crusoe AI. Carter said the invites were sent to her in their native file format after the county’s FOIA officer said she was unable to reformat them. When Carter opened the files, they launched in Microsoft Teams and contained meeting details, including the names of attendees.

“It had the invites of people. So, you know, it was our county administrator, Economic Development Director Dani Poe, Finance Director Brian Carter, and Assistant Finance Director Brandy Rossner, who are with the county. And it was sent out by this guy from Crusoe AI,” Carter said.

The subject lines included “Project Flash” and “SVBP,” which Carter believes stands for Summit View Business Park. Carter and others believe the documents indicate the company is in talks to build a data center at Summit View in Rocky Mount.

“Some form of a data center. It could even be worse than a data center. They market themselves as an AI factory. I think since Summit View at this point has been chopped up and stuff, that it’s not going to be one of those hyperscalers, but it’s still something that’s a drain on our natural resources,” Carter said.

Concerns about a data center moving into the area have been building for months. Dawn King-Greer, a Franklin County resident, spoke about the potential impact in a late May interview.

“A data center going up in an area like Summit View affects the waterways and affects the energy usage and the animals through Callaway, through Boones Mill, the whole region. So we can’t give any of this up, and we’re not going to give it up,” King-Greer said.

Carter said she is also concerned about the strain a data center would place on the county’s electrical grid and water supply, and the effect that could have on attracting other businesses.

“If we had a data center come in, and they are pulling all from the grid, from the electrical, the water, whatever, that doesn’t leave room for other businesses. So it’s like, not only are we just putting all our eggs in that one basket of a company that’s going to come in here and suck everything, but it also eliminates any other business potential that we could actually come in that would benefit us,” Carter said.

She also raised questions about job creation, a common argument made in support of data centers.

“They promise all these jobs, but show me the parking lot where the people are parking to work at this data center,” Carter said.

Multiple Franklin County supervisors, including Board Chair Lorie Smith, declined to comment on Project Flash and referred questions to County Attorney Jim Guynn. Guynn also declined to comment on Project Flash or whether the county is in talks to bring in a data center, citing requirements that ongoing economic development negotiations remain confidential.

Guynn said the open properties at Summit View are not specifically targeted to a data center and that the county is open to multiple types of industry.

He also referenced a county statement issued last week outlining how it handles economic development inquiries. That statement says in part that the county provides oversight to any development at Summit View to ensure it fits the county’s long-term plans.

Carter said the lack of public disclosure is at the core of her concerns.

“If a business wants to come here, and if our board is for the people that elected them, it should be transparent,” Carter said.

Crusoe AI did not respond to a request for comment on whether it has plans to build a data center at Summit View or has had negotiations with Franklin County.