n LOUDOUN
4 | n LEESBURG
VOL. 9, NO. 20
8 | n EDUCATION
10 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
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MARCH 28, 2024
Flip-Flop Board Reconsiders Data Center, Ashburn Development Denials BY HANNA PAMPALONI
hpampaloni@loudounnow.org
A week after handing down rare votes of denial for a density increase on what would be the county’s largest data center campus, and an Ashburn home development, the Board of Supervisors voted to reconsider both items during its March 19 meeting. The motions to reconsider were made by Supervisor Michael R. Turner (D-Ashburn) for the data center project and Supervisor Sylvia R. Glass (D-Broad Run) for the Tillett’s view rezoning in Ashburn. Both said they had been approached by the applicants with offers to amend the plans. Turner said Loudoun GC LLC, the company applying for a rezoning to build an expanded data center campus had approached him with a commitment to limit the data center size to that permitted by-right under the current zoning, but also to include all the environmental proffers proposed in the original application. The 112-acre Belmont Innovation Campus, located between BOARD RECONSIDERS continues on page 37
Photo by Bob Babcock
An aerial view of the excavation work underway at the former Hidden Lane Landfill in Sterling. Permission Lane is in the foreground with the Broad Run Farms neighborhood to the left and CountrySide on the right.
Superfund Cleanup Begins at Hidden Lane Landfill BY TIM FARMER
Sixteen years after Hidden Lane Landfill was named a federal Superfund site, the Environmental Protection Agency is beginning work to remove contaminated soil and address tainted groundwater at the former dump that sits between Broad Run Farms and CountrySide in eastern Loudoun.
The roughly 30-acre private landfill operated without a county permit from 1971 until it was forced to close under a 1983 court order. The unregulated dump accepted the suburban detritus from the rapidly developing region, including construction and land-clearing waste, but after its closure county officials acknowledged they could not be certain what had been buried at the uncontrolled site.
In 1989, two residential wells in nearby Broad Run Farms tested positive for trichloroethylene (TCE), a chemical degreaser used to clean metal parts. Long-term exposure to TCE can damage the kidneys and liver, impair the immune system and cause birth defects. HIDDEN LANE continues on page 39
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