ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – A regional industrial board voted in closed session Friday to enter into a purchase agreement for property at Wood Haven Technology Park, prompting an immediate outcry from residents concerned the land could become a data center.
A meeting turns heated
“You all work for us.”
A board meeting turned heated.
“That’s all there is to that,” said Vice Mayor Terry McGuire.
The tense exchange happened Friday at the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority board meeting.
Roanoke City Councilman Phazhon Nash and Vice Mayor Terry McGuire were both in attendance, but they are not on the board. McGuire questioned a board member directly.
“No sir, I’m asking you, what did you just vote on as a public body,” McGuire said.
Residents demand answers
At center stage: a controversial land deal at Wood Haven Technology Park, and a room full of residents demanding answers about what’s coming to their backyard.
“Why would you keep doing this knowing how against our community is?” said Kathryn Hatam.
Speaker after speaker stepped up, frustrated by the lack of transparency and making it clear the fight isn’t over.
“Nobody wants this, everyone’s going to fight against it,” said Ben Verschoor.
The vote
Despite the pushback from the crowd, board members pressed ahead to cast their votes.
“Valmarie H. Turner, yes. Chris Dorsey, yes. Richard… yes.”
The motion passed.
With that vote, the authority, which includes officials from three counties and three other municipalities and controls development in the Roanoke Valley, approved an agreement with Clearview Dynamics LLC, a company WDBJ7 has not been able to find details about so far.
Few answers for the public
That leaves the public with a major decision made, but very few answers.
The board would not answer WDBJ7’s questions, but did release a statement saying in part that the deal “does not constitute a completed sale.”
As for what the project actually is, that is another question the board would not answer.
According to a statement to WDBJ7 from the Authority, the deal marks an “initial step in a lengthier inspection and due diligence process and does not constitute a completed sale.”
The board stated it cannot confirm the prospective use of the property at this stage, noting the park has been under development for roughly a decade and is zoned for light industrial uses. Leadership emphasized any prospective development must adhere to the site’s approved master plan, zoning restrictions, and development standards established through public hearings in 2018 and 2020.
The Friday vote followed days of community speculation, sparked when the Roanoke City Council and Roanoke County Board of Supervisors scheduled closed-door discussions this week regarding the sale of public property. The coordinated executive sessions fueled citizen suspicion that regional leaders were positioning land for data center development.
The site has been at the center of controversy before; earlier this year, a proposed deal to sell land at Wood Haven to a data center developer fell through.
Immediately following the vote, anti-data center activists and area residents confronted board members, demanding greater public transparency over the developer and the future of the parcel.
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