Planning commission opposes Dominion expansion

Concerned about the spread of high-power transmission lines, the Fauquier County Planning Commission has recommended that the board of supervisors deny a request by Dominion Energy to expand a substation near Mary Walter Elementary School.

Dominion says the expansion is necessary to handle two new high-power transmission lines, one of 500 kilovolts and one of 230 kilovolts, that are planned to be routed to the facility. They are part of a 38-mile power line extension that would run from the Morrisville substation, which is south of Warrenton along U.S. 17 near Bealeton, to a substation called Wishing Star in Loudoun County.

But the commissioners balked, indicating that neither they nor the county’s comprehensive plan favor more transmission lines crossing the county — especially to feed power to other counties’ data centers.

They also said adding another 500-kilovolt line to an existing 500-kilovolt line cluster would push the lines 60 feet closer to Morrisville’s Mary Walter Elementary School, where the lines are now about 300 feet away.

At Thursday’s meeting, Commissioner Georgia Herbert pressed Dominion representatives on how many new lines would eventually be sent to the substation, and whether they were needed for local residents.

“So right now, the need is for the lines which we are planning for — there is no definite answer to it. It's all need-based on whatever is required to keep the grid reliable, and whatever solutions appear to be correct. We plan on that,” said Ninad Patil, from Dominion’s transmission planning group.

“I didn't think they were candid about how many lines we were talking about,” Herbert said in an interview after the meeting. “They started out saying two. But I felt like their answers were squishy, and it's right there next to a school and across the street from a church.”

The substation is located north of Courtney’s Corner Road and just west of the school. Currently, one set of 230-kilovolt lines enters the substation from the south, and 500-kilovolt lines, routed past the school, enter its northern end.

A map of the Morrisville to Wishing Star transmission line. Submitted.

The commission’s decision is only a recommendation to the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors. That could be a test of the power the board gave itself in an ordinance it passed in September 2024, when it required special permits for substations and expansions. One planning commissioner said denying the expansion could be risky.

“If we deny this, which we have the right to do this, it could be that at a state level, they may take that power away from us totally in the future,” said Chairman John Meadows, who offered a motion to recommend approval.

Two representatives from citizens groups also weighed in at the meeting, both urging disapproval.

“We are destined in Fauquier County to be the doormat for the transmission lines to serve data centers in our surrounding counties,” said Cindy Burbank, a board member of Protect Fauquier. “We've got to resist to protect the vision in our comprehensive plan, the decades of work to preserve open space and keep this a rural, agricultural county.”

“It’s an opening move of turning Fauquier County into a transmission superhighway,” said David Gibson, representing Citizens for Fauquier County.

Commissioner Matthew Smith offered a motion to recommend denial, which passed 4-1, opposed only by Meadows. “The project is incompatible with the county's comprehensive plan and rural identity, and there are public health and safety concerns due to the location near the school,” Smith said.