what is happening
two data center fights are running in the roanoke valley right now. one is wood haven, the roughly 94 acre technology park in roanoke county owned by the western virginia regional industrial facility authority (wvirfa). the other is google’s proposed data center campus at the greenfield site in daleville, botetourt county. they are separate sites, separate deals, and separate boards, but the same questions follow both: water, power, transparency, and who gets a say.
the latest on wood haven
on september 11, 2026, wvrifa entered a purchase agreement for wood haven with clearview dynamics llc. the deal is not yet final. here is the timeline, as reported by local blog the scotto grotto from public records:
2023: wvrifa hires prologis to market wood haven for data center development. potential customers named in public records include meta, google, amazon/aws, microsoft, and nvidia.
2025: prologis pursues project dcroa, a proposed 300 megawatt, five building data center campus for a confidential tenant.
january 13, 2026: clearview dynamics llc is formed in delaware.
april 1, 2026: wvrifa terminates the prologis agreement after required conditions are not met.
may 2026: clearview registers in virginia.
september 11, 2026: wvrifa enters a purchase agreement with clearview for wood haven.
source: the scotto grotto, september 18 2026
https://svonberg.org/2026/09/18/day-21048-570716135430/
the other front: botetourt county
google wants to build what the army corps of engineers calls a “mission critical data center campus,” known as project raspberry, at greenfield in daleville. per the sierra club roanoke group’s july 2026 update: three data center buildings of about 300,000 square feet each, three substations, a 28,000 square foot office building, plus roads, utilities, and parking. google has indicated a need of 2 to 8 million gallons of water a day for cooling. the 79 megawatts from rocky forge wind would not be enough, so the campus would draw power from the grid.
source: sierra club virginia chapter, roanoke group
https://www.sierraclub.org/virginia/roanoke/data-center-impacts-virginia
where people have shown up
in june 2026, google hosted a community open house at lord botetourt high school. hundreds of residents packed in to question google officials and county staff about water, electric infrastructure, jobs, and long term impacts. outside, protesters lined the roadway with signs and chants. many said residents were not adequately involved in early discussions. one protester, chloe johnson, called it “a google unfair because this all feels very unfair.”
source: wsls 10, june 2026
https://gmg-wsls-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/local/2026/06/17/google-data-center-open-hose/
earlier, botetourt residents protested the project over water usage, noise, energy bills, and property values. video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpgtvyBamLE
where to show up next
wvrifa board meetings are open to the public. they are normally held the third friday of each month at 10:00 am at the roanoke regional partnership, 111 franklin rd se, suite 333, roanoke. the next one falls on october 16, 2026. check wvrifa.org/meetings before going, because meetings are sometimes cancelled.
https://wvrifa.org/meetings/
roanoke city council and the roanoke county board of supervisors also hold public comment periods at their regular meetings. agendas are posted on the city and county websites.
who to call
every number below is public, listed by the government body itself, and was verified in september 2026. if you call about wood haven, the wvrifa board and your county supervisor are the ones with votes. if you call about the google campus, that is botetourt county.
roanoke city council
mayor joseph l. cobb: 540-853-2444, joseph.cobb@roanokeva.gov
vice mayor s. terry mcguire: 540-759-0621, terry.mcguire@roanokeva.gov
nicolas s. hagen: 540-759-1806, nick.hagen@roanokeva.gov
phazhon t. nash: 540-589-8329, phazhon.nash@roanokeva.gov
vivian sanchez-jones: 540-580-5637, vivian.sanchezjones@roanokeva.gov
peter j. volosin: 540-312-7572, peter.volosin@roanokeva.gov
evelyn w. powers: 540-524-0638, evelyn.w.powers@roanokeva.gov
roanoke county board of supervisors
the county publishes one public line and email for the whole board: 540-772-2005, bos@roanokecountyva.gov
david radford, windsor hills
martha b. hooker, catawba
tammy shepherd, vinton
phil north, hollins
paul m. mahoney, cave spring
wvrifa board of directors
the authority’s public contact: 540-343-4417, info@wvrifa.org
gary larrowe, botetourt county (chair)
kyle rosner, botetourt county
valmarie h. turner, city of roanoke
steve sandy, franklin county
danielle “dani” poe, franklin county
thomas j. miller, city of salem
chris dorsey, city of salem
richard caywood, roanoke county (vice chair)
megan baker, roanoke county
cody sexton, town of vinton
richard “pete” peters, town of vinton (secretary/treasurer)
the city of roanoke’s second wvrifa seat is currently vacant.
why this matters now
the wood haven sale is not final, which means the terms, the buyer, and the future of the site are still in play. the google campus in botetourt is still moving through public process. both will be decided by people whose phone numbers are listed above. showing up and calling are the two levers that work before a vote, not after.
