Ryan Township approves Mountain Valley rezoning, regulations for data centers, warehouses, solar farms
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Ryan Township fields a standing room-only crowd for a zoning ordinance hearing at the township building in Barnesville on Feb. 9, 2026.
BARNESVILLE – A popular golf course in our area is now fully zoned industrial, and the township approved ordinances they say will help better safeguard development of warehouses, data centers, and solar farms.
Ryan Township Supervisors held a hearing on four proposed ordinances amending their zoning regulations Monday. About three dozen people came out for the hearing as a standing room-only crowd.
One ordinance was requested by Mountain Valley Corp. and Yudacot Limited Partnership regarding the Mountain Valley Golf Course and surrounding land. They asked the township in August to rezone portions of the course to Industrial. They were previously zoned Residential.
One Yudacot parcel drew concern from residents as it stretches from the Mountain Valley Golf Course east behind a neighborhood on Back Road. While the rezoning ordinance excludes the portion of the property east of the golf course, the property was nonetheless posted on Back Road, per state law.
Chris Riedlinger, solicitor for the township, suggested amendments to regulate warehouses, solar farms, and data centers be considered at the same time in the same hearing. He emphasized that they were not requested by Mountain Valley Corp.
“It’s not a plant coming in,” Supervisors Chairman Clyde ‘Champ’ Holman said. “Nothing is proposed for any kind of plant and no plant is going to go in a residential area.”
Riedlinger also explained why the township considered the ordinances on warehouses, data centers, and solar farms. He explained the concept of “fair share zoning,” in which a zoning ordinance must allow all legal uses somewhere.
As the township handles its own zoning, all such uses have to be allowed somewhere in the township.
Otherwise, a developer can sue to allow a project anywhere they choose in the township.
“So, the issue isn’t whether to allow them or not, the issue is where to allow them because we have to allow them somewhere,” Riedlinger said.
Warehouses are currently an allowed use in industrial districts regardless, with few restrictions.
“By the adoption of the ordinances that are under consideration right now, it will be harder to get a warehouse erected in Ryan Township than it would’ve before tonight,” Riedlinger he added.
The updates would require a conditional use hearing before the township for all three uses.
One township resident expressed skepticism that a project isn’t already in the works for Mountain Valley Golf Course. Yudacot sold the Bendinsky Airport property nearby where multiple warehouses have been built.
Alvin Marshall, an attorney representing the company, said their request was to “unify the entire golf course to make it ready if in fact a project comes along.”
“That’s all,” he said.
Riedlinger and Holman both emphasized that the township is not aware of a project being prepared for the Mountain Valley property.
“As a matter of a fact, it would’ve been better for them if we didn’t do a data center ordinance, if they had a plan to do a data center, because then they would’ve been able to put it wherever they wanted to put it and they’d have no regulations associated with it,” Riedlinger said. “If there was some secret plan to do a data center project, us doing this ordinance might’ve put a stop to it, quite frankly.”
The ordinances establish thorough regulations for data centers, warehouses, and solar farms. Some residents at Monday’s meeting raised concerns regarding water use.
The ordinance would require an analysis of water needs for the facility be submitted to the township, if it is not air-cooled or using a closed-loop water system.
If the center pulls from well water, a water feasibility study is required with multiple required facets, including the long-term yield, effects on nearby wells, among others.
Data centers would also be prohibited on parcels of land adjoining agricultural or residential zones.
Regulations for buffers and more are also detailed in the ordinances.
Supervisors approved all four ordinances unanimously in the regular meeting following the hearing.
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