Volunteers collected the dog food and prepared it for delivery on Friday.
Volunteers collected the dog food and prepared it for delivery on Friday.
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DATA CENTERS
FOIA documents reveal months of talks on 'Project Flash' in Franklin County
A group of Franklin County residents is raising concerns about months of private discussions between the county government, which owns the Summit View Business Park north of Rocky Mount, and a data center developer.
Franklin County residents gather at the Summit View Business Park pavilion to discuss community involvement, board of supervisors' transparency issues and how to become better involved in county business matters.
Franklin County officials have been discussing a confidential economic development project known as "Project Flash" with representatives of data center developer Crusoe since at least November 2025, according to documents county residents obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
The records include calendar invitations, internal emails, partially redacted confidentiality agreements and a meeting titled “Project Flash LOI” — an apparent reference to a Letter of Intent — held Nov. 25. That meeting included Crusoe representatives, Franklin County Economic Development Director Danielle Poe and Kelly Ferree, an attorney with Latham & Watkins.
Latham & Watkins is an international law firm representing major corporate clients in complex commercial transactions.
The documents indicate discussions surrounding Project Flash were underway months before the project was discovered by county residents. Franklin County has not acknowledged being in talks with a data center developer, beyond a news release in late June about economic development and confidentiality in response to requests for comment from county residents and journalists.
Although county officials have not publicly identified Project Flash, or acknowledged its existence, multiple records connect the project to Summit View Business Park, a county-owned industrial site north of Rocky Mount. Crusoe, a technology company that develops large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure, appears in the meeting invites received in relation to Project Flash. WDBJ first reported the connection July 2.
Modern data centers are large, industrial facilities that house thousands of computer servers used to process and store digital information. AI-focused data centers require enormous electrical capacity and, depending on their cooling systems, can require substantial water resources — two issues that have become central to public discussion in Franklin County.
The earliest document reviewed dates to Nov. 13, when then-County Administrator Chris Whitlow signed a nondisclosure agreement related to Project Flash.
Less than two weeks later, on Nov. 25, Crusoe representatives scheduled a meeting titled “Project Flash LOI”. Calendar records identify attendees as Crusoe executive Nick Gates, Poe and Latham & Watkins attorney Kelly Ferree.
The records indicate that what began with a nondisclosure agreement had progressed to a meeting labeled “Project Flash LOI” within 12 days.
The appearance of outside legal counsel at what appears to have been a Letter of Intent meeting suggests discussions had progressed beyond preliminary introductions, although neither the calendar invitation nor accompanying records describe the negotiations’ substance.
Additional agreements followed in December before Steve Sandy became county administrator on Feb. 1.
On Feb. 5, while serving as deputy county administrator, Sandy signed a Mutual Confidentiality Agreement related to Project Flash.
By April, the pace of communication increased.
A calendar invitation dated April 10 scheduled a “Project Flash Update” meeting involving Crusoe representatives Steve Buster, Nick Gates and Poe.
Three days later, on April 13, Gates emailed Poe, confirming receipt of county documents.
“Thank you, Dani! Confirming receipt, and adding @Shayla Martin from our side to help review,” Gates wrote in an email embedded within a calendar invitation.
Poe replied by suggesting another meeting before the Franklin County Board of Supervisors met.
“Would you all like to schedule a time to connect later this week? I would like to provide the Board an update,” Poe wrote.
Four days later, another meeting titled “Project Flash—SVBP” was held. “SVBP” appears to refer to Summit View Business Park.
The sequence of records document active communication between county officials and Crusoe throughout the spring, while official public discussion of Project Flash remained non-existent.
Patterns in documents
Those discussions occurred against the backdrop of nearly a decade of county investment in Summit View.
Franklin County began acquiring land for the project in late 2015, eventually assembling approximately 550 acres off U.S. 220.
County financial records show development continued over several years through multiple financing mechanisms, including lease revenue bonds and bond anticipation notes.
According to Franklin County’s FY2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the county’s lease revenue bonds are secured by county-owned real estate, including Summit View, the Government Center, the Franklin County Courthouse and Windy Gap Elementary School.
The report does not state those properties were pledged exclusively for Summit View, but it identifies them as collateral securing the lease revenue bonds.
Moreover, the records do not reveal the full scope of Project Flash or whether a final agreement has been reached.
Such documents are shielded from public view by public records exemptions to Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.
They do, however, provide the clearest timeline to date showing that discussions between Franklin County and Crusoe extended over several months and involved county administrators, the county’s economic development office and representatives of one of the country’s fastest-growing artificial intelligence infrastructure companies.
For Rocky Mount resident Laura Carter, the significance emerged only after comparing hundreds of pages of emails, meeting calendars, Board packets and FOIA records.
“The story isn’t contained in one document,” Carter said. “It’s contained in the pattern the documents reveal.”
One of those patterns was timing.
The Nov. 25 letter-of-intent meeting occurred less than two weeks after the first nondisclosure agreement was signed and more than two months before Sandy became county administrator. By April, Project Flash meetings and email exchanges were occurring as county officials prepared to brief the elected board of supervisors.
Another pattern involved the county’s long-term investment in Summit View.
Over the past decade, Franklin County has acquired land, extended utilities, constructed roads and financed infrastructure intended to prepare the property for large-scale economic development.
Even though the county has not publicly identified Project Flash as a data center project, Crusoe has become nationally known for developing large, artificial intelligence computing facilities, including projects requiring significant electrical infrastructure.
Questions about impacts
Public discussion of those potential impacts intensified after supervisors Chair Lorie Smith held a town hall meeting April 30 to discuss proposed changes to the county's zoning ordinance.
Residents repeatedly questioned whether the county was preparing for a data center and asked about water consumption, electrical demand and the future of Summit View.
Responding to one question, Smith, shaking her head no, said:
“Your question implies that we’ve got a data center coming to Franklin County … No, we’re not.”
Smith went on to shut down the data center conversation.
“I am not going to comment about a data center because if I could, I can’t,” she said. “We’re not going to talk about data centers.”
The records reviewed for this article neither establish a data center has been planned for Franklin County, nor identify the ultimate nature of Project Flash.
They do establish that county officials had been communicating with Crusoe for months while negotiations remained confidential.
Supervisor Mike Meredith said confidentiality is an important part of economic development.
“The initial stage is to learn about the company, their line of business and what they are thinking about doing in the county,” Meredith said. “This gives us a good idea of their impact, and then we can start inquiring about the effect.”
Meredith said each project presents different challenges.
“Some may only impact one area, where other projects could impact multiple areas … it is very important to ask all the right questions and do your own research,” he said.
He also believes residents should receive information as soon as circumstances allow.
“As soon as we can announce something, the citizens should learn about it,” Meredith said. “There are a lot of questions that need to be answered on both sides before any project comes close to becoming a reality.”
Following growing public interest in Project Flash — and emails sent by citizens to members of the board of supervisors regarding the project — Franklin County issued a joint statement in late June from Sandy and Smith.
The statement outlined the county’s general approach to economic development but did not mention Project Flash, Crusoe or the meetings identified in records obtained through FOIA documents. At press time, no member of the board of supervisors had publicly acknowledged Project Flash.
Crusoe did not respond to multiple requests for comment by email and telephone before publication.
David Campbell is a freelance journalist and educator. Contact him via Brian Kelley at brian.kelley@roanoke.com, 540-981-3377.
Local
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Sidewalk extension approved in Rocky Mount
Members of the Rocky Mount Town Council approved extending a portion of sidewalk in the town from Tanyard Road to Knob Hill Road on Monday.
The Rocky Mount Town Council continued its efforts to improve the walkability of the town with the approval of additional sidewalk construction along Tanyard Road on Monday evening.
Council members voted to approve extending the sidewalk near where it currently ends at Donald Avenue approximately 0.2 miles to Knob Hill Road. Turner's Ready Mix was approved to construct the sidewalk at a cost of $194,200.
The extension approved Monday is just the first phase of the planned sidewalk project. A second phase is planned to continue extending the sidewalk to the North Main Street intersection on Tanyard Road just a short distance from Knob Hill Road.
Assistant Town Manager Mark Moore said Monday that funding was available to construct the sidewalk to North Main Street, but a stoplight at the intersection would need to be relocated first to allow room for the sidewalk. The town is currently working with an engineering firm on moving the stoplight to continue the project.
Adam Lynch, a property owner along the area where the sidewalk is being expanded, spoke on Monday to share his concerns with the project. His comments came in the public comment period held after the town had already voted on the project, where he unsuccessfully asked council members to reconsider the vote.
Lynch said property owners were not notified of the construction and were provided with no engineering plans or information on potential storm water impacts.
"We're not saying we'd be opposed to working with you all on the project, but we just don't think that at this time that it is needed and it definitely was not transparent to the property owners it is going to affect," Lynch said.
Work on the sidewalk project is expected to begin in the coming weeks with construction set to be completed in August. Plans are to complete the project before the start of the new school year.
Jason Dunovant (540) 981-3507
Crime-courts
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After vehicle chase, Franklin County deputies arrest man for felonies
A Rocky Mount man is charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after allegedly threatening to shoot someone and then leading police on a chase.
Dawson
Ricky Lee Dawson, 38, was arrested Monday and charged with crimes including weapons/ammunition violations by a convicted felon/with protective order in place; disregarding police command to stop; possession of burglarious tools; disorderly conduct; and speeding 20+ mph over the speed limit.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office says it received a 911 call Monday that someone had threatened to shoot another person at a home in the Doe Run area of the county and then fled the scene.
Deputies responded to the area and located a vehicle matching the description of the suspect, Dawson. When deputies attempted a traffic stop, a sheriff's office news release said, Dawson fled, leading police on a vehicle chase.
When Dawson eventually stopped his vehicle, the sheriff's office said, he fled on foot. He was taken into custody after an apprehension police dog was released.
Dawson is being held without bond at the Franklin County Jail.
JOSH GRISETTI
'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' actor, Broadway star Josh Grisetti dies at 44
Grisetti
Josh Grisetti, who grew up in Rocky Mount and went to Franklin County High School, starred in the late-2010s musical “Something Rotten!” a comedy about two playwrights living in the shadow of Shakespeare.
Broadway star and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" actor Josh Grisetti has died. He was 44.
The actor died by suicide, his theater co-star Rob McClure revealed in an emotional Instagram post on Sunday.
"It is with a shattered heart that I share that the brilliant Josh Grisetti took his own life on Friday," McClure captioned a set of photos featuring the two, including shots from what appears to be Grisetti's wedding, where McClure served as his best man. "I'm not ready to even attempt to understand. My heart is with his wife and family as they try to deal with the reality of this."
In Grisetti's last Instagram post, two days before his death, he noted he would have to leave the production of "Legally Blonde The Musical" at Trentino Music Festival in Italy "for personal reasons" before the show's opening.
"Literally cried on the plane… little gestures go a long way when your heart is hurting…" he captioned photos of the cast in full costume, with one cast member holding a photo of Grisetti. In a video, the cast yelled, "We love you, Josh!"
He added, "Love this group of misfits right back!!"
Grisetti played Ralph, a comedy staff writer at "The Gordon Ford Show" in Season 5 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." He starred in eight episodes of the period comedy. He played Louis in the first and only season of the 2007 ABC crime-comedy "The Knights of Prosperity."
He also appeared in episodes of "The Good Fight" and "Nurse Jackie," the TV movies "Like Magic," "The Gates" and "The Superagent," and the films "The Immigrant," Public Interest" and "The Sandpiper." He had uncredited appearances on "Men in Black 3" and "Revolutionary Road."
In theater, the actor starred in the Broadway productions "It Shoulda Been You," "Peter and the Starcatcher" and the world premiere of "Something Rotten!" Over the course of nearly two decades on stage, his other credits included "Camelot," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," as well as in "Rent" as Mark Cohen, "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" as Lumiere, "Matilda" as Mr. Wormwood and "SpongeBob SquarePants" as Plankton.
Grisetti was also head of the musical theatre Bachelor of Fine Arts program at California State University, Fullerton, and the author of the comedic spiritual memoir "God in My Head," which tells the "true story of an ex-Christian who accidentally met God."
Many of his Broadway co-stars and theater alumni commented on McClure's post and paid tribute, including Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose and Tony winner Donna Murphy. Murphy wrote, "He was a beautiful, gifted human & artist. You & your family & Josh's family & dearest ones are in my heart & highest thoughts & prayers."
McClure called Grisetti's death a "cataclysmic loss."
"Some of my all-time favorite memories were by this man's side, playing his brother onstage for years, watching him inspire students while transforming the Musical Theatre program at Cal State Fullerton … and having the honor of being the Best Man at his wedding," McClure wrote. "Maggie and I are beyond heartbroken. Communities around the world will never be the same without him. We love you Josh."
Grisetti is survived by his wife, realtor Mackenzie Grisetti.
If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call 988 any time day or night, or chat online. Crisis Text Line also provides free, 24/7, confidential support via text message to people in crisis when they dial 741741.
