Ann Neil Cosby is a Virginia land use and zoning lawyer who secures entitlements and approvals for complex commercial, industrial and mixed-use developments, with significant experience in data centers and digital infrastructure. She guides clients through planning, zoning and permitting — obtaining rezonings, special and conditional use permits, variances and zoning text amendments — and navigates site plan and land-disturbing approvals, including stormwater management and Chesapeake Bay Act issues. Her practice also covers renewable energy, counseling sponsors and investors on state and local requirements for utility- and community-scale solar and storage, including siting agreements, public facility reviews and local revenue share ordinances. She also handles enforcement matters and land use litigation, including arguments before the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Ann Neil routinely teaches courses on land use, zoning, and environmental law to professional planners and elected and appointed officials, including through the Virginia Association of Zoning Officials (VAZO), the Rural Planning Caucus (RPC), and Plan Virginia (formerly the Citizens Planning Education Association of Virginia).
- Guided developers of commercial, industrial and mixed-use developments through zoning and permitting, including rezonings, conditional and special use permits, variances and zoning text amendments.
- Advised data center and digital infrastructure developers on site selection, entitlement strategy and local approvals for campus-scale projects.
- Attained necessary zoning and land use entitlements for large-scale data center campus developments in Virginia localities.
- Obtained zoning approval from Chesterfield County, Virginia authorizing the first commercial-scale fusion energy power plant in the world.
- Counseled renewable energy sponsors on state and local land use requirements for solar and storage, including siting agreement negotiations, public facility reviews, and implementation of local solar tax revenue share ordinances amid changing regulations.
- Conducted zoning diligence for acquisitions of renewable energy projects and advised on developing state law requirements for solar development in Virginia.
- Represented clients in enforcement proceedings before state administrative agencies and in state and federal courts; successfully argued land use matters before the Supreme Court of Virginia.
- Served on state regulatory advisory panels including those related to the Stormwater General Construction Permit, and the state’s regulations on hydraulic fracturing, as well as on the VSMP Stormwater Ordinance Advisory Panel and was highly involved in the development of the state’s mode stormwater ordinance.
- Named to ‘Influential Women of Virginia,’ Virginia Lawyers Weekly, 2012
- Named to “Legal Elite,” Administrative and Regulatory Law, 2010, 2012, 2013; Land Use, 2014-present, Virginia Business Magazine