Residents fear affects of fan noise, oppose 14 data centers planned next to homes, schools

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Bristow residents gathered outside the Prince William County Government Center on Tuesday to implore leaders not to approve a rezoning that could lead to the construction of 14 new data centers near their homes and schools.

Supervisors heard a request from Stanley Martin Homes to rezone about 900 acres at Linton Hall and Devlin roads for the Devlin Road Technology Park at 7:30 p.m.

The server farms would not only be used to power the internet, but would be built nearly 100 feet tall, use large fans to cool the computers inside, require large amounts of water, and sit near hundreds of homes and several public schools, including Chris Yung and Piney Branch elementary schools, and Gainesville middle and high schools.

Residents say they’re worried about the undocumented effects of noise on children from the cooling fans and, potentially, from generators.  The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will consider allowing data centers to use generators during the hot summer to avoid electricity shortages.

“The board of supervisors has turned a blind eye towards looming potential health and safety catastrophe for children and ourselves, but the clock is ticking,” said one Bristow resident during a press conference held outside the government center before the supervisors’ meeting.

“This will directly impact my family among the many families in our community and the surrounding communities the back of my house, where I sleep, or I gather with my neighbors where my children play with their friends, will now be subjected to the loud noises coming from the concrete jungle across the street, we know what they sound like because we have data centers in our county,” said another.

Many residents blame the board of county supervisors’ elected members, including Jeanine Lawson, who allowed county staff to offer the parcel of land to data center developers for consideration. Lawson apologized for an error at a February 2 town hall meeting and is working to lobby the votes on the Board of County Supervisors to kill the deal.

Protesters asked why the board of supervisors won’t raise taxes on data centers to be comparable to neighboring Loudoun County, which has the highest concentration of data centers anywhere in the world. Prince William collects about 30 cents less on the dollar when compared to its neighbor.

Others asked the Board of County Supervisors to postpone the vote during the absence of a sitting supervisor in the Gainesville District, near where the Devlin Road Technology Park would be built. Voters will head to the polls on February 21 to choose one of two candidates to finish the term of Peter Candland, who resigned in December after agreeing to sell his home to data center developers for a separate project.

Bob Weir, the Republican candidate seeking the seek, has consistently opposed data centers near homes, while his opponent, Kerensa Sumers, a Democrat, has been largely silent on the issue. The protesters declined to voice support for either candidate.

“We need people that support the communities it’s not necessarily republican versus democrat it’s for us. It’s not political it’s to protect the citizens that’s what these people are supposed to do,” said Dr. Steve Pleickhardt.

Meanwhile, several union workers lined up inside the supervisors’ chambers to speak to the supervisors. When supervisors approved the Prince William Digital Gateway in November 2022 — more than 800 acres next to Manassas National Battlefield Park, 15 times larger than Potomac Mills mall, now slated for data centers — several indicated they wanted construction jobs to go to union labor.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Northern Virginia Labor Federation are among the top donors to Democrats on the Board of County Supervisors, who have voted consistently to approve data centers.

In 2014, Stanley Martin Homes proposed building Stonehaven on the property, a mixed-use neighborhood with offices, retail space, and more than 1,000 homes on the property. When supervisors failed to approve a rezoning, the developer pivoted and proposed building data centers in the wake of several other data center projects springing up in western Prince William County.