“To the George Washington District, over the next few weeks, you may hear half-truths or see social media posts from people unwilling to learn or understand how local government works,” Supervisor Deuntay Diggs of the George Washington District wrote. “Stafford County now has the strictest data center standards in Virginia—yet for some, that’s still not enough.”
Diggs defended the Board of Supervisors’ recent handling of a contentious meeting, saying that the agenda change was made “to accommodate an attorney whose wife had recently undergone surgery,” not to silence public comment. “The FOIA request submitted will confirm these facts—but it will likely never see the light of day, because there is simply no there there,” he added.
Falmouth Supervisor Meg Bohmke publicly rebuked Diggs’ statement. “With all due respect, I politely disagree with the second-to-last paragraph in your text,” Bohmke responded. “It was unbelievably disrespectful to all of the people that came out to listen/support and speak about Data Center regulations… and for you to insinuate that Protect Stafford should have stayed until the bitter end of the meeting at 2:30 am is totally incredulous.” She added, “You owe them an apology.”
The exchange came just after a marathon joint hearing in which the Stafford County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission voted past 2:30 a.m. to adopt sweeping new restrictions on where and how data centers may be built, Potomac Local News reported. The reforms expand setbacks from homes and schools, add environmental and noise standards, and passed 4–2–1 after months of public debate.
