The county Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission will hold a joint public hearing on October 17, 2023, to discuss new rules on where the server farms that power the internet should be located in the county. Data centers are built on large campuses that take up acres of land and use excessive amounts of electricity to power the servers, and water to cool them.
The county has seen three major applications for new data center complexes -- one by Stafford Hospital, one near the county landfill on Eskimo Hill Road, and another in Falmouth. The county Planning Commission, along with data center operators like Amazon Web Services and Stack Infrastructure, spent three months examining where data centers should go.
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Updated 7:40 p.m. -- The Stafford County School Board is setting its budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2025.
The School Board will begin working earnestly on the coming year's budget in October. The budget timeline has been moved a couple of weeks earlier than the previous year to better align with the county Board of Supervisors' budget development timeline -- the governing body that funds the school division.
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Graham Park Road in Dumfries will go on a road diet.
Two of the four lanes on the street will soon be used for pull-off lanes for OmniRide buses. A new bus shelter will also be erected on the road. The town council unanimously approved the change on August 8, 2023.
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The Prince William County Planning Commission signed off on a plan to let a homeowner sell guns from his house near Manassas.
The commission approved a request for a special use permit approval to allow a home business processing and dealing in firearm sales, transfers, gunsmithing, and firearms manufacturing at a home on Wheeler Ridge Drive, in the Blackburn residential neighborhood behind a Salvation Army thrift store on Balls Ford Road.
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Virginia Railway Express passengers said there is room for improvement on the state's only commuter railroad.
There is also a sense of urgency from VRE officials to hike fares raise the cost of fares, and introduce Saturday service.
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On Saturdays, OmniRide will expand its local bus and transit services in western Prince William County.
The OmniRide Commission voted unanimously on Thursday, July 13, 2023, to expand local services to the area for the first time. Those services include OmniRide local bus routes 65N and 67, which travel between Manassas Mall and the Northern Virginia Community College Manassas Campus.
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The Dumfries Town Council approved a request to add more video slot machines at Rosies Gaming Emporium.
During a July 11, 2023 meeting, the town council allowed the gaming parlor to add ten more machines, for a total of 170.
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Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. LaTanya McDade told the Dumfries Town Council she's working on several improvements to county schools.
McDade said she's working on a new strategic plan for the county schools, the state's second-largest school division.
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The Dumfries Town Council received an update on its efforts to attract new businesses.
Lacy Beasley, President of Retail Strategies, Mead Silsbee, COO of Retail Strategies, and Hannah Simmons, Portfolio Director of Retail Strategie, made a presentation during the June 6, 2023, Town Council meeting after the town government retained the firm to gain retailers' interest in opening up shop next to what will be the largest gaming destination in Northern Virginia.
