Call it a canary in the coal mine. Call it the result of years of residents pleading for their local leaders to hear them. Call it a referendum on data centers.
Whatever you call it, the landslide election of Bob Weir to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors with more than 60% of the vote should serve as a wake-up call to those in power in not only Prince William County but those who see data centers as a cash cow for their respective jurisdictions.
Over the past two years, residents in the Gainesville District have watched time and again as elected leaders ignore their pleas to not clear-cut some of the last remaining rural lands in Northern Virginia for flex warehouse space, data centers, an asphalt plant, or myriad other developments sold to them as a way to increase the county’s commercial tax base.
They’ve watched elected leaders campaign on rural preservation, only to perform an about-face when elected and clear the way for more residential development, in the name of equity, on the land they promised to preserve.
On February 7, 2023, 90 Gainesville-area residents spoke against rezoning land for 14 data centers next to hundreds of homes at Linton Hall and Devlin roads. Only five union labor representatives spoke in favor of the project. The meeting lasted until 2:30 a.m.
Afterward, Republicans motioned to deny the rezoning request after hours of public outcry. Democrats killed the motion, keeping the project alive.
It was then residents saw their elected leaders for what they were — caterers to labor unions that have injected tens of thousands of dollars into their campaigns, pushing for more data centers at any cost.
From what we can tell, at least the landowner heard the people and has asked the Board of County Supervisors to defer its decision until a date unknown.
The people in Prince William County are awake; Democrats crossed party lines to elect Weir. I can back up that claim, as I spoke with many conservationists who, over the years, have rallied the vote for Democrats. However, this year, they not only showed up on Election Day for the Republican but also participated in his nomination process in January.
The same distrust and the matching of strange political bedfellows will occur elsewhere if localities like Stafford County, now in data center developer’s crosshairs, follow the Prince William County “data center anywhere” playbook.
However, now the question for Weir and others is: Where should data centers and other commercial development go? It’s no longer good enough to say, “not here, or not over there.”
Though Kerensa Sumers, the Democrat who lost to Weir on Tuesday, incorrectly stated the $4.20 per $100 data center tax rate for Loudoun County when comparing it to the $1.65 rate in Prince William, and then doubled down on the error when pressed, she got one thing right: You can’t continue to lead and grow the state’s second-largest jurisdiction from a position of “no, we can’t do that” or, even worse, “no, we won’t.”
And, frankly, it’s sad to hear residents who once fought mixed-use housing developments like Stonehaven, where they want to build those 14 data centers on Devlin Road, come back to the microphone and say, “we’ve changed our minds: now we want the houses, just not the data centers.”
Prince William County needs more commercial businesses to lessen the tax burden on the over-taxed homeowners. That’s something we’ve known for at least five years since the county’s strategic plan committee created the “moonshot” goal of increasing the county’s commercial tax base by 35%.
Democrats on the Board of County Supervisors know this and, since 2020, have never met a tax increase they didn’t like. The county needs a better plan on where to build data centers involving public input.
How many all-day town hall meetings and “charettes” did the county government hold over the past 15 years to discuss “small area plans” and the long-talked-about “vision” for North Woodbridge or the Rural Crescent boundary line? Quite a few — at least one in every corner of the county.
How many did it hold to seek input for data centers? Very few, if any at all.
If they held the meetings, someone might say, build data centers inside the “data center overlay” district with ample power and water. Build them in industrial areas or in brown spots like old shopping centers along highways.
County leaders have long called for continuing to develop the eastern side of the county, in Dumfries, and Woodbridge, along the Interstate 95 corridor. Build them there and build them taller if space is an issue.
We hear former Deputy County Executive Rebecca Horner has been sent back to the county planning department after several recent departures we told you about last week. She’s familiar with the planning office — she ran the place until she was promoted to deputy county executive in 2020. She may right the ship and create a plan because she’s one of the few people still around with institutional knowledge.
Homeowners — who continue to carry the burden of the cost of local government and schools — deserve a break.
Property taxes have increased year-over-year for the past 10 years (does it really matter if politicians “lower” the tax rate if the tax bill increases?), and they levied a meals tax on anything you buy at a restaurant, without holding a public hearing, despite having a $30 million surplus.
The people have spoken. Will those in power listen?
Data from the Virginia Public Access Project (Elections: Prince William County Prince William County Supervisor – Gainesville (vpap.org) shows Democrat Kerensa Sumers raised $46,583, while Republican Bob Weir raised $20,005.
Sumers largest donors ($1,000 or more) included:
• Donations from Service Employees International Union – Local 512 to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: digital advertisement)
• Donations from ActBlue Virginia to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Coalition for a Brighter PWC to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (address is Catharpin, VA)
• Donations from Democratic Party – Prince William County to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Mulhausen, Jeff to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Muslim Outreach and Volunteer Enterprise to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: canvassing support)
• Donations from Sumers, Kerensa to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (loans)
• Donations from Stanley Martin Companies Inc to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Nova Building Industry Assn to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Kissler, Timothy L to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: catering)
• Donations from Angry, Victor to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Boddye for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Ken to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Compton, Bettie to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
Weir’s largest donors ($1,000 or more) included:
• Donations from Lawson for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Jeanine to Bob B Weir (vpap.org) ($1,000 cash + $1,000 in-kind donation for a campaign fundraiser)
• Donations from Weir, Bobert Burton to Bob B Weir (vpap.org) (loans)
• Donations from Kulick, Kathryn to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Price, James M to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Vega for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Yesli to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Ward, Elizabeth H to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
Notable among Sumers’ donors is virtually every homeowner in the Catharpin Valley Estates neighborhood. This was the neighborhood that attempted to join the Prince William Digital Gateway CPA once they believed its passage was inevitable.
It would be interesting to learn who the contributors to “Coalition for a Brighter PWC” (The Virginia Public Access Project (vpap.org)) are. Since it has a Catharpin, VA address, could this be residents of the Sanders Lane area who want to put together a data center assemblage?
Just a guess. Draw your own conclusions.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
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By Ian Lovejoy
If it’s a day that ends in “Y”, then there’s a data center debate going on somewhere in Prince William County.
While much attention has been given to the controversial Digital Gateway, another large data center development is pending, impacting several neighborhoods, schools, and businesses.
Rezoning for The Devlin Technology Park, a 4.25 million square foot data center project, is scheduled for a vote at the Tuesday, February 7 Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting. The original vote was deferred in September, and many thought would be brought back up later this year.
Surprisingly, it became on the BOS agenda much sooner than anticipated.
The merits of the project will be debated, no doubt. With the battle lines being drawn along familiar terrain- those who benefit financially on one side and those who live with the ongoing impacts of the decision on the other. None of this is a particularly new debate in land use- the timing of this vote, however, is quite unusual.
As many are aware, the Gainesville district has no representative- the board is not whole.
With the February 21 special election looming, one cannot help but imagine this vacancy has played some role in the expedited vote for Devlin. With board ranks diminished the number of votes needed to pass a rezoning drops, an additional potential voice of decent goes unheard.
While it’s true this project is wholly contained within the Brentsville district, decisions of this magnitude are left to the whole board for a reason- so that countywide impacts can be discussed and considered. It’s increasingly impossible for the long-term ramifications of large land use decisions to remain contained within arbitrarily drawn political lines.
With the February special election just weeks away, the board has only one honorable choice- defer the Devlin Technology Park vote until after a new Gainesville representative is seated. As a former city councilman, I can attest firsthand that this may not be what the law requires, but is certainly considered best practice.
Taking up the vote now is an unforced error from a board already marred in controversy, and at best, reeks of poor planning, and at worst, gives the impression of a board attempting to expedite a vote to take advantage of a board vacancy.
Defer the vote.
Ian Lovejoy is running for the Virginia House of Delegates District 22 seat in Manassas and Prince William County.
The Democratic Party charter states: “What we seek for our Nation, we hope for all people – individual freedom in the framework of a just society, political freedom in the framework of meaningful participation by all citizens.
Bound by the U.S. Constitution, aware that a party must be responsive to be worthy of responsibility, we pledge ourselves to open, honest endeavor and to the conduct of public affairs in a manner worthy of a society of free people.”
Those principles have been repeatedly violated by the current Chair of the Prince William Board of County supervisors, Ann Wheeler.
Her blatant servitude to business interests has undermined a just society. Wheeler inhibited meaningful citizen participation by hastily scheduling community engagement meetings at the height of the COVID pandemic, refusing to delay them, and then barely acknowledging resident concerns.
Her disregard for due diligence proves she is insufficiently responsive to be worthy of the responsibility. Under Wheeler’s “leadership,” the county failed to conduct even a basic cost analysis of infrastructure and public services required for the Prince William Digital Gateway, nor did they conduct a noise study or assess electrical power needs.
The board also deliberately deferred a water study recommended by the county’s own Watershed Management branch and neighboring Fairfax County. Wheeler’s aversion to transparency for the sake of political expedience demonstrates she can neither openly nor honestly conduct public affairs in a manner worthy of her constituents.
County staff and supervisors repeatedly hid behind non-disclosure agreements to obscure the truth about the land under development or available for data center use and neglected to respond to multiple inquiries from citizens and their attorneys for essential information to inform the public debate.
Ann Wheeler’s tenure has been dominated by contentiousness, divisiveness, and suspicion. Every day she spends in the office further damages the Democratic brand in Prince William County. She needs to be removed.
It is our civic duty to reject public officials who have betrayed our trust and replace them with better candidates that will restore it. With Deshundra Jefferson’s announcement last Wednesday, Prince William voters now have both a fine candidate and an opportunity for redemption.
Vote for Deshundra Jefferson in the Democratic primary on June 20.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
Former Treasurer, Gainesville Magisterial District Democratic Committee
PLN accepts letters to the editor on issues of local importance. Submit your letters to [email protected].
By Jennifer T. Wall
Prince William County School Board, Gainesville District
Over the past 18 months, I have repeatedly heard the statement to the effect that it is the western end of the county's turn to feel the pains of development. This statement ignores the fact that over the last two decades, the west end of Prince William has in fact experienced explosive growth.
Anyone who knows Prince William County and has lived in this county for the last two decades will agree that many areas in western Prince William have been completely transformed from what they once were.
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By Mel Kent
Manassas
Friends and neighbors, I sent this message a bit ago to my email list and thought I'd share it with you.
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Chair Ann Wheeler acknowledged that the Prince William Digital Gateway CPA review was “confusing” and announced a delay in bringing it to the Board of County Supervisors for a vote.
Despite the compromised nature of the September 14th Planning Commission public hearing, there was no mention of invalidating its recommendation or conducting a new hearing under more trustworthy conditions. So, you can expect the pause is merely designed to give weary citizens time to forget.
Now we must pivot almost immediately to another public hearing on updates to the county’s comprehensive plan this Wednesday evening.
The comprehensive plan is an exhaustive document that the average citizen cannot possibly digest and review in a single evening. We would normally rely on professional government staff and our elected officials to look out for our best interests.
Unfortunately, we have very recently been reminded that they cannot be trusted to do so. It is far more likely that they intend to sneak sweetheart deals for their developer cronies past us, literally in the dark of night.
Unless you have the time and expertise to interpret the myriad changes, you won’t notice subtle alterations with significant impacts. Watch for blanket zoning recharacterizations that sidestep contentious CPA reviews and surreptitiously authorize data centers where public outcry would have created obstacles. I would specifically watch for this to happen in the areas where Devlin Technology Park and John Marshall Commons were contested.
The Comprehensive Plan update is too important and sweeping to be relegated to late-night railroading. If the Prince William Board of County Supervisors is confident of their vision for the future of this county, they should exhibit the transparency to explain it to the citizens and the courage to debate it during the upcoming 2023 election cycle.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
By Stewart Schwartz
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Prior to midnight Monday, September 19 comment deadline, twelve non-profit organizations submitted a joint letter urging the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to reject its proposed $76 Billion TransAction 2045 long-range transportation plan.
In our view, TransAction is unaffordable and ineffective and takes the region in the wrong direction. It represents a stapling together of local wishlists and not the results of a bottom-up alternatives analysis.
- The TransAction plan is supposed to guide transportation investments but its $76 billion price tag could exceed available funding by as much as four times.
- Over 1,000 miles of new highway and arterial lanes in TransAction would cause Northern Virginians to drive even longer distances, with the increase in highway driving far exceeding the rate of population growth in Loudoun, Prince William, and parts of Fairfax.
- The plan fails to lower greenhouse gas emissions anymore than what the region can already anticipate in the future (and far short of climate targets) despite spending $76 billion.
- TransAction fails to address the housing and land use issues that are the root of many transportation problems in the region.
- However, NVTA’s scenario analyses show that incentives and pricing, with equity provisions incorporated, and anticipated lasting increases in teleworking achieve largely the same improvements without spending $76 billion and paving over Northern Virginia.
The groups call on NVTA to create a new approach that combines land use, transit, housing close to jobs and transit, and pricing strategies. The region needs a plan that prioritizes a network of vibrant, walkable, bikeable, inclusive transit-oriented communities to reduce the amount we have to drive, improve access to jobs, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030.
An improved TransAction process with bottom-up scenarios and alternatives would make the selection process more transparent, methodical, and responsive to regional needs and better inform the NVTA project selections.
Here is the letter and another from the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
By Sara Brescia
On Monday, September 12, Osbourn high school in Manassas experienced the threat of gun violence.
It was a chaotic and frightening moment for the city and the school community, which was unfounded.
Although this incident ended without further incident, the question of student safety remains urgent. As anyone who has ever been in the vicinity of Old Town Manassas during school hours knows, Osbourn High School struggles with a truancy problem.
Walking through Old Town at lunch hour, you might be forgiven for thinking Osbourn has an open campus policy (it does not).
At the School Board meeting on Tuesday, September 13 — the day after the gun violence threat-a concerned parent spoke during citizen’s comments, questioning whether the schools can keep children safe when children’s whereabouts are frequently unknown as a matter of routine. How can a school successfully implement a lockdown procedure when so many kids are off campus without leave? How is the school supposed to account for their safety?
Fortuitously, the School Board received a pre-scheduled presentation from the Executive Director of Student Services, Dr. Chevese Thomas, on the 2022-2023 Crisis Plan at the same meeting. This was a perfect opportunity for members of the School Board to ask probing, insightful questions about our crisis procedures and how they were applied to this specific incident.
One current School Board member did ask Dr. Thomas whether protocols were applied to the incident on Monday, September 12th.
The response was underwhelming, “Yesterday we did implement the plan… there were rumors… we did respond, we did use the plan… we did implement the plan… we handled that according to the plan.”
No additional questions were asked for clarification or specifics on the incident and the response. The only further questioning was whether the Crisis Team had debriefed following the incident and whether emotional support resources were made available to students.
I would have approached this moment differently if I were on the School Board. I would have asked Dr. Thomas to describe the events of Monday, September 12. I would have asked her to describe “the plan” and how, strictly, it was implemented.
I would have asked Dr. Thomas to address the question raised by the concerned parent: how does the school account for the safety of students in a lockdown scenario who are absent from campus without leave? Has the Crisis Team factored in the unusually large truancy issue at Osbourn? How?
On the topic of truancy, I would have had some additional questions. What are our attendance procedures at the high school? Have we studied our mid-day truancy issue? How many students leave the campus and do not return to class? How many students leave the campus and eventually find their way back to class? How are hall passes monitored? What controls have we established around the early release/late arrival program? What security procedures do we have in place around the perimeter of the campus?
The School Board is an oversight body. School Board members must ask good, detailed questions of school officials, especially on matters of urgent community concern.
I plan to do just that if I am elected to the School Board.
Brescia is a candidate seeking one of three open seats on the Manassas City School Board during the November 8, 2022, General Election. Here’s more information about the upcoming elections from the city’s website.
