The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will discuss data centers at its meeting on Tuesday, June 26, 2023.
The Board will review recommendations made by a committee tasked by the county Planning Commission to establish where data centers should be located in the county. They include setting rules on how the centers are designed, how much power and water they use, building them away from neighborhoods to reduce noise complaints, and keeping them from harming natural resources.
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WRC-TV: “Data center expansion in Northern Virginia may have led to a stunning upset in Tuesday’s primary, when a political newcomer defeated the Prince William County Board of Supervisors chair.”
“Democrat Ann Wheeler has been the driving force behind a massive change in the county’s comprehensive plan, opening the door to data center development even in rural areas of the county.”
“Last year, she led a majority on the Board of Supervisors that approved the Prince William Digital Gateway, a plan to rezone more than 2,000 acres of farmland to accept data centers, which house the computer servers and hardware required to support modern internet use. The plan – approved despite vocal opposition from residents concerned that the data centers are noisy, ugly and consume massive amounts of electricity that require the addition of high-voltage transmission lines – prompted one of the region’s biggest land-use disputes in decades.”
Three years ago, my husband and I moved to our retirement home. A year later, this turmoil began. When a billion-dollar company and another multi-million dollar company come charging into your community with unlimited wealth and proceed to turn your world upside down, it truly is tragic for anyone, but especially so for my senior community of Heritage Hunt, with 3,500 people and an average age of 75, located only an hour west of Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital.
With the advent of data centers to make our world connected at intergalactic speeds, people do not realize what the adverse effects of a proposed data center alley can do to the community in which they encroach: the destruction of our environment and wildlife, the pressure on our overtaxed electrical grid; the polluted air with particulate matter from diesel-fired, backup generators; the depletion of our watershed; potential 24/7 noise from rooftop A/C systems on hyper-scale buildings standing 90 feet tall and beyond; and, most importantly, the disrespect to the thousands of Civil War soldiers buried on the hallowed grounds of the Manassas National Battlefield Park adjacent to this proposed large data center alley, the same data center alley adjacent to my retirement community. Even our Conway Robinson State Forest abuts this project.
Many of us seniors here have banded together in opposition. Letters have been written, phone calls have been made, and offices have been frequented by every local, state, and federal elected official to little avail. The political maneuvering is profound and unprecedented, especially non-replies to Virginia Freedom of Information Act requests. One after the other, rezoning and special use permits were approved for even more nearby monstrosities during the darkest days of COVID under Non-Disclosure Agreements by the majority of our elected County Board of Supervisors.
Where are the integrity, morals, insight, and foresight of what they are proposing for our county? Why have numerous studies not been ordered in advance of this new venture when there has been nothing but citizen outcry, along with the disapproval of over 30 environmental groups, county commissions, our own county offices, and even disapproval by Ken Burns, filmmaker of the famous Civil War miniseries.
We, seniors, have been around the block a few times, as they say, and we know it is a travesty that the almighty dollar has taken precedence over our cultural heritage and the protection of mother earth for our progeny and their progeny.
There are many forms of elder abuse, and I believe that corporate America has just established a new version of the textbooks by setting their sites on land adjacent to 3,500 of us seniors, causing undue stress on our health and welfare for the past 18 months with much more elder abuse to come if this project goes forward.
I just want to cry because no one is listening to me, because no one is showing any foresight because there is no undoing the devastation once done. I cry for all those who will never know the historic and beautiful Prince William County in the Commonwealth of Virginia that I have known for the past 47 years.
I will always stand by the Virginia State Seal, Sic Semper Tyrannis: Sic semper tyrannis is a Latin phrase meaning “thus always to tyrants.” In contemporary parlance, it means tyrannical leaders will inevitably be overthrown.
The phrase also suggests that bad but justified outcomes should, or eventually will, befall tyrants.
Elizabeth Martorana
Gainesville
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Prince William Times: “Opponents of the Prince William Digital Gateway were dealt another blow Thursday when a judge dismissed a second lawsuit challenging the data center development.”
“Both lawsuits were filed by residents late last year in an effort to stop the 2,139-acre data center corridor proposed just north of the Manassas National Battlefield Park from moving forward. Both suffered the same fate: dismissals from two different judges in separate hearings held just a few weeks apart.”
A report from WUSA-TV about how fliers promoting QTS data centers ended up in school lunch bags has been pulled from the TV station's website.
We asked why the story had been removed and are awaiting a response.
Deleted WUSA-TV story: “Prince William County residents were surprised to find pro data center flyers among donated food for students and their families."
"For months, data center projects within Prince William County have been at the center of several meetings with hours-long debates and much controversy. From sound levels and health issues to the impact on the environment and national landmarks, residents have been pushing back against data centers in the county."
"Prince William County Schools Spokesperson Diana Gulotta told WUSA9 that the QTS Data Center flyers were placed in food donations for students and families. The flyers also included the logo of the school district's educational foundation, SPARK."
Prince William County Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson's Facebook page: "I was disgusted to learn that QTS Data manipulated PWCS Title 1 elementary schools to peddle propaganda for their proposed data center project along Pageland Ln….I believe that the QTS moral compass is blind and prioritizes financial gain over the well-being of our future generation. This is yet another example of their underhanded tactics, which place QTS profit over Prince William County families."
It's no secret QTS is looking to expand in Prince William County.
Last month, PLN told you QTS offered to pay to widen Pageland Lane, a three-mile, sleepy, rural road, to four lanes with 10-foot pedestrian paths on both sides. Planners envision a series of roundabouts at key intersections.
The upgraded Pageland Lane would carry 22,000 trips per day — a standard set by the Institute of Transportation Professionals, an industry trade group, a policy that QTS says it chose to adhere to.
However, data centers employ few people, which has led many residents who live nearby to be fearful the wider road would be a key component to a Bi-County Parkway, linking Interstate 95 and Dulles Airport via Route 234 in Prince William County and Northstar Boulevard in Loudoun County.
QTS offered to widen the road in exchange for approval of more t than 20 data centers at the Prince William Digital Gateway, next to Manassas National Battlefield. QTS is one of two companies vying to build data centers on nearly 900 acres next to the national park, hallowed ground from the Civil War.
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“Delaware Land LLC, associated with prominent data center developer Chuck Kuhn, is in contract to purchase 14 parcels between Routes 29 and 55 near Gainesville, with plans to build nearly 2 million square feet of data centers if it can get the Board of County Supervisors to go along with what will surely be a controversial rezoning.”
“Among the 81.9 acres proposed for rezoning is the Hillwood Camping Park, home to a number of mobile homes and campgrounds on over 15 acres.”
QTS inquired into developing a data center campus along Pageland Lane, outside of the county’s designated Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District, as early as the summer of 2020.
Discussions included the Prince William County Department of Economic Development, despite the fact that such development was at odds with the county’s stated land use policy. QTS signed a non-disclosure agreement with Economic Development and their proposal was not revealed to the public until February 8, 2022.
On September 9, 2022, a QTS attorney signed a 31-page letter rescinding prior assurances made during the review of the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal. This letter was not unveiled until the eleventh hour of a Planning Commission public hearing after public comment had concluded.
More broken promises were evident in QTS’ Digital Gateway rezoning application of January 19, 2023, where it was revealed that data center buildings adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park would be 75 feet high instead of the promised 45.
Now QTS is embarking upon a disingenuous public relations campaign claiming honorable intentions. When a demonstration was planned yesterday to call out their hypocrisy, QTS spin doctor Nick Blessing characterized it as “civil disorder.”
More like civic engagement, which QTS prefers to usurp.
QTS, who rode into town cloaked in secrecy, oozing deception and flaunting exploitation, now tries to repackage themselves as our benevolent saviors. Nobody is buying it, and it’s getting embarrassing to watch.
They need to click their heels together and go back to Kansas. Maybe their lawyers can figure out how to write this Prince William Digital Gateway fiasco off as a tax loss.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
PLN accepts letters to the editor on issues of local importance. Submit your letters to [email protected].
The second scheduled public meeting about a proposal to build 20 data centers on 876 acres near the Manassas National Battlefield was canceled late today.
QTS, the firm proposing the complex, announced the cancelation of the public meeting scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn in Haymarket. It's the second time in two weeks that a public meeting for the proposed data center complex is scheduled in western Prince William County.
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A new data center proposed for the Prince William Digital Gateway would come with an expanded Pageland Lane, a street once identified as key to building a new bi-county parkway between Interstate 95 and Dulles International Airport.
QTS Data Centers proposes 20 data centers on 876 acres next to the Manassas National Battlefield. The land next to the hallowed ground is now earmarked for data centers after the Prince William Board of County Supervisors revised the county's comprehensive plan in November 2022, clearing the way for 27 million square feet of data center space next to the battlefield.
