The data center behemoth pushed the board to waive its bylaws and approve financial incentives to benefit the company for 25 years. During that time, Amazon promises to build server farms in various spots across the county.
An estimated $6 billion in water and infrastructure upgrades are needed before Amazon can begin to build. Under the proposal, the county would provide tax breaks for up to 60 percent of annual tax revenues generated by the server farms in exchange for Amazon to make the upgrades, to power the water and power-hungry data centers that power the internet.
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Two of Prince William County’s public servants, Ann Wheeler and Jeanine Lawson, were recognized by the Board of County supervisors amid their retirement from public service. The two were honored at the board’s December 19 meeting in Woodbridge.
Chair-At-large Ann Wheeler, a Democrat, is leaving the board after losing a Primary Election to Deshundra Jefferson, a Democrat, in June 2023. Wheeler served as the Chair at-large on the board for a four-year term starting in 2020.
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Amazon wants to build 510,000 square feet of data center space, prompting a special Stafford County Board of Supervisors meeting on Thursday, December 28, 2023.
Supervisors will be asked to approve 510,000 square feet of data center space on 50 acres next to Stafford Hospital, the Potomac Church site. Two server farms will sit on the site if approved.
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“With the recent vote to approve the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway, Prince William County is on track to become the data center capital of North America — if not the world. Critical to the project’s approval was Supervisor Kenny Boddye’s decision to abstain, allowing it to pass on a split 4-3-1 vote,” reports Shannon Clark at the Prince William Times.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved the contentious project after a record-breaking 28-hour meeting that began at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, and wrapped up just after 1 p.m. today, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023.
The rezoning vote clears the way for two companies, QTS and Compass Datacenters, Inc., to build the nearly 100-foot tall buildings on what has been billed as the world’s most significant data center complex on nearly 900 acres next to the battlefield, a tourist magnet, the site of the first major Civil War battle in 1861.
Once developed, Prince William County will eclipse neighboring Loudoun, which, for years, had been data king, boasting the most server farms on the planet.
Conservationists opposed the proposal citing water concerns and the strain on the east coast’s electrical grid. Supporters of the plan say the new centers would provide a revenue windfall for the county, as much as $460 million to pay police, firefighters, and teachers.
Four Democrats, Ann Wheeler (At-large), Margaret Franklin (Woodbridge), Victor Angry (Neabsco), and Andrea Bailey (Potomac), voted to approve the project. Republicans Yesli Vega (Coles), Jeanine Lawson (Brentsville), and Bob Wier (Gainesville) voted against the measure. Democrat Kenny Boddye (Occoquan) abstained from the vote after his substitution motion to approve two of the three data center complexes (the two furthest from the national park border) failed.
“If they’re not built here, they’re going to be built somewhere else in Virginia, and they’re going to be on the PJM [power] grid. They’re not going anywhere,” said Wheeler. “And these 30 groups that oppose them are all conservation groups that oppose all development. That’s what they do.”
Bailey and Angry approved the projects in the community’s best interest. “I did not ‘sell out.’ That’s not what happened here,” said Bailey.
In October, the supervisors decided to spend as much as $400 million to establish a climate mitigation plan, vowing to cut the county government’s greenhouse emissions to half of what they were in 2005 by 2035.
“The way supervisors affect climate change is with their land-use votes,” said Vega, who opposed the project.
The centers will use large amounts of water and electricity to power the servers inside the buildings, which will sit along Pageland Lane. Multiple homeowners banded together to sell their homes to the data center firms in exchange for large payouts, sums that many who attended the public meeting did not want to discuss.
“It’ll be a public record when the sales go through,” one woman told Potomac Local News.
Supervisors have been debating the project since 2021. Last year, the board approved a comprehensive plan amendment clearing the way data centers next to the battlefield.
“Compass Datacenters is grateful that the Board of County Supervisors has approved its rezoning application, affirming its alignment with the County’s 2022 plan for data center development,” stated a corporate spokesman in a statement emailed to Potomac Local News following the vote. “We thank the Board of County Supervisors, hundreds of project supporters and community members for their thoughtful feedback at this meeting and over the past year. We are committed to being a good neighbor in Prince William County and continuing a dialogue with all of our stakeholders as this project moves forward.”
Next to the property owners who agreed to sell their homes, the most vocal supporters have been labor unions who stand to benefit from the construction of the new centers and the expansion of government services spurred by additional tax revenues from the data centers.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has donated $130,000 to the five Democrats who make up the board majority in 2023. Since taking office in 2020, that majority has never voted against a data center rezoning.
IBEW gave $49,000 to Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye, his highest donor.
Four of the five were re-elected to a new four-year term in November 2023. Ann Wheeler, chair-at-large, finishes her term at the end of the month after losing a primary election bid to Deshundra Jefferson, who campaigned on reigning in data center development near homes.
Several Democrats in the state legislature have been watching the Board of County Supervisors’ actions and say they will introduce legislation in the January 2024 General Assembly to govern how and where the massive data farms are approved.
Gov. Glenn Younkin has been bullish on data centers, announcing a $35 billion investment from Amazon to build data centers across the state earlier this year.
Prince William Digital Gateway opponents gathered this morning, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in a prayer circle outside the Prince William County Government Center in one last-ditch effort to oppose what's billed as the world's most significant data center complex.
Those gathered said they wanted to protect some of the last rural land in Northern Virginia, its water, and the animals that live there, next to the Manassas Battlefield National Park, the site of the first major Civil War battle. "We all are the water that is breaking down this mountain. The story isn’t written yet. No matter how today ends, it’s just beginning," said Gainesville resident Karen Sheehan. They're fighting nearly 900 acres of data center space proposed in 2021 by QTS and Compass data center companies, which manage server farms that power the internet. "We're standing here, as we have for the past two years, to try and preserve our land," said resident Bill Wright. They accuse the companies of trying to "pave over our paradise" and driving people out of the country. "People will no longer want to live here," said another project opponent. They accuse five Democrats on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, who have consistently voted to bring more massive data centers to the county -- buildings that could contain multiple football fields as tall as 100 feet -- of siding with special interests, like International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who want to centers, instead of residents who oppose them. "These supervisors... if money is so important to them, they are going to burn in hell for it," another woman said during the gathering of 35 protesters. "If they have not been reading the documents we've been sending them (about the harmful side-effects of the data centers), that's on them. "I pray for the three (conservative) supervisors who have consistently fought this," said another woman. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has donated $130,000 to the five Democrats who comprise most of the board. Since taking office in 2020, that majority has never voted against a data center rezoning. The Board of County Supervisors met at 10 a.m. today to hear the case and decide whether or not to approve the requested rezonings that would change the area where the centers would be built, along Pageland Lane, from is rural-suburban land-use designation to one that supports data centers. The county's planning commission recommended approving the project along similar party lines -- commissioners appointed by Democrats voted in favor, and those appointed by Republicans voted against. The county planning department, which weighs these projects on their merits, has consistently opposed them. Data centers are massive consumers of water and electricity, and these would be built outside the county's data-center opportunity zone, and area planners said is ripe with those resources. Residents living along Pageland Lane banded together two years ago to sell their properties to the data centers looking for cheaper land to build outside of the current data center capital, neighboring Loudoun County. At today's Board of County Supervisors meeting, they said the land has lost its rural character due to massive overhead powerlines that serve the data centers to the north in Loudoun. The approval of this project will help generate $462 million in new taxes, they say, to improve county services and pay police officers and firefighters higher salaries. "It's getting us to a competitive level with Loudoun County...we don't have the educational system that Louduon does. Loudoun is the wealthiest county in the country. Top 20 public school systems. Where did that come from? I grew up in Loudoun, and they were in the very same position that Prince William is now -- too much reliance on real estate taxes, citizens choking on it. And they went the data center route, and I think that's the same blueprint we should be using," said JP Raflo, an 18-year Pageland Lane resident. "We loved our place. But then what happened? In the last 20 years, they built transmission lines off our land, and property bills went down. Nobody wants to come here. And then this is the opportunity to use those benefits of the power lines, getting the data center that Loudoun uses our lines. So why we should not?" said Ali Imam, a 21-year Pageland Lane resident. Both benefit financially if supervisors approve the rezoning, though neither would say by how much. Democrats, who make up the majority on the board, are expected to approve the rezoning, but not before a meeting that's expected to draw hundreds of people to speak for and against the project, lasting into the early morning hour of Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023.
“For those members of the public wishing to speak on any of the rezonings, signups will begin in person at 8 a.m. in the atrium of the McCoart Building. The building will open at 8 a.m. and members of the public will not be allowed to sign up before 8 a.m. Those wishing to speak remotely may sign up online and must sign up before 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.”
The Board of County Supervisors will meet at 10 a.m. to hear two rezoning cases for the long-debated Prince William Digital Gateway. It will clear the way for nearly 900 acres of data center space next to Manassas National Battlefield Park if approved. The site of the first major Civil War battle, a total of 532,727 visited the park in 2022.
If constructed, Prince William County would have more data centers than anywhere else globally, taking the title from neighboring Loudoun County.
