However, as we reported Monday, April 17, a Prince William County school said the school was double booked with the town hall meeting and a back-to-school night for parents of rising 6th-grade students.
The school had inadvertently double-booked the schedule (human error). The organization is looking to find another location to host the meeting and that information will be shared once confirmed.
— Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta statement to PLN
Residents opposed to more data centers had planned a demonstration outside the school before the event began.
In a statement to PLN following our story about the cancelation, QTS spokesman Nick DeSarno said it’s working to reschedule the event, that the firm had the event on the books since late last month, and only learned of the back-to-school night on the day before its scheduled event.
“QTS Data Centers was today notified by Bull Run Middle School that a conflicting event at the school would necessitate the cancelation of QTS’ open house despite school officials last week confirming the QTS event. As a result, QTS is working to reschedule the event to provide the Prince William community with important information about the PW Digital Gateway project and its many benefits to the county,” said DeSarno.
The April 18 QTS Open House event had been planned since late March. Throughout the planning process, QTS Data Centers (QTS) was never notified of another event scheduled for the same day or anything that may disrupt QTS’ Open House event. The following timeline lays out the planning of the event, coordination with Bull Run Middle School staff, and the subsequent cancellation of the event.
- March 30, 2023: On March 30, QTS submitted a request to hold the event via the school’s automated scheduling system, Community Use.
- April 3, 2023: On April 3, QTS received confirmation the event had been approved. Following confirmation, QTS coordinated with Bull Run Middle School staff to arrange a tour of the school and specifics of the event.
- April 13, 2023: On April 13, QTS toured the school and confirmed the logistics of the event with school staff.
- April 17, 2023: The morning of April 17, QTS received a notification from the Community Use scheduling system that the event had been canceled. That same day, the school calendar was updated with the event entitled, “Rising 6th?Grade Information Night,” scheduled for Tuesday, April 18.
The data proposed data center would sit on some of the more than 800 acres earmarked by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, approved last year, for Prince William Digital Gateway.
Residents opposed to more data centers in Prince William County, on track to eclipse neighboring Loudoun County for the most in the world, were planning a press conference to oppose the project “The attitude of Prince William County residents, and our message to QTS, is simple and concise: go away. We are not buying their insincere overtures to placate us while they concurrently plot to destroy us,” they noted in a press release.
QTS already operates at least one data center in Prince William County, next to the George Mason University Science and Technology Campus near Manassas.
In November 2022, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors amended its comprehensive plan to allow 27 million square feet of data center space next to the national battlefield park, the site of two major Civil War battles, a national tourism destination.
The principal at Bull Run Middle School near Gainesville, the site of an open house for a proposed data center next to Manassas National Park tomorrow, April 18, 2023, canceled the event. We first reported the event on Saturday, April 15, 2023.
Instead, the school will host an open house for parents of rising sixth-grade students. “I am not sure of the mix-up, but it is corrected,” states school principal Matthew Phythian in an email.
The data center would sit on some of the more than 800 acres earmarked by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, approved last year, for Prince William Digital Gateway.
Residents opposed to more data centers in Prince William County, on track to eclipse neighboring Loudoun County for the most in the world, were planning a press conference to oppose the project “The attitude of Prince William County residents, and our message to QTS, is simple and concise: go away. We are not buying their insincere overtures to placate us while they concurrently plot to destroy us,” they noted in a press release.
QTS already operates at least one data center in Prince William County, next to the George Mason University Science and Technology Campus near Manassas.
In November 2022, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors amended its comprehensive plan to allow 27 million square feet of data center space next to the national battlefield park, the site of two major Civil War battles, a national tourism destination.
Prince William County will use cameras to cite drivers speeding through school and construction zones and those who fail to stop at red lights.
Drivers caught on camera violating the law will be mailed tickets starting in August 2023. The Board of County Supervisors approved a pilot program that will place cameras near nine public schools and eight interactions in hopes of curbing speeding and improving overall driver behavior, supervisors said.
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Speed and red light cameras could be coming to Prince William County in a pilot program to improve drivers' bad behavior.
The county would authorize speed cameras outside 13 public schools at three yet-to-be-determined construction zones and red light cameras at eight intersections. Prince William County Transportation Department Director Rick Canizales suggested turning on cameras in August 2023 for a one-year pilot program that would track the cameras' effectiveness.
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Updated -- There are two major developments in two land-use cases in Prince William County today, both involving Stanley Martin Homes.
First: Stanley Martin Homes want to defer the rezoning request for the Devlin Road Technology Park -- the 270-acre plot near Gainesville where the home developer says it wants to build 135 homes next to Chris Yung Elementary School and multiple data centers on the remaining land.
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Prince William County General Registrar told PLN the new ballot drops would correct the issue with incorrectly-sized ballots that slowed voting when polls opened at 6 a.m.
At some polls, elections chiefs were instructed to fold ballots and place them into an envelope because they were too wide to be inserted into a scanner. Those ballots amounted to only a handful” and will be counted when polls close at 7 p.m., said General Registrar Eric Olsen.
Olsen said voter turnout is higher than normal for this election, with three percent of the electorate turning out to vote during the early voting period that ended Saturday, February 18, 2023.
Olsen said that two polling places had seen more than 100 voters, while others have been slow.
Voter turnout is expected to be less than 10% of the registered voters in the district, which is common for Special Elections like these, said Olsen.
Original post 8 a.m. — Elections officials in Prince William County are scrambling to fix ballot problems in today’s Special Election.
OrVoters who turned out today for a Special Election in the Gainesville District to replace the former county supervisor who resigned last year couldn’t insert their ballots into scanning machines.
The paper ballots at all 14 polling precincts in the Gainesville District were about a sixteenth of an inch too wide to fit into the scanners. That prompted some precincts to require voters to fold their ballots and insert them into an envelope for counting at the end of today, Election Day.
Meanwhile, the poll chiefs are no longer using the too-wide-to-insert ballots, which were printed in mass quantities, and instead are printing ballots on-site and handing them to voters when they arrive at the polling place.
That process will be in place until the county’s elections office can print and deliver new ballots, sometime before 10 a.m., Prince William County General Registrar Eric Olsen.
“This is unacceptable,” said Carol Czarkowski, with the Prince William County GOP.
Today’s ballot problems are reminiscent of similar problems during the 2020 Presidential Election when two ballot scanners at Battlefield High School were not working properly, said Czarkowski.
Olsen said the ballots were tested and that his staff found no issues. Ballots used during early voting, January 17 to February 18, were printed on-site and given to voters when they arrived at the polls.
Olsen told PLN he would investigate what led to the improper size ballots and take up the issue with the printer.
Today, voters are choosing between Democrat Kerensa Sumers or Republican Bob Weir to replace Peter Candland, a Republican who served 1o year on the Board of County Supervisors before resigning in December.
As we told you yesterday, the Special Election is a referendum on developing more data centers in Prince William County — large server farms that power the internet — and continued development of the county’s remaining rural lands.
Sumers supports more development, while Weir promises to oppose growth near Bull Run Mountain. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m.
Click here to find out where to vote.
A Special Election will decide who will serve the remainder of Peter Candland’s term on the Board of County Supervisors ending on December 31, 2023. Democrat Kerensa Sumers and Republican Bob Weir are vying to replace Candland, who resigned in December 2022 after ten years serving on the board.
You can find out where to vote here. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 18, was the last day to vote early.
The election is widely seen as a referendum on developing Prince William County’s last rural areas and growing the county’s commercial tax base.
Sumers, largely funded by labor unions and the Democratic Party of Virginia, aims to open up the Haymarket and Gainesville areas to the continued development of data centers — large server farms that power the internet – becoming more prevalent throughout the county.
Sumers said the development would create more tax revenue for the county and bring “equity” between the Sudley Road corridor near Manassas and the area, which has been slower to develop.
In contrast, Weir is funded largely by small donations from residents who live in the district. He promises to be a brick wall when it comes to bringing more data centers to the county, which require large amounts of electricity (which may now be scarce in summer months, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality), use large amounts of water to cool the servers, and produce noise imitating from cooling fans on rooftops.
Both candidates met at Battlefield High School near Haymarket on February 9 for a forum, which morphed into a debate. PLN was there, and members may read our coverage.
Publisher’s note: Thank you to our paid members who allow us to keep producing the community journalism you’ve come to expect.
After tomorrow’s Special Election, the political attention in the county will shift to all Board of County Supervisors members who are up for re-election in 2023. Multiple supervisors, including Chair At-large Ann Wheeler, have Primary Election opponents from their respective political parties vying to unseat them.
In December, PLN gave you an exclusive interview with Candland to reflect on his time in office. Candland agreed to join his neighbors, offering to sell their homes to data center developers who are now vying to build server farms on 800 acres next to Manassas National Battlefield Park as part of the Prince William Digital Gateway Development.
Candland recused himself from all data center votes, including November 2, 2022, vote in which a politically divided board approved the Digital Gateway project.
Keep Prince William Beautiful, and House of Mercy are having a Fix-It-Fair event on April 22, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 8150 Flannery Court near Gainesville.
Acceptable items for repairs are small/large appliances, jewelry, clothing, bicycles, and small furniture.
Fix-It events allow members of the community to bring salvageable items for repair and subsequent reuse.
This service event has been very popular in other communities. in 2020, almost 40 Prince William residents were excited to get special treasures repaired and bikes, electronics, and lawn equipment running again. Along with recycling, repair and reuse practices help conserve landfill space and enhance the quality of our environment. Read More
Manhattan Pizza’s location in Gainesville applied for a Virginia ABC permit alcohol. The state agency must approve the license.
The restaurant sits at 13841 Heathcote Boulevard, and is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday through Sunday.
This Manhattan Pizza location is similar to the one at 1610 Publix Way in Stafford, Virginia, which opened on June 21, 2022.
Manhattan Pizza offers a ‘build your own pizza’ option with a small pizza starting at $13, medium for $17, or large for $22. Appetizers start at $4, while children’s meals such as chicken tenders cost $5.
The restaurant also has range of specialty items such as Greek Gyros, Stromboli, and Calzones.
According to the Manhattan Pizza website, co-owners and brothers Jack Azar owned a deli in Houston, a food truck in San Diego, before opening Manhattan Pizza in New York City.
