Following the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ vote to approve the Comprehensive Plan Amendment for the Digital Gateway last November, I urge the Planning Commission and Board of County Supervisors to continue moving forward with efforts to implement the transformative vision of the project.
The Prince William Digital Gateway aligns with the county’s strategic plan. It provides an array of benefits through an increased tax base to fund opportunities for schools, affordable housing, parks, trails, public health, transportation, and other services.
The data centers that it would bring also offer significant national security advantages. These facilities are built to operate when power has been disrupted, ensuring their functionality in a national emergency, if required.
It is critical to our national security apparatus that data management and its recovery from natural disasters or acts of terrorism remain vibrant and at the ready. Prince William County is at the center of this strategy as we take measures to harden against any threats through a multi-layered redundancy system. Additionally, data centers pave the way for cooperation between local, state, and federal entities in identifying terrorist threats or coordinating in response to them.
Our county has been presented with a tremendous opportunity to initiate wide-ranging
benefits to its residents and lead on the national security front. I hope that the Prince William County Planning Commission and county supervisors will take the necessary steps to allow the plans for the Digital Gateway to continue moving forward during the coming months.
Eugene (Gene) Stefanucci
Prince William County
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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.
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.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at Bull Run Middle School, 6308 Catharpin Road, near Gainesville.
QTS already operates at least one data center in Prince William County, next to the George Mason University Science and Technology Campus near Manassas.
Prince William County residents asked the U.S. Department of Interior to step in to block the Board of County Supervisors from approving its 2040 comprehensive land-use plan.
The vote is tomorrow, Tuesday, December 13, at 7:30 p.m.
The HOA Roundtable, made of multiple homeowners associations in the county and a leading voice opposing 800 acres of new data centers next to Manassas Battlefield National Park (Prince William Digital Gateway), Â claims the county government’s Historical Commission, during its October 3, 2022, special meeting, identified significant errors and omissions in the county’s Office of Planning’s staff report on the Prince William W Digital Gateway.
Office of Planning staff members attended that meeting and reportedly actively participated in the discussion. Significantly, based on information provided by those observing the meeting, the Office of Planning staff did not substantively dispute any of the errors and omissions identified by the Commission.
Specifically, the HOA Roundtable argues that sprawling new data center campuses would alter the landscape surrounding the battlefield, the site of two significant Civil War battles in 1861 and ’62. Changes to the landscape would also negatively affect ongoing efforts to preserve other historical places surrounding the battlefield.
A Prince William County Government spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims.
Supervisors approved the Prince William Digital Gateway — an area as large as 150 Walmart supercenters — after a marathon 14-hour meeting on November 2, 2022. While many opposed the project due to the adverse effects of stormwater that will run off of newly paved surfaces into the region’s water reservoir, many more called for a supervisor to approve it, saying it will bring new tax revenue for schools, police, fire, and rescue, and other county government operations.
The data center debate monopolized the past year’s discussion, leading to the resignation of Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland, effective December 16, 2022. Due to this, the 2040 Comprehensive Land Use Plan took a backseat and has widely gone unnoticed.
The document’s five chapters will guide the development of housing, roads, transit, water, sewer, and electricity for the next 20 years.
According to the plan document, the region faces an “unprecedented” housing shortage. Housing that costs 30% of the household’s annual gross income or less is in high demand.
The plan proposes to preserve and enhance existing neighborhoods while building “new and diverse mixed-income housing communities that address the demand for additional housing, the demand for a variety of housing, and the demand for affordable housing.”
A judge tossed a lawsuit against Prince William County Supervisor Peter Candland, representing the Gainesville District.
On November 10, U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff granted the motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Candland. With the dismissal, the judge gave Plaintiff 15 days to file an amended complaint to address the issues brought up by the motion to dismiss. Plaintiff failed to meet the deadline. Thus the lawsuit remains dismissed, according to a press release from Candland.
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Lawson, a Republican who represents a portion of western Prince William County, visited polling places in the east on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, to encourage residents to contact their respective supervisors to oppose the digital gateway project, which plans 27 million sure feet of new server farms next Civil War battlefield.
Four Democrats representing residents in the east and At-large Board Chair Ann Wheeler voted to amend the land use plan clearing the way for more data center construction.
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Prince William County Supervisors voted to amend its comprehensive plan to allow up to 27 million square feet of data centers to be built next to Manassas National Battlefield Park.
It’s the largest, most transformative land-use case in county history.
The vote on the project, the Prince William Digital Gateway, came just before 9 a.m., following a marathon meeting lasting 14 hours and 20 minutes. The party-line vote saw five Democrats voting in favor, two Republicans opposed, and one Republican, Peter Candland, abstained.
Candland lives where data centers may be built and did not attend the meeting.
The vote clears the way to allow Prince William County to rival neighboring Loudoun County, which, today, has more data centers than anywhere else on the globe. Under the Prince William Digital Gateway Plan, 1.300 acres of land next to the national park would be used for data centers, 800 acres would be reserved for parks, and 10 acres would be used to mark historic sites.
Since the battlefield park is hallowed ground and the site of two major Civil War battles, there is a strong possibility that developers will find human remains buried on the site. Developers must conduct land surveys when submitting a rezoning application for new data centers.
The project will add to many data centers already in the area or are now under construction. The project’s supporters say the centers will generate more cash for government services like police, fire and rescue, and local schools.
Opponents say data centers will ruin the rural landscape next to the battlefield, and that cooling fans atop the 45-foot-tall buildings will produce unwanted noise. That stormwater runoff from the new facilities will pollute the Occoquan Reservoir, which provides drinking water to 1.5 million in Prince William and Fairfax counties.
The Prince William Digital Gateway comprehensive plan amendment was the only item on the Board of County Supervisors’ agenda. The meeting began at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 1, and ended at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, November 2.
The Digital Gateway is the largest land-use case in county history. Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, who voted against the project, said it was the most significant case since Disney’s failed proposal to build a theme park in Haymarket in 1993 called Disney’s America.
Stay with us. This story is developing.
While future skirmishes loom in the form of rezonings, arguably the biggest land-use decision in Prince William County’s history is expected to be made Tuesday, Nov. 1.
That’s when the Board of County Supervisors will hold a public hearing and plans to vote on the proposed PW Digital Gateway. The hearing is on the request from dozens of landowners to designate 2,139 acres in western Prince William County for data centers. Specifically, it is to change the land currently designated as agricultural/estate and environmental resource in the Comprehensive Plan to technology/flex, parks and open space, county registered historic site and environmental resource overlay.
