Data Centers Will Destroy Our Rural and Historic Areas (mailchi.mp)
Data Centers Could Be Coming To Your Neighborhood…First Up – Heritage Hunt and the Manassas Battlefield
For months, I have been keeping you updated about the unprecedented moves by the Democrat majority on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to bust open our rural and historic areas to build Data Centers which will fundamentally change our quality of life. Unfortunately, it appears they are not slowing down.
This Tuesday, May 18, the Board will take another vote – this time it’s a resolution to initiate a zoning text amendment to expand the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District to “build more data centers, including in locations with high voltage power lines, and anywhere else it may be feasible”. The draft resolution and staff report may be found by clicking here.
Make no mistake, we are currently in the middle of the fight to protect the very existence of our rural and historic areas and if we don’t all join in to stop it, these areas will be gone forever.
First target on their list – the land bordering the Heritage Hunt community, Conway Robinson State Park, and the Manassas Battlefield.
Driven by a developer who lives on Pageland Lane, along with a handful of large parcel owners, the movement to completely transform this rural and historic area is underway. If successful, the area between the Manassas National Battlefield, Conway Robinson State Forest and Heritage Hunt would be filled with hundreds of acres of Data Centers.
Below is a map with a potential data center campus outlined in red (Heritage Hunt is the neighborhood on the left):
But as history has shown us over and over again, politicians who want to transform society, must mislead citizens through verbal sleight of hand and catchy slogans.
This time, we have members of the Board who are claiming that in order to protect our rural and historic areas, we have to build over it. They use phrases like “conservation of open space,” or “conservation of greenspace,” or having a “holistic” view of the County, when building these Data Centers will do the exact opposite.
Generations will look back at this pivotal time in our County and judge us for what we do. Will we stand against the hijacking of our rural and historic areas or will we roll over and let a few landowners become fabulously wealthy, pave over our natural treasures and allow politicians to cater to special interests?
Please take a few minutes and email the entire Board of County Supervisors at bocs@pwcgov.org and let them know you are opposed to opening up our rural and historic areas to Data Centers. Tell them no to a Data Center Alley between Heritage Hunt and the Manassas Battlefield.
Also, please forward this email to your friends and neighbors – anyone who you think would be interested in protecting our rural and historic areas. We need as many allies as we can get in this fight.
You may also address the Board in-person during public comment time at 7:30pm on Tuesday, May 18 at the McCoart Building. If you are not able to attend in-person, you may sign up to speak virtually by clicking here. Please note you must sign up by 5pm on MONDAY MAY 17 to utilize the virtual option at the May 18 meeting.
In my time on the Board, I have stood with many of you and fought tirelessly to protect our rural and historic areas…and I will not stop now. But I need your help. Please consider sharing your thoughts with the Board of County Supervisors. Please stand to protect our community.
Sincerely,
Pete Candland, Supervisor
Gainesville Magisterial District