LETTER: Say no to the data center ‘edge district’ | Opinion | princewilliamtimes.com
Dec 3, 2021
While most of public attention has rightfully been centered on zoning changes allowing for data centers on Pageland Lane, it is important to realize that data center proposals are under consideration all throughout Prince William County, to include an application in Nokesville.
The House farm’s data center application proposes to remove 277 acres from the rural crescent and create a new zoning category: the “Data Center Edge District.”
This zone change would allow for industrial sprawl and development to enter into the rural crescent. No nearby landowners are zoned for data centers, and the land isn’t currently in the county’s “data center overlay district.”
The House Farm is no place for a data center. The land is sandwiched by residential gravel roads, is in the floodplain, and doesn’t have access to public water or sewer. No environmental study on the impact of industrial development has been completed. No water study has been completed to examine impacts on neighboring wells and septic fields.
The application states that the land is no longer viable for farmland and it’s the environmentally conscious choice to build a data center to avoid fertilizer nutrient run-off. Both arguments are laughable and fail to account for the concrete buildings, construction, parking lots, and other structures that would decimate the environment and local rural community.
No attempts have been made by House Farm to publicize this application with the local community. If they did, they would realize there are grave concerns across the board.
Christopher Carroll
Nokesville