By Daniel Berti Times Staff Writer
From pasture to powerlines: Western Prince William landowners asking for their rural land to be replanned for data centers point to existing transmission lines that have already diminished the area’s rural character. The county held a virtual meeting Thursday, Jan. 20 to hear from the community on a proposal to expand the county’s “Data Center Opportunity Overlay District,” an area where data centers are allowed by right.
These four land areas were included in the “Prince William Gateway” comprehensive plan application. Since that application was filed, two entire nearby neighborhoods — Dominique Estates and Catharpin Farm Estates — have filed separate applications asking the county to replan their homes for data centers.
A virtual community meeting about the potential expansion of Prince William County’s Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District drew nearly 50 speakers on Thursday evening. Most said additional study is needed before allowing more data centers to be built in the county’s rural areas.
During the meeting, 37 people, including representatives from environmental and conservation groups, spoke against the proposed expansion, and 11 people spoke in favor of it.
“We urge the county to avoid expansion of the overlay district into the rural crescent to avoid haphazardly designating land for data center development,” said Kevin Kask, a land-use coordinator at the Piedmont Environmental Council. “… We believe Prince William County can have a thriving data center industry without allowing industrial sprawl into the rural crescent.”
The county’s existing Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District encompasses around 10,000 acres, mostly in western Prince William County in close proximity to high-voltage transmission lines, where data center construction is allowed by right.
Last May, the county’s Department of Economic Development Director Christina Winn said land suitable for future data centers within the district had nearly run out, and the county’s economic development department had begun turning away data center developers. Shortly after, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ Democratic majority directed county planners to begin studying a potential expansion of the overlay district in a party-line vote.
In a separate vote two months later, on July 21, the county board authorized the study of a 2,133-acre proposal for data centers, known as the “PW Digital Gateway,” near Manassas National Battlefield in the county’s rural crescent – an area where residential development is restricted to one home per 10 acres and industrial development is effectively prohibited.
The Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District expansion and the PW Digital Gateway proposal are being considered as two separate projects by county planners and the board. But residents speaking during Thursday’s community meeting spoke about both plans, and many appeared to consider the two as inseparable, although it remains unclear whether the overlay expansion will encompass the PW Digital Gateway or expand into other rural areas.
Many of the 37 people who spoke against the overlay district are residents of Heritage Hunt, a 55-and-over community adjacent to land included in the PW Digital Gateway proposal. Many Heritage Hunt residents are vehemently opposed to the plan.
Of the 11 who spoke in favor, most were applicants of the PW Digital Gateway who live on Pageland Lane and want to sell their homes to data center developers. Many of them claim the area is no longer rural because of encroaching development nearby, including Heritage Hunt, which was built on former farmland in 1998.
Tensions between Heritage Hunt residents and the more than 200 Pageland Lane residents who have signed onto the PW Digital Gateway application have steadily escalated in recent months.
“I do think it’s kind of funny that a lot of the people that oppose this project moved here to golf course communities and other developments that ruined our way of life. When I grew up here 50 years ago, I played on these farms,” said Melanie Williams, a Pageland Lane resident. “Many of the people that opposed this say, ‘Well, when I moved here, I wanted it to stay rural.’ Well, guess what? You all started ruining the ruralness a long time ago.”
Others raised concerns about the impact of data centers on the county’s natural habitats and watershed in rural areas, many of which are environmentally sensitive.
National and state parks officials have weighed in on the PW Digital Gateway at the request of county planners and said additional environmental mitigation strategies are needed should the county move forward with the project. A coalition of national, regional and local environmental and conservation organizations are also opposing the development.
“Climate change models predict that we are going to have more frequent and more intense rainstorms,” said Cindy Smith, an environmental sciences professor at George Mason University and Coles District resident. “You put these large impervious monstrosities in areas that impact watersheds, who’s going to pay to fix the streams?”
Both the PW Digital Gateway and the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District expansion are expected to head to the Prince William County Planning Commission and the board of county supervisors for a vote in April and May, according to Prince William County Deputy Executive and acting-Planning Director Rebecca Horner.
Thursday’s meeting was initially planned to be held in-person at Beacon Hall Conference Center at George Mason University’s Manassas campus, but county officials canceled in-person activities because of inclement weather. Horner said an in-person meeting will be held soon to make up for its cancellation, but no details have been released yet.
A draft of the new policy Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District is not yet available. Horner said the draft would likely be released following the next community meeting on the overlay district.
A community meeting on the PW Digital Gateway is planned for Thursday, Jan. 27 at Beacon Hall Conference Center at George Mason University’s Manassas campus at 6 p.m.
Reach Daniel Berti at dberti@fauquier.com