E. Bruce Davis
July 22, 2022
On July 7, Prince William County Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler met with a group that included Kathy Kulick, Vice Chair of the HOA Roundtable, Ricky Buffington, vice president of Saratoga Hunt Homeowners Association, and Roger Yackel, Heritage Hunt resident, but not it’s Board representative, to hear their concerns regarding the proposed PW Digital Gateway.
This scheduled one-hour meeting in Wheeler’s office at the McCoart Government Center lasted more than two hours, according to Yackel.
This group has now met with Supervisors Andrea Bailey, Victor Angry, Margaret Franklin, Kenny Boddye and Ann Wheeler, in an attempt to dissuade their apparent approval of the project.
The group said it will later meet with Supervisors Yesli Vega and Jeanine Lawson, project opponents.
Yackel said the first two topics discussed were concerns of those beyond Heritage Hunt, demonstrated by the HOA Roundtable comprised of HOAs throughout the County and in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties as well and the appearance of the Pageland Lane area.
Characterized by data center proponents as no longer rural, the Pageland Lane area was described by the group as still being “rural and pretty” but would not be with data centers.
Yackel said there was some pushback from Wheeler on these issues.
Loudoun Meadows was discussed as its HOA has expressed homeowner complaints from those who paid substantial premiums for lakefront properties but now face data centers across the lake.
Wheeler said trees would diminish this effect and asked how many had moved and if home values had decreased.
Yackel said, “Ann does not look at the quality-of-life issues that people bought their houses there to have pretty views, not to be looking at data centers.”
Potential noise of the cooling process was brought up, including references to noise complaints made to police in the Great Oaks subdivision in Manassas.
Regarding water issues, Yackel said Wheeler had said Prince William County has great watershed regulations.
Yackel said, “We talked tax. In Prince William County, we charge $1.50/$100 of value, for computer parts, servers, cooling equipment and all the internal equipment in there. We’re going up to $1.65 shortly and eventually get to $2. I think Loudoun just went from $4.25 down to $4.05” PWC’s rate is less than one-third of Loudoun’s rate.
Yackel said Wheeler agreed with another supervisor that to maintain its integrity, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) should adhere to rate promises made by a previous BOCS to data center developers.
Yackel said he asked her, “Why are you not thinking about your taxpayers?”
According to Yackel, the Board Chair said she would look into whether these were actual promises.
Wheeler said PWC was increasing its tax rates, but Yackel said PWC’s rate over five years would still be under 50 percent of Loudoun’s rate.
The group suggested a rate comparable to Loudoun’s would provide more tax revenue, requiring fewer data centers.
Monies potentially promised by data center developers to different districts were discussed, but Wheeler’s investments were not.
After the meeting, Yackel said Vida Carroll shared she was told Wheeler had sold her Blackstone stock.
Yackel also said the May 134 report by Camoin Associates, commissioned by Prince William County’s Economic Development Office, stated the high figure needed for data centers’ space of 48 million square feet was less than the 49 million square feet already available without the addition of the PW Digital Gateway.
Yackel said Wheeler made no comment on this point.
However, he added, “Ann Wheeler did spend a lot of time, two hours. Ann Wheeler did listen, so that was good, but she did not seem to want to understand the issues, because it seems in her head, she wants to do the development, so she was minimizing pretty much everything we said. So, to me it feels like she is going to vote yes for the PW Digital Gateway and other development, and she doesn’t care what residents think.”
Yackel added, “I said the only people we see at the BOCS meetings pushing for this are the residents on Pageland or the developers. So, you have a huge number of people against this, and they shouldn’t be ignored.”
On July 8, Yackel told the Bull Run Observer a letter had been sent to Michelle Robl, PWC County attorney from attorney Ed Donahue on behalf of citizens group called Gainesville Citizens for Smart Growth, regarding Wheeler’s stock holding. Robl acknowledged receiving the letter but had not yet responded to its content.