By Nolan Stout
Dec 2, 2022
Opponents outside the Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting ahead of a public hearing and vote on the PW Digital Gateway project.
Tavan Smith
A group of Gainesville residents is asking a Prince William County judge to overturn approval of the PW Digital Gateway.
Roger Yackel, Roger Miller and Gainesville Citizens for Smart Growth filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Board of County Supervisors, Chair Ann Wheeler and Supervisor Pete Candland.
The lawsuit focuses on the board’s Nov. 1 vote to approve an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan to create the data center complex.
“[T]he desire of the County to reap funds from the data center industry does not justify the overreaching scope of the [Comprehensive Plan amendment],” the lawsuit says.
The project, which proposes 27.6 million square feet of data centers on 2,139 acres along Pageland Lane, is the most controversial and contentious local land-use proposal in decades. Opponents and proponents have launched personal attacks against each other, and it has spawned recall efforts against Candland and Wheeler and a federal lawsuit between landowners and the developer.
Wheeler declined comment on the lawsuit Friday.
The project would firmly put Prince William County on track to dethrone Loudoun County as the data center capital of the world.
The board voted to approve the guidelines for the project after a more than nine-hour public hearing and a roughly 14-hour meeting.
The Comprehensive Plan amendment provides guidelines for the overall development and does not deal with specific construction plans. QTS Realty Trust Inc. and Compass Datacenters are seeking rezonings to develop the area. Because the Comprehensive Plan amendment was approved, it will weigh heavily in favor of the rezoning requests.
The lawsuit, filed in Prince William County Circuit Court, combines the myriad of arguments made over the past 18 months against the proposal.
Opponents say such a large development would decimate the character of the county’s rural area; they have raised concerns about the availability of power, effects on water quality and the potential that the buildings could quickly become obsolete as technology continues to improve.
Supporters say the project will provide a huge economic boon to the county in an area that’s no longer rural.
The lawsuit says the board “failed to consider” the proposal’s impact on the environment and Manassas National Battlefield Park or the effects of noise, traffic and “visual blight” on the surrounding community.
The board “selectively” designated the land for data centers “at the behest of a few homeowners and other vested interests,” acting “contrary to its own adopted master plan and policies,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also says the process was tainted by Candland and Wheeler. Candland was barred from discussing the proposal after signing onto it last November. Opponents of the project have criticized Wheeler for investments in data center companies, which are the subject of her recall effort.
No hearings have been scheduled and the county has not submitted a response.
Read the full lawsuit here
Nolan Stout covers Prince William County. Reach him at nstout@insidenova.com or @TheNolanStout on Facebook and Twitter.