Potomac Local NewsDecember 12, 2022 at 10:58am
Manassas National Battlefield Park Visitor Center is located on Route 234 near Manassas, Virginia.
Prince William County residents asked the U.S. Department of Interior to step in to block the Board of County Supervisors from approving its 2040 comprehensive land-use plan.
The vote is tomorrow, Tuesday, December 13, at 7:30 p.m.
The HOA Roundtable, made of multiple homeowners associations in the county and a leading voice opposing 800 acres of new data centers next to Manassas Battlefield National Park (Prince William Digital Gateway), claims the county government’s Historical Commission, during its October 3, 2022, special meeting, identified significant errors and omissions in the county’s Office of Planning’s staff report on the Prince William W Digital Gateway.
Office of Planning staff members attended that meeting and reportedly actively participated in the discussion. Significantly, based on information provided by those observing the meeting, the Office of Planning staff did not substantively dispute any of the errors and omissions identified by the Commission.
Specifically, the HOA Roundtable argues that sprawling new data center campuses would alter the landscape surrounding the battlefield, the site of two significant Civil War battles in 1861 and ’62. Changes to the landscape would also negatively affect ongoing efforts to preserve other historical places surrounding the battlefield.
A Prince William County Government spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims.
Supervisors approved the Prince William Digital Gateway — an area as large as 150 Walmart supercenters — after a marathon 14-hour meeting on November 2, 2022. While many opposed the project due to the adverse effects of stormwater that will run off of newly paved surfaces into the region’s water reservoir, many more called for a supervisor to approve it, saying it will bring new tax revenue for schools, police, fire, and rescue, and other county government operations.
The data center debate monopolized the past year’s discussion, leading to the resignation of Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland, effective December 16, 2022. Due to this, the 2040 Comprehensive Land Use Plan took a backseat and has widely gone unnoticed.
The document’s five chapters will guide the development of housing, roads, transit, water, sewer, and electricity for the next 20 years.
According to the plan document, the region faces an “unprecedented” housing shortage. Housing that costs 30% of the household’s annual gross income or less is in high demand.
The plan proposes to preserve and enhance existing neighborhoods while building “new and diverse mixed-income housing communities that address the demand for additional housing, the demand for a variety of housing, and the demand for affordable housing.”