Feb 9, 2023
Something is disturbingly wrong when elected members of the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors take the side of large-lot land developers and data center “bully corporations” over the interests and concerns of their constituents.
Data center developers are not good neighbors when they want to place data centers next to residential communities. They are not concerned about the health and welfare of the residential communities.
Data centers overshadow homes with noise, overwhelm residents with health risks and marginalize homeowners’ property values. Ninety-foot-tall data centers do not belong next to residential neighborhoods.
A 2019 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report to the governor and General Assembly on data centers found that Virginia received back only 72 cents for every dollar lost to data center tax incentives while creating very few jobs. That money-losing proposition was judged “moderately successful.”
Because of their parasitic nature, data centers are a bad and risky investment. Why are the Prince William supervisors wasting county tax money on a bad investment?
The supervisors certainly would not make a bad investment of their own personal money in an investment that only pays 72 cents and loses 22 cents on every dollar invested.
It’s time for a “wake-up call” to the supervisors: Stop dragging Prince William County into a bad investment. Listen to and represent your constituents.
Delton Nichols
Manassas