- Updated
UPDATED: A controversial vote seeking to transform more than 2,100 acres north of Manassas National Battlefield Park into a massive data center corridor will likely come before the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Dec. 12 — during the board’s “lame-duck period” after the Nov. 7 election.
That’s according to an updated schedule for the final votes on the Prince William Digital Gateway released Thursday, Sept. 14. The schedule is subject to the approval of the board. A vote is set for Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Earlier this week, Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler, D-At-Large, announced she as changing her mind about holding a vote on the controversial data center project on Nov. 21, which would have placed it two days before Thanksgiving. The timing sparked criticism from both her fellow supervisors and the wider community.
“I completely agree that the Tuesday before Thanksgiving is not an appropriate time to hear the digital gateway,” Wheeler said during her supervisor’s time at the Sept. 12 board meeting.
The new date, however, still places the votes on the board’s agenda during its “lame-duck period,” meaning the votes will take place after the Nov. 7 election and before newly elected supervisors take office in January.
Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, R-Brentsville, who is running for board chair and opposes the PW Digital Gateway, sought in July to prohibit controversial land-use votes during the lame-duck session, but that effort was defeated in a 5-3 vote.
The board’s Nov. 21 meetings will now likely be canceled if the supervisors approve the schedule change.
According to the proposed new schedule, the supervisors will now meet on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for “consolidated land use public hearings.”
It’s not yet clear which projects will be on the agenda during those meetings. Wheeler has not returned calls and emails seeking more information this week.
Another significant change from the previous schedule is that Wheeler is now proposing for all three PW Digital Gateway rezonings to be heard on the same day. Under the previous plan, Wheeler had scheduled only the two QTS rezoning votes for Nov. 21.
Two data center developers, QTS and Compass Data Centers, are seeking approval of three different rezoning requests to transform more than 2,000 acres of homes and farmland into a new technology corridor that could hold as many as 34 new data centers. The area is currently zoned agricultural, a designation that prohibits industrial development as well as more than one home per 10 acres.
Wheeler set the Nov. 21 hearing date in August following a request from Antonio J. Calabrese, an attorney for QTS Data Centers. In an op-ed published in the Prince William Times, Wheeler said she was required by law to comply with the developer’s request to have its project heard not more than one year after submitting its application to the county’s planning office.
But Supervisor Bob Weir, R-Gainesville, who represents the area where the PW Digital Gateway would be built and opposes the plan, argued the one-year deadline should not apply because both QTS and Compass have substantially updated their applications since first submitting them in the summer of 2022.
Calabrese asked the county to schedule public hearings before the planning commission and board of county supervisors “as soon as feasible.”
Reach Shannon Clark at sclark@fauquier.com.