Prince William County’s professional planning staff has RECOMMENDED DENIAL OF THE ENTIRE DIGITAL GATEWAY application. (See news coverage below)
This project was built on a house of cards from its inception – and the glue holding it together is greed.
The effort to stop this debacle began to crystalize on November 10, 2021. (It’s been almost exactly two years.)
Opposition mounts against ‘rural crescent’ data center plans | News | princewilliamtimes.com
“A coalition of local, regional and national conservation groups are organizing the opposition against a plan for data centers and other industrial uses in Prince William County’s “rural crescent,” laying the groundwork for what may become a major land-use brawl in the coming months.”
Kim Hosen, founder and Executive Director for the Prince William Conservation Alliance, knew then that this was a threat the likes of which we had never faced before. So, she began gathering the forces of conservation organizations together. She passed away this past April, after a battle of only 9 months against cancer, but she would be immensely proud of so many people’s hard work, and in particular the Planning Staff of Prince William County, for not buckling under immense pressure.
Over the past two years, grassroots citizen groups and conservation organizations worked side by side, never backing down from exposing misinformation, and demanding the truth.
This community NEVER relented. Ann Wheeler, Supervisor Franklin, Supervisor Bailey, Supervisor Angry, and Supervisor Boddye, the Digital Gateway profiteers, and QTS and Compass — have been literally “banking” on us giving up.
Here is a quick inventory of what WE have made happen:
- Simultaneous recalls for corruption on both Chair Ann Wheeler and Supervisor Pete Candland
- Showing up to every dog-and-pony-show meeting – meetings intended to wear down the citizens
- Organizing multiple protests and town halls
- Volunteers county-wide to spread the truth about the Digital Gateway
- Working to ensure Ann Wheeler was fired in her primary
- Never-relenting pressure on Pete Candland until he resigned – right before the Coalition was preparing to submit the recall against him
- Electing a Gainesville Supervisor that would represent the people, not data centers
- Making it clear that any Planning Director who was going to propagate the talking points of data center developers would get pushback. (In case people have lost track, we had three planning directors leave the position, and now have a fourth “acting director”.)
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BREAKING: Prince William County planning staff says supervisors should reject entire PW Digital Gateway data center corridor Citing a lack of information and numerous unanswered questions, Prince William County’s professional planning staff is recommending denial on the Prince William Digital Gateway—one of the largest and most controversial www.princewilliamtimes.com |
“Citing a lack of information and numerous unanswered questions, Prince William County’s professional planning staff is recommending denial on the Prince William Digital Gateway—one of the largest and most controversial commercial projects to come before the board of supervisors in decades.”
“…The planning staff’s recommendation was welcome news to activists who have been fighting the project since its inception. Elena Schlossberg, executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, called the staff’s rejection of the project “a vindication.””
““This is vindication that everything that the community has been saying is right and that all the gaslighting” by county officials who support the project “could not suppress the truth.””
“Schlossberg said she is “proud” of the county staff for “doing their job” and credited the community for ensuring it happened.”
““The results of the planning staff did not happen in a vacuum,” Schlossberg said. “It was also the community giving support to the staff to do the right thing.””
““…I’ve said from the beginning that PW Digital Gateway would be catastrophic for the county and the national park. The more our agencies evaluate this project, the more apparent it becomes just how irresponsible it is,” Lawson (Brentsville Supervisor and candidate for Board Chair) said. “No one can objectively look at this and determine it’s in the best interest of Prince William County.””
“…County staff also complained that the developers had made a half-dozen proffers that would allow them to make changes to numbers of buildings and sizes, architecture, landscaping and noise mitigation measures after the rezonings are approved.”
“They separately noted that the developers were giving themselves “significant flexibility” to dictate the landscaping, leaving the staff with limited ability to make the project conform to landscaping rules in the county’s comprehensive plan laying the groundwork for the development.”
“Also missing from the plans are routes for transmission lines to serve the dozen or more substations needed for the data center campuses. By not designating corridors for these high-power lines, the developers are causing them “to be located in areas identified to preserve forests and sensitive environmental resources and cultural resources,” the county staff wrote…”
This fight is NOT over.
NOW, more than ever, is our opportunity to show up and demand a FULL STOP!
Because the impacts from this kind of industrialization will be felt – no matter where you live. Whether the industrial development is next door, whether it’s the many transmission lines to feed to power it, whether it’s the impact on our access to clean water or the doubling of our electrical bills to pay for the data center industry’s power – WE are ALL impacted in some way.
Stay tuned for more information on how to participate November 8th!
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GET A T-SHIRT – MAKE A DONATION! Help to support the efforts of the Coalition. Remember – We are all volunteers, even the directors, and none of us are paid. The costs of all expenses to maintain this fight are only covered by your donations! If you liked the message on the t-shirt that the team wore at Haymarket Day 2023, you can get one of your own! Other designs are also available. Get yours before we run out and help our efforts!
You can also: Send your message to the Planning Commissioners now!
Add your name to this petition against more data center proliferation.