With the recent vote to approve the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway, Prince William County is on track to become the data center capital of North America — if not the world. Critical to the project’s approval was Supervisor Kenny Boddye’s decision to abstain, allowing it to pass on a split 4-3-1 vote.

Boddye’s move to take a pass on the most consequential commercial rezoning in the county’s recent history — effectively ensuring its approval — stunned the project’s opponents. Many considered Boddye a possible no vote, due to his vocal support for the county’s environmental sustainability efforts and his previous statements that he would not approve the PW Digital Gateway rezonings unless they adhered to the supervisors’ 2022 “comprehensive plan amendment” that outlined their vision for the massive data center development.

The PW Digital Gateway will open about 1,760 acres of homes and farmland adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park to as many as 37 data centers. The project has been controversial since it was proposed in 2021 by landowners who contend their properties are “no longer rural” due to their proximity to high-power transmission lines and increasing commuter traffic. Just over 100 property owners negotiated a deal to sell their land to data center developers before bringing the plan to the county for approval.

The county’s professional planning staff recommended against the PW Digital Gateway rezonings because the developers’ plans fell short of the comprehensive plan amendment in terms of open space and other issues.

On Tuesday, Dec. 19, Boddye told the Prince William Times that’s partly why he withheld his vote.

“Unfortunately, we were in a place where the applicant, to the best of their ability, believed that they had fulfilled (the requirements of the CPA) based on the proffers they were giving,” Boddye said, referring to the developers’ promises with regard to open space, wildlife corridors and other issues “The (planning) staff disagreed with them.”

Boddye also said he abstained due to his own interpretation of a last-minute change in the project’s “floor-area ratio” — that is, the density allowed in the area closest to the Manassas National Battlefield Park.  Boddye said the developers’ plans were not “completely in line (with the supervisors’ CPA) based on staff analysis,” but said he believed they “had done enough work,” to come close.

“I was no longer in a position where I was going to oppose it,” Boddye said. “But I couldn’t, in good conscience, vote to approve it completely based on those inconsistencies.”

Donald Garrett, a professional registered parliamentarian with the National Association of Parliamentarians, said elected officials typically don’t abstain on major policy votes without good reason, such as “conflicts of interest, dissatisfaction with the process, lack of knowledge, needing more time or protesting superfluous proposals.”

Garrett also said elected officials “should be accountable to (their) constituents as to why (they) choose not to vote or stay neutral on an important public matter.”

“Just like a yes or no vote, voters should have information on their elected official’s choice to not vote so they can make a judgment on the official’s performance when it is election time,” Garrett said.

Boddye did not explain his decision to abstain prior to the vote.

About an hour before the vote, Boddye said he “struggled to support (the) project in its current form,” and reiterated that he would “only support this rezoning if it lived up to … the comprehensive plan.”

“We’ve done some work as a board over the last 24 hours or so to get it closer, but I still struggle to see how we have completely gotten there. This isn’t a small project,” Boddye said during the meeting.

Following his comments, Boddye, a Democrat, voted with the board’s three Republicans to deny all three of the rezonings, a motion made by Supervisor Bob Weir (Gainesville), whose district includes the PW Digital Gateway. That vote failed 4-4, with the other four Democrats on the board voting against denying the project.

Boddye then proposed a motion to approve the rezonings without the land bay closest to the battlefield and Conway Robinson State Forest, but it failed to receive a second.

“One of the biggest concerns I’ve had since the beginning is the close proximity of the southern land bays to Manassas Battlefield Park and Conway Robinson,” Boddye said, prior to his motion.

Following the over 26-hour public hearing on Dec. 12 to 13, the PW Digital Gateway was approved along party lines, with the four of the board’s five Democrats — Supervisors Margaret Franklin (Woodbridge), Andrea Bailey (Potomac), Victor Angry (Neabsco) and Board Chair Ann Wheeler (At-Large), voting in favor; the Republican Supervisors Jeanine Lawson (Brentsville), Weir and Yesli Vega (Coles) voting no; and Boddye (Occoquan) abstaining.

When asked about the potential outcome of the vote if he had not abstained, Boddye said a tie vote would have stalled the project, as no action would have been taken.

“But the other thing is that had we not acted, it would have put the project in a limbo that I don’t think a lot of folks — for or against — would have ultimately wanted,” Boddye said.

The PW Digital Gateway vote took place at the supervisors’ second-to-last meeting of the year and during the “lame duck” session following the Nov. 7 election. The timing was partly due to the pressure the data center developers placed on the supervisors to hold a public hearing before the end of the year, a stipulation of the developers’ purchase contracts with landowners, according to court documents.

If the vote on the rezonings had been deferred until 2024, the project would have faced a more skeptical board led by incoming Board Chair-elect Deshundra Jefferson (D) who has said she would have opposed the PW Digital Gateway.

Reach Shannon Clark at sclark@fauquier.com