A group of Gainesville-area residents and an activist organization sued Prince William County and two tech developers on Friday to block construction of the PW Digital Gateway, which is expected to become the largest data center corridor in the world.
The residents, joined by the nonprofit American Battlefield Trust, alleged it was illegal for the Board of County Supervisors in December to grant an approval of 23 million square feet of data centers on roughly 2,100 acres along Pageland Lane in western Prince William near Gainesville.
Plaintiffs argue their quality of life, as well as the nearby historical resources such as the Manassas Battlefield National Park, will be blemished by “drab behemoth” data centers that will “change the Properties from a rare island of rural living in Northern Virginia into a dystopian hellscape.”
“The hulking data centers, which will dwarf all nearby structures, and particularly all those of the petitioners, will negatively impact their viewsheds and diminish their property values in addition to changing the character of the neighborhoods they call home,” the lawsuit said.
The neighbors — Katy and Liam Burke, Mark and Julie Gerl, Charlotte Gerstenfeld, Steve Ward Carol Czarkowski, Wanda and Doug Sabin — and the nonprofit argued the board made a number of illegal decisions and actions as the proposal made its way through the approval process.
All plaintiffs are represented by former Democratic state Sen. Chap Petersen, who has recently taken to fighting Prince William County data center approvals, including the nearby Devlin Technology Park. The suit is being funded by the anti-data center Coalition to Protect Prince William County.
“What we are here today to describe is the threats to homeowners, the threats to our past, our present and our future,” coalition Executive Director Elena Schlossberg said at a news conference announcing the litigation Friday. “This is the most consequential land-use case I believe the state of Virginia will ever experience.”
Defendants in the suit are subsidiaries of Digital Gateway developers QTS Realty Trust Inc. and Compass Datacenters.
“We are aware of the challenge made to the County’s approval of our rezoning application on December 13,” a spokesperson with Compass said in a statement. “We remain focused on implementing the County’s vision for the Digital Gateway and moving forward with the development of our data center campus.”
Representatives with QTS did not immediately return a request for comment.
The sprawling lawsuit offers a voluminous account of the significance of the Manassas Battlefield in the Civil War and several other claims against the county, but Petersen argued a specific allegation — that the county did not follow state law regarding advertising in a newspaper the meeting where the project was ultimately approved — could be their “ticket” to success.
Peterson alleged the county did not publish the legally mandated public hearing advertisement for the Digital Gateway in The Washington Post in a timely manner.
Peterson previously provided emails between county officials and the Post’s advertising staff, which he said were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. The emails show the county sent the advertisements to the newspaper on Nov. 20 but did not complete the newspaper’s formal submission process until Nov. 30, which Peterson argues did not allow enough time for the advertisement to run in accordance with state law. Following the county’s confirmation of the advertisements with The Post on Nov. 30, the paper said they were to run on Dec. 2, 5 and 9.
State law requires that advertisements for zoning changes be published once a week for two successive weeks for a public hearing, which must be held no fewer than five days after the second advertisement appears in print.
Republican members of the board moved to try and delay the December hearings, arguing the county’s advertising didn’t comply with the law. Democrats who backed the Digital Gateway swiftly shut down their attempts.
Gainesville Supervisor Bob Weir, a Republican who attended the press conference announcing the lawsuit on Friday, called the litigation “inevitable.”
“Processes and procedures are in place to protect the public and protect the board,” Weir said. [Democrats] chose to not follow them.”
Democratic board Chair Deshundra Jefferson, a Digital Gateway critic who was not in office for its approval, said she was unable to comment on the lawsuit and directed questions to the county’s communications office.
A county spokesperson said on Friday evening the board had not yet been served with the suit.
“If the Board is served with the lawsuit, the County Attorney’s Office will defend the Board’s action with the appropriate court pleadings,” the spokesperson said. “The county does not comment on active litigation.”
American Battlefield Trust, an organization that works to preserve battlegrounds on American soil, joined the suit because of the Digital Gateway’s proximity to the Manassas Battlefield. The battlefield was the site of the Civil War’s first major conflict.
“The Manassas Battlefield is a national treasure and the very definition of hallowed ground,” nonprofit President David Duncan said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands of people visit this National Park every year, generating tourism dollars for the community and providing local residents with recreational trails and open space. It is reckless in the extreme to jeopardize this historic sanctuary over a development that could easily be built elsewhere in the state.”
Approval of the Digital Gateway following a marathon 27-hour hearing in December marked the culmination of years of groundwork being laid, beginning in 2019 with a group of Pageland Lane residents pitting neighbors against one another to assemble and sell their properties to data center developers to clear the land in exchange for large payouts.
The proposal has been the subject of exacting public discourse in the county, having influenced public policy and also helping to decide the outcome of local elections.