Tuesday, November 5, is Election Day. History will be made.
Another historic event will occur on Thursday, October 31, 2024, when the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, backed by the data center industry, will ask the County Circuit Court to dismiss my lawsuit filed on behalf of local landowners to halt the “Digital Gateway Project” which authorizes a 2,000 acre data center project, right next to the Manassas Battlefield.
The Digital Gateway is the largest data center project in Virginia history, representing enough energy to power 100+ Wal-Mart Supercenters. And this is with Virginia ALREADY ranking as #1 in data center development and emissions. (No other state is even close).
We are becoming the world’s Digital Landfill.
The lawsuit itself is based on the County’s procedural errors in rezoning the Battlefield property from rural agricultural to intense industrial. Those errors are legion.
First, the Board failed to properly notice the December 13, 2023 public hearing. Informed of the error, they proceeded anyway, knowing that a new Board — taking office on January 1, 2024 — would reject the project which tears up hundreds of acres of historic rural space.
Second, the Board failed to follow its own zoning ordinance, which requires that zoning classifications, power lines and new structures be precisely identified in a rezoning application. Siting massive structures the size of stadiums? (We’ll decide that later). Finding a path for high-voltage transmission lines? (A detail for staff to figure out). This is why the County staff and Planning Commission each urged rejection of the proposal.
Third, the County Board ignored its own laws in allowing data centers outside the “Data Center Opportunity Zone” while not requiring a Special Use Permit.
Thanks to my great clients, the Coalition to Preserve Prince William and American Battlefield Trust, who have supported the lawsuit, as well as countless environmental and historic preservation organizations that filed “amicus” briefs in this epic battle to preserve America’s most historic landscape.
Who will win? I wish I knew.
JCP Notes: In addition to that case, my firm also has an injunction hearing in Prince William Circuit Court set for Wednesday, November 7, relating to the historic Scott Cemetery which was bulldozed two years ago after being illegally sold in a tax sale. (Cemeteries are not taxable property in Virginia). If we win on November 7, it will halt any further desecration of the cemetery and begin the correction of this historic wrong.
So there’s a lot going on in Prince William ….