Remarks to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors: November 9, 2021

My name is Bill Wright.  I live in the Heritage Hunt neighborhood in Gainesville.  I appreciate the opportunity to speak out against rezoning to create the Prince William Digital Gateway.

First, I applaud the Supervisors for promoting economic growth in Prince William County.  Second, I understand the need for data centers and am not opposed to them per se.  What I am adamantly opposed to is altering current prudent zoning restrictions for the purpose of placing data centers in rural areas inappropriate for their presence.

The most obvious argument is that there is absolutely no necessity to do this.  Just a few years ago the Board of Supervisors had the wisdom and foresight to set aside an appropriate commercial and industrial area of ample size for data center use.  Chapter 32, Article V, Part 509 of the Prince William County Code of Ordinances states:

 “The Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District was created for the purpose of promoting development of data centers within areas of the County where there is existing infrastructure that could adequately support the proposed use. This District continues the County's efforts to attract and advance high-tech industrial development while limiting negative impacts to communities.”

What changed so quickly?  Are the Supervisors no longer interested in “limiting negative impacts to communities”?  Those impacts are not an abstract concept for my neighborhood.  We are daily witnesses to the devastation your recent decisions have wrought with the Gainesville Crossing project.  Thousands of trees were clear cut, creating a lunar landscape that is merely a sneak preview of what our entire area will look like if you continue down this disastrous path.  This fiasco will not be limited to the environmental impact, but will cascade into vastly overtaxed rural infrastructure which will result in exorbitant future public expenditures and endless construction chaos.  Is this somebody’s idea of smart growth?

Why would the Supervisors advocate wreaking such havoc when data centers could be located within the designated overlay district with no public outcry?  Is it to placate a small minority of landowners who hope to reap a windfall by selling out their neighbors and then fleeing the ensuing devastation?  Is it to show we are “business friendly” to wealthy corporations who will contribute little to remedy the environmental and infrastructure liabilities they create?  The role of County government is to protect the welfare of its citizens, not to enhance the profit margin of landowners and corporations at public expense and peril. 

And please don’t tell us you are merely “studying” the issue.  How would you feel if government officials and moneyed interests were relentlessly “studying” how to ruin your neighborhood?  Gainesville Crossing is ample evidence of the result of such “studies”.  Our own Supervisor, a former champion of the opposition to data centers in the rural crescent, recently demonstrated how he believes these “studies” will turn out.  He’s now “studying” somewhere else to live, and his white flag leaves our area without representation on this most consequential issue.

I implore all of the Supervisors to act responsibly and serve the public interest.  Allowing data centers within the rural crescent is an awful idea with irrevocable consequences and your reputations will be forever tainted by your association with it.  

Thank you.