My name is Bill Wright and I live in Gainesville. I oppose the Prince William Digital Gateway.
On April 7th I sent the Supervisors an article (PRP acquiring 35 acres in Manassas, plans three data centers - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)) reporting that real estate firm PRP purchased 22 acres in the data center overlay district for the purpose of building a million square feet of data center capacity within 18 months on land the Department of Economic Development told us was “Occupied or Not Available for Sale”. Yet it was sold for data center development despite being occupied. The right price suddenly made the property available. And the opportunity made it worthwhile to clear and repurpose the land.
On April 21st, Inside NOVA reported (Data center mapped out for 34 acres in Manassas | Headlines | insidenova.com) that Stack Infrastructure announced a plan to bring a 34-acre development to the intersection of Wellington Road and Freedom Center Boulevard. This is on land the Department of Economic Development had categorized as “Assemblage or Other Step Needed”. So, the developer assembled two adjacent parcels of land and will build 602,000 square feet of data center capacity by the fall of 2023.
You can see several of Prince William Digital Gateway opponents’ points being made here:
* Land in the overlay district is attractive to data center
developers because of by-right use policies and available infrastructure
* The “fast track to development” within the overlay
district enables greater tax revenues to the County sooner
* Smaller parcels of land can be effectively developed for
data centers.
* The Department of Economic Development should promote
building out the existing overlay district before tearing up the countryside to
needlessly cater to mega-developers’ outsized ambitions
Opponents of this proposal have said all along that there is sufficient usable land in the existing overlay district that can be developed responsibly if the County would follow the prudent guidelines previously established. Prematurely seeking data center development outside the overlay district is needlessly catering to corporate preferences when the County is in a strong position to drive a harder bargain over its optimally situated properties. The County’s lax marketing efforts are giving away the store and squandering our irreplaceable natural, historic and cultural resources.
Lazy government is surrendering our sovereignty to developers. Just look at the feeding frenzy that has now spread north to Sanders Lane where every home hobbyist now believes they can build a data center in their backyard. When every delusional dreamer thinks they can whimsically amend the County’s Comprehensive Plan, there effectively is no plan. The void created by the County’s abdication of the planning process has left the inmates in charge of the asylum. Greed and fear crazed inmates won’t build the housing we need. They’ll sell out to data centers and take a powder.
This is what your “no rules” and “anything goes” policies have wrought. When are we going to put an end to this? I will provide the Supervisors with evidence of the chaos you are creating.
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