Remarks to the Prince William Planning Commission: September 14, 2022

My name is Bill Wright and I live in Gainesville.  It’s time for closing arguments against the Prince William Digital Gateway.  There are too many unanswered questions.

1) Needlessness.  Prince William County already has more data center capacity operating or under development than the Camoin report said would be needed for the next twenty years.  Our government shamelessly withholds this information under the guise of non-disclosure agreements that place the greed of QTS and Compass above our citizens’ right to transparency.

2) Water Quality. The Fairfax County Planning Department, Fairfax Water Authority, the Prince William County Department of Public Works, the Prince William County Watershed Management Branch, the Washington Post and others have warned of the risks.  Our supervisors deny and deflect.

3) Noise.  Documented problems with excessive noise at Amazon’s Tanner Way facility have caused great distress to the residents of the Great Oak subdivision.  And only two of four planned buildings are operating.  This confirms the Planning Departments’ stated principle that data centers are incompatible with adjacent residential areas.  Do you intend to violate that principle again?

4) Power.  Dominion Power has been quoted as saying they are having difficulty meeting existing data center power needs and additional transmission lines will be needed.   Citizens will pick up the infrastructure tab for multi-billion-dollar corporations in a blatant display of corporate welfare. 

5) Transportation.  A bevy of new road improvements will be required.  Developer may bear some costs, but they certainly won’t bear all.   Expected tax revenues will be deferred during construction and offset by costs.  County cash flow will be negative for several years.  Industrial development along the intended path of the Bi-County Parkway will inevitably lead to its resurrection and ensuing traffic nightmares.

6) Other Infrastructure and Public Works support.  Water and sewer lines will need to be extended.  A new fire station will be needed.  County staff will need to be expanded.  You can probably cite other costs better than I can.  Costs borne by the County will offset advertised project revenues.  

7) History, Culture and Recreation.  This 2,139-acre industrial corridor sandwiched between a national park and a state forest presents “the single greatest threat to Manassas National Battlefield Park in nearly three decades”.  It threatens multiple civil war and former slave cemeteries, as well as African-American historic areas worthy of preservation.

8) Process.  Why does this proposal jump the line ahead of the Comprehensive Plan Update and Data Center Overlay District Expansion Review that ought to precede it? 

9) Easy Ethics, Improper Access and Undue Influence. This is not the County’s idea, but a private landowner assemblage getting preferential treatment.  You know it is wrong, yet it consistently vaults every prudent guardrail.  The public demands an explanation.

Be responsible.  Assert your integrity.  Deny or defer.