Brentsville District School Board member Erica Tredinnick is defending her work for a firm tied to the Prince William Digital Gateway, saying she follows Virginia conflict-of-interest laws and will not apologize for “earning a living” in real estate development.
Tredinnick issued a written statement after an interview on Potomac Local News’ “PLN on YouTube,” where Prince William County School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef downplayed concerns about her employment with LSI Communications.
The company advises Pageland Lane property owners involved in the Prince William Digital Gateway, a 2023 land-use decision that opened the door to one of the world’s largest data center complexes. The project has fueled intense debate over growth, traffic, and possible high-voltage transmission lines near Patriot High School, T. Clay Wood Elementary School, and Marsteller Middle School.
The School Board does not vote on land use cases; its members routinely weigh in on issues that affect schools, including proposed transmission routes near school campuses. He asked Lateef how outside employment should be handled and what he would say to families worried about public trust and potential conflicts.
“Yeah, so I don’t know much about the firm. I don’t think it’s a lobbying firm to my knowledge,” Lateef said.
He emphasized that the School Board has no direct power over where data centers or transmission lines go.
“The school board does not vote on development projects. We don’t vote on where data centers get to go. Who sets them up? We don’t vote on transmission lines. Those are state determined outcomes,” he said.
Lateef said board members file required disclosures and that he does not view Tredinnick’s job as a problem for the School Board.
“Every politician in the state of Virginia has to file a conflict of interest statement,” Lateef said, adding that the board “regularly report[s] these things.”
“And I don’t see this being an issue because we don’t cover those topics of data centers and development,” he said.
After the interview, Tredinnick published a detailed response, saying she is “diligent” about following state law and division policy.
“As a School Board member, I am subject to the Virginia State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act, the Ethics in Public Contracting provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act, and School Board Policy 503.01 and Regulation 503.01-1,” she wrote. “As such, I am diligent about ensuring that I adhere to all the requirements of those laws, policies, and regulations.”
Tredinnick said her record on school crowding issues has been consistent.
“Since the day I was elected, I have been a consistent and vocal advocate for protecting our schools from both overcrowding and underutilization,” she wrote. “My record on this is public, consistent, and unchanged.”
She also distinguished between public criticism and what state law defines as an actual conflict.
“An ‘opinion’ about conflict based solely on someone’s profession is not the same thing as an actual legal conflict. Those distinctions matter, and I follow the law,” Tredinnick wrote.
Tredinnick devoted a large portion of her statement to denouncing what she called personal attacks on her career and character.
“My instinct is typically to avoid engaging with the toxicity that some individuals inject into our county discourse. But given the misinformation now being presented as fact, I am compelled to respond,” she wrote.
A lifelong Prince William County resident and former chief of staff in county government, Tredinnick said she left that job in July.
“I left my role as Chief of Staff in July because of people who demonize, degrade, and bully anyone who does not conform to their narrow worldview,” she wrote. “For years, this same faction followed a pattern of fighting everything, refusing compromise, which ultimately resulted in losing the Rural Crescent entirely.”
Tredinnick said that after leaving county government she interviewed “widely, including with multiple developers,” before choosing LSI, and rejected the idea that there is anything unethical about that decision.
“There is nothing unethical about earning a living, and no one should be attacked for providing for their family,” she wrote.
She described LSI as “a full-spectrum real estate development strategy and communications partner” — not a lobbying firm — that works on housing, retail, restaurants, entertainment, and projects that provide “life changing opportunities” for landowners.
“I firmly believe in property rights and in respecting the ability of landowners to make lawful decisions about their own land,” Tredinnick wrote.
Looking ahead, she framed the county’s growth debate as a choice between managed change and fear-based opposition.
“Prince William County will continue to change, as every strong community does. The question is whether we shape that growth responsibly or allow fear, misinformation, and personal attacks to dictate the future,” she wrote. “My goal is to help shape that growth thoughtfully so our community becomes more vibrant, more sustainable, and a place where our children can afford to stay and thrive.”
“Those who want to fight everything are free to do so,” Tredinnick added. “But those of us who care about results, solutions, and the future of this county will continue doing the work consistently and with integrity.”
