Manassas National Battlefield
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Prince William County Supervisors voted to amend its comprehensive plan to allow up to 27 million square feet of data centers to be built next to Manassas National Battlefield Park.
It’s the largest, most transformative land-use case in county history.
While future skirmishes loom in the form of rezonings, arguably the biggest land-use decision in Prince William County’s history is expected to be made Tuesday, Nov. 1.
That’s when the Board of County Supervisors will hold a public hearing and plans to vote on the proposed PW Digital Gateway. The hearing is on the request from dozens of landowners to designate 2,139 acres in western Prince William County for data centers. Specifically, it is to change the land currently designated as agricultural/estate and environmental resource in the Comprehensive Plan to technology/flex, parks and open space, county registered historic site and environmental resource overlay.
(Prince William Times / Metered Paywall) — Prince William County’s draft plan for the Prince William Digital Gateway envisions a 2,100-acre data center corridor next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park and Conway Memorial State Forest that would allow up to 27.6 million square feet of data center space – likely spread across dozens of buildings – while also dedicating about 800 acres to new parks and trails, protecting historic assets and mitigating harmful impacts on wildlife and the Occoquan Reservoir.
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The Prince William County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway project.
The project aims to convert open space next to the Manassas National Battlefield into data centers. Three applicants have filed rezoning applications for the area, which would rezone more than 800 acres from agricultural and estate land to an area zoned for technology/flex space.
Beginning on August 25, Manassas National Battlefield Park will observe the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Second Manassas. For five days, through August 30, events will remember the cost of battle and include the destructive impact on area families and African Americans.
A few highlighted events include:
Opinion: Extra tax money from data centers will not make up for the permanent scarring of our county
It seems clear to us that, as a group, our local elected leaders in Prince William County appear to be struggling to make decisions regarding the long-term strategic use of a scarce resource — our land.
Such land use decisions are critical to ensuring our county will be one that continues to attract new residents and new businesses and retains the current attributes that attracted current residents to move here.
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