Prince William County Supervisors will again take up the long-debated Devlin Tech Park during its next meeting on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.
Stanley Martin Homes seeks to rezone 270 acres from PMR, Planned Mixed Residential, to M-2, Light Industrial, to allow for the development of multiple 60 to 80-feet tall data centers and power substations to power the server farms at the corner of Linton Hall and Devlin roads in Bristow.
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Insidenova.com: “Members of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors are keeping quiet about their stance on the divisive PW Digital Gateway data center proposal now that it’s been thoroughly rejected by two lower entities that issue recommendations on land-use legislation.”
“After more than 20 hours of discussion and public comment that began Nov. 8 and ended the following day, the Planning Commission voted to recommend supervisors deny the project.”
Insidenova.com: “In a stunning rejection of the largest data center development in county history, Prince William County staff on Friday issued recommendations that the Planning Commission deny all three rezonings associated with the divisive PW Digital Gateway.”
“County documents show staff suggested that the Planning Commission recommend to the Board of County Supervisors to not approve two rezoning requests by QTS Realty Trust Inc. — Digital Gateway North and South — and one by Compass Datacenters, which combined are aiming to build 23 million square feet of data centers on roughly 2,100 acres along Pageland Lane in western Prince William County near Gainesville.”
Prince William Times: “In a party-line vote, Prince William supervisors approved on Tuesday the county’s first-ever plan that sets goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to sustainable energy.”
“But the board’s three Republicans called it?“hypocritical” that their Democratic counterparts, who hold a 5-3 majority, adopted such a plan while considering a massive expansion of the county’s data center industry. Data centers require an enormous amount of electricity, most of which is supplied by fossil fuels.”
The Prince William Chamber of Commerce will hold a debate between Jeanine Lawson, the Republican, and Deshundra Jefferson, the Democrat. Both seek the Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman At-large seat.
The chamber is requiring attendees to register for the event before they may attend. Registration for the event is closed, according to the chamber’s website.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
Prince William Times: “With just weeks until the Nov. 7 election, only about half of the 14 candidates for the Prince William Board of County Supervisors are publicly sharing their positions on five of the most controversial and unresolved data center projects across the county.”
“Of the 14 candidates, 12, including six Democrats and six Republicans, responded to inquiries from the Prince William Times about their positions on the five projects.”
Prince William Times: “Deshundra Jefferson, the Democratic nominee for chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, envisions a county with more affordable housing, that attracts more businesses to reduce residential tax bills and offers programs to keep youth on the right track.”
“Jeanine Lawson, the Republican nominee, envisions a county that restores former protections to the “rural crescent,” repeals the 4% meals tax and provides more funding to hire police officers to crack down on rising crime.”
I’m Nelson Head, owner of Dixie Bones
The Prince William County Supervisors are up for re-election this year.
As part of the campaign, the challengers and I have visited more than a hundred restaurants throughout the county. There they learned firsthand what happened when the meals tax forced restaurants to add a collective $35 million of new charges to their checks. Not surprisingly, their customers found the food suddenly too expensive, and they stopped coming in.
They heard from servers how their tips fell by half. They saw empty dining rooms, skeleton crews, and managers and owners disheartened by the struggle to survive. They listened to customers angry over having to pay yet another tax and this one for simply eating out.
These challengers know they must end the Meals Tax if our restaurants are to survive.
In the other case, only odious, meanspirited persons would attack the livelihood of small, popular restaurants and their employees and then reward themselves with a 70% pay raise. But that is exactly what incumbent supervisors did.
Well, at least these guys can still afford to eat in a restaurant if they dare to show their face.
These incumbents expect us to believe that they gave the meals tax money to schools when anyone can plainly see the $30 million of tax money sitting idle and unused in a surplus account in the county’s coffers.
This crop of self-serving supervisors, masquerading as Democrats protecting the little guy, is way, way past their sell-by dates.
We can fix this.
Please go to endmealstax.com to meet the new supervisors who will clean up this mess.
Voting is already underway. So please go to the polls and vote for candidates who will Save Our Restaurants.
Nelson Head
Founder, Dixie Bones BBQ
Woodbridge
HOA Roundtable of Northern Virginia: “The HOA Roundtable of Northern Virginia, based in Prince William County, is a non-partisan coalition of HOAs, Civic Associations, and independent homeowners who represent more than 150,000 households across the region.”
“Every seat on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors is on the ballot in the November election. Those elected will seal the future of the county.”
“Without a change in leadership, Prince William will cease to be a county for residential communities and families to thrive, and retirees to enjoy…Employment opportunities and
entities providing vital goods and services, will be forced out of Prince William, unable to afford artificially inflated commercial land prices driven by data center development.”
“Given our unique insight, we are proud to endorse the following candidates and encourage the residents of Prince William County to support their strong, consistent campaign message to place residential quality of life and property value as a top priority:”
- PWC Board Chair: Jeanine Lawson
- Woodbridge District: Jeannie LaCroix
- Potomac District: Verndell Robinson
- Brentsville District: Tom Gordy
- Coles District: Yesli Vega
- Gainesville District: Bob Weir
Prince William Times: “Prince William County Supervisor Jeanine Lawson on Tuesday held a press conference calling for Pete Candland, her former board colleague, to be investigated for public corruption.”
“Lawson, a Republican who is running for chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors in the upcoming Nov. 7 election, shared emails Candland exchanged with a local data center developer to offer his services as a former elected official to help companies “navigate their projects” through Prince William County’s land-use approval process.”
