POTOMAC GIRLS WIN CARDINAL HOOPS TITLE: Panthers went 12-0. SPORTS, PAGE 13
February 9, 2023 | Vol. 22, No. 6 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Supervisors defer vote on Bristow data centers
People protest along Prince William Parkway Tuesday, Feb. 7 ahead of a board of county supervisors’ meeting on a proposed rezoning for the “Devlin Technology Park,” a plan to allow 14 new data centers near Devlin and Linton Hall roads. The supervisors voted 7-0 to defer the vote until March 7.
Vote came at 3 a.m. after protest, 5 hours of public testimony By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
After hearing from about 80 people who voiced nearly universal opposition to the proposed Devlin Technology Park due to concerns about living near a “noisy concrete jungle,” the Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted unanimously early Wednesday morning to defer until March 7 a decision on the new data center campus slated for Bristow. The decision came just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8, after more than five hours of public comment during which only a handful of speakers – all representatives of regional trade unions – voiced support for developer Stanley Martin’s request to rezone 270 acres at Devlin and Linton Hall roads for a new data center campus of up to 14 buildings. Supervisor Kenny Boddye, D-Oc-
coquan, made the motion to defer the vote after supervisors spent more than 90 minutes after the public hearing discussing ideas aimed at mitigating the impacts of the new data centers on several surrounding communities. The project is slated for undeveloped land near Amberleigh Station, Silver Leaf Estates, Lanier Farms, Sheffield Manor, Crossman’s Creek and Victory Lakes. The property abuts Chris Yung Elementary School and is within about a mile of several other schools, including Piney Branch Elementary, Gainesville Middle and Gainesville High School. Boddye asked Stanley Martin to double its buffers between the data center property and nearby residential properties and schools from 100 to 200 feet in an effort to shield schools and residents from noise from the data center complex. Boddye then suggested that the
PHOTO BY JOHN CALHOUN
new data centers be limited to only the portion of the 270-acre parcel that lies northeast of a future extension of University Boulevard. That idea was an effort to use the road to further separate the data centers from the homes and Chris Yung Elementary School. Stanley Martin is seeking to rezone the area from “planned mixed residential” to light industrial, a designation
that would allow for data centers. But those discussions, which began at about 1:30 a.m., broke down amid questions about how such changes would alter the existing “master zoning plan” for the property, which was approved in 2020 and allows for 516 single-family homes. See VOTE, page 2
Supervisors’ top donors: unions, data center developers By Cher Muzyk and Jill Palermo Times Staff Writers
Campaign contributions to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors from real estate developers and related entities are nothing new. In the last six months of 2022, however, the supervisors’ top benefactors – those who gave $10,000 or more – were comprised not only of real estate developers but also those with ties to local data center projects, including the Prince William Digital Gateway and Devlin Technology Park, as well as labor unions that have voiced support for data center expansion. From July 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, the bulk of those donations were directed toward four Democratic supervisors: Board Chair Ann Wheeler (At Large) and Supervisors Andrea Bailey (Potomac), Kenny Boddye (Occoquan) and Margaret Franklin (Woodbridge). Supervisor Victor Angry, D-Neabsco, did not
From left to right: Board Chair Ann Wheeler, D-At Large; Supervisor Andrea Bailey, D-Potomac; Supervisor Kenny Boddye, D-Occoquan; Supervisor Margaret Franklin, D-Woodbridge report contributions from the same top donors but received thousands from them in late 2021. Only Wheeler returned an email seeking comment on the donations, saying that campaign contributions are required to be reported by law. “The goal is to provide transparency,” she said.
Mom’s Apple Pie cooks up something new in Occoquan, page 10
In addition to the contributions detailed below, Wheeler received a $15,000 donation from her husband, John Wheeler, in October 2022, according to campaign finance reports. See DONORS, page 5
Nokesville School librarian plays Jeopardy, page 11
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