SPORTS: Four county athletes strike gold in state track; baseball, boys soccer, lacrosse teams fall in regionals. PAGES 16-19, 23 June 7, 2023
Our 206th year | Vol. 206, No. 23 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2022
Warrenton staff rejects data center site plan
Tree save, noise mitigation, other key details missing, town staff says By Peter Cary
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
Warrenton town staff members have cited a long list of deficiencies in Amazon’s initial site development plans for its data center on Blackwell Road. Their critique runs 41 pages and contains more than 350 comments from nine different departments. If all comments are addressed satisfactorily in accord with town codes, policies and regulations, “and the project is resubmitted with all deficiencies corrected,” the plan will be re-reviewed, the staff’s letter states. Two organizations opposed to the 220,000-square-foot data center to be built near the town’s northern entrance commended the town staff for
being thorough but said their review showed Amazon’s plan “is unacceptable and shows a stunning lack of respect for the town.” “The staff comments set forth in painstaking detail the omissions, deficiencies and errors in Amazon’s (site development plan or SDP),” the Piedmont Environmental Council, a conservation-oriented nonprofit, and Protect Fauquier, a citizens group, said in a joint statement. Citizens For Fauquier County, which also opposes the project, declined to comment because it has sued the town over its approval of a permit for the project. Mayor Carter Nevill, too, commended town staffers for their diligence and professionalism, though he disagreed with the two groups’ conclusions. See AMAZON, page 10
STAFF PHOTO
The site of the Amazon data center planned along Blackwell Road.
Marshall candidates discuss data centers, school funding
Washer attended Jan. 6 insurrection, but stayed outside the Capitol, he says By Shannon Clark
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/JILL PALERMO
SHOWING THEIR PRIDE: James Cornewell, president of Fauquier Pride, raises a rainbow-colored Pride flag over Warrenton’s first Pride event on June 1. Center: Warrenton Mayor Carter Nevill speaks at the event. Right: Sisters Kalyna Johnson, 5, and Amelia Johnson, 9, attend the event. See story page 2.
With less than two weeks until the June 20 primary, two candidates vying for the Republican nomination in the Marshall District supervisor’s race – Arthur “Regan” Washer and James A. “Jim” Mitchell -- sat down with the Fauquier Times to share their views on data centers and other commercial development as well as funding for the county’s school division and fire departments. Washer, 31, also acknowledged he attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He said he remained outside the building. See MARSHALL, page 4
Silver Branch Brewing Co. is coming to Warrenton this fall, page 5
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