GAINESVILLE MAN SKYDIVES FOR 91ST BIRTHDAY: Nokesville football collision. SPORTS, Pages 11, 12
November 2, 2023 | Vol. 22, No. 44 | 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.
Development, taxes divide candidates
County chair hopefuls target data centers, each other, during sole debate By Shannon Clark Times Staff Writer
No matter who wins the race for chair of the Prince William Board of Supervisors, the county’s growing data center industry could be the loser, as both Deshundra Jefferson and Jeanine Lawson pledged during their first and only debate Oct. 26 to raise data center tax rates and halt any new data center rezonings if elected on Nov. 7. Lawson, 54, the Republican nominee, and Jefferson, 47, the Democratic nominee, both also said they
PHOTO BY MIKE BEATY
Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R) and Deshundra Jefferson (D) discuss the issues during an Oct. 26 debate at George Mason University’s Manassas campus.
21st District House race
would do whatever possible to stop the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway from coming to fruition even if the current board approves the project in December. The plan proposes up to 34 data centers on 2,100 acres next to Manassas National Battlefield Park. Lawson went a step further and said she would restore the former “rural crescent” by reinstating development restrictions lifted by the current board late last year. Lawson also said she would repeal the county’s 4% meals tax and voiced her opposition to collective bargaining for county staff and first responders. See CANDIDATES, page 2
County planners urge denial of Digital Gateway By Peter Cary and Jill Palermo Piedmont Journalism Foundation, Times Staff Writer
Prince William voters will elect seven members of the Virginia House of Delegates on Nov. 7, but only two races are deemed “competitive.” Both contests are in newly drawn districts on the western end of the county and are among 10 across the commonwealth that will likely decide the partisan lean of the state House, which now has a 48-46 Republican majority with six vacancies.”
Citing a lack of information and numerous unanswered questions, Prince William County’s professional planning staff is recommending denial on the Prince William Digital Gateway—one of the largest and most controversial commercial projects to come before the board of supervisors in decades. The PW Digital Gateway is a plan to transform 2,100 acres of homes and small farms adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park into a new corridor of up to 34 large data centers. First proposed in July 2021, the plan was hatched by 102 property owners along Pageland Lane who banded together to sell their collective 1,800 acres to two data center developers—QTS and Compass Datacenters—for what was proposed to be one of the largest data center corridors in the world. The effort was led by Pageland Lane resident Mary Ann Ghadban, a commercial real estate developer who owns a 55-acre farm in the PW Digital Gateway corridor. Ghadban and her neighbors contend that worsening traffic along Pageland Lane and high-voltage power lines have spoiled the rural character of their properties.
See VA HOUSE, page 4
See DENIAL, page 6
John Stirrup (R)
Josh Thomas (D)
Abortion, education top issues in hot Va. House races By Cher Muzyk
Times Staff Writer
Candidates weigh in on indoor track, meals taxes, page 3
PHOTO BY PETER CARY
Mary Reiley, who lives near the battlefield, speaks during an April protest outside a Compass open house in Gainesville.
Rosie’s Emporium is on the ballot in Manassas Park, page 5
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