Very well said, as always, by Prince William County Supervisor Kenny Boddye, this time on data centers, and specifically the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ uannimous vote ” to deny the initiation of a Comprehensive Plan Amendment tied to the proposed Dulles South Innovation Center: roughly 1,900 acres and potentially as much as 43 million square feet of data center development.” The key points, IMHO, are:
- First, an important question: “How do we manage change in Prince William County?”
- Second, a statement of facts about the current reality in which we find ourselves: “Our county is growing. Our region is changing. Economic pressures are real. Land values are changing. Infrastructure needs are growing. And none of us gets to freeze time. But growth being inevitable does not mean every proposal is inevitable.”
- Third, a complaint: “Local governments are still being asked to make decisions about an industry of national importance while being denied many of the tools needed to manage its local impacts…This is not sustainable.”
- Fourth, a conclusion – for now, anyway – and a reiteration of the first question, about how to manage change: “Tuesday’s vote did not answer every question about growth, land use, or data centers. It gave us something we badly needed: time and space to have the conversation before another 1,900-acre proposal determines the answer for us. Growth is coming. The question is whether we shape it together, or let it shape us. I know which side of that question I am on.”
In short, this is a very thoughtful analysis by Kenny Boddye of the situation in Prince William County related to data centers. But it really could apply throughout Virginia as we all struggle with questions of environmental sustainability, economic challenges, technological change, and how our political system can (and should) respond to a variety of pressing challenges, in a way that works best for Virginians as a whole…not just today, but for years to come. And no, these are not simple questions with easy answers, despite what some might try to argue. (BTW, on a related note, I strongly recommend the 1993 book, “Technopoly,” by Neil Postman, about “The Surrender of Culture to Technology” – and why we shouldn’t continue down that road; 30+ years old, but still VERY relevant today!)
With that, here’s Kenny Boddye’s post, which I highly recommend!
On Tuesday, I voted to say no to what could have become the largest data center complex in the world.
The Board voted unanimously to deny the initiation of a Comprehensive Plan Amendment tied to the proposed Dulles South Innovation Center: roughly 1,900 acres and potentially as much as 43 million square feet of data center development.
Despite being a CPA initiation, this was not a light vote, and no one should pretend it was.
Over the weeks leading up to it, I heard from hundreds of people. That included residents deeply worried about what development on this scale would mean for their homes and community. It also included many of the more than 250 landowners whose properties were part of the proposal, some of whom feel the area around them has already changed so much that the rural future they once imagined is no longer realistic.
I have sympathy for both.
Because underneath all of those conversations was the same question: How do we manage change in Prince William County?
Our county is growing. Our region is changing. Economic pressures are real. Land values are changing. Infrastructure needs are growing. And none of us gets to freeze time.
But growth being inevitable does not mean every proposal is inevitable.
Tuesday’s vote was not about pretending data centers do not exist here or that they play no role in our economy. They already do. In 2024 alone, the industry generated $294 million in tax revenue for Prince William County, and we now have 82 facilities built or under construction.
The question before us was different.
Where does development of this intensity belong?
What should communities be expected to absorb?
What protections should be in place before projects of this scale move forward?
And are we willing to say no when we do not have good enough answers?
For me, the answer to that last question has to be yes.
The impacts of industrial development do not stop at a property line. Grid strain does not stop at a property line. Neither do noise, emissions, water demand, transmission infrastructure, or the cumulative effect of placing massive industrial uses near existing communities.
And we should not allow the ghost of the now-defunct Digital Gateway to dictate what comes next for this area.
Prince William County deserves a chance to pause.
To breathe.
To talk honestly about what we want to preserve, where growth should go, what kinds of economic development we want to attract, and what standards we should demand before the next mega-proposal is dropped into the middle of that conversation.
I also have confidence that Supervisor George Stewart is the right person to help lead that discussion in Gainesville District. He cares deeply about his community, understands that change has to be managed rather than ignored, and knows how to bring people together.
But there is another part of this conversation that cannot be ignored; something that has been a challenge for years beyond the borders of our own community.
Local governments are still being asked to make decisions about an industry of national importance while being denied many of the tools needed to manage its local impacts.
We are expected to address power demand without real authority over the grid.
Water demand without adequate state standards.
Air pollution without the full regulatory tools available elsewhere.
Cumulative impacts while applications are often considered one parcel at a time.
That is not sustainable.
Since 2021, I have pushed for stronger data center design and performance standards, sustainability and resiliency requirements, environmental justice principles, greenhouse gas emissions tracking, water-use transparency, stronger noise protections, and a tax structure that delivers a fairer return to the communities hosting this infrastructure.
We have made progress.
We raised the Computers & Peripherals tax rate to bring Prince William more in line with peer jurisdictions. I have also introduced a directive to examine lifting the Consumer Utility Tax electricity cap for Large Load Customers so the largest energy users contribute more fairly.
I have pushed developers and operators directly for stronger environmental and community protections on individual projects. Sometimes those conversations have produced meaningful commitments.
Too often, they have not. After all, asking is not the same as regulating.
Local governments need more authority. State and federal leaders need to stop treating the impacts of this industry as someone else’s problem while leaving communities to negotiate project by project with one hand tied behind their backs.
Tuesday’s vote did not answer every question about growth, land use, or data centers.
It gave us something we badly needed: time and space to have the conversation before another 1,900-acre proposal determines the answer for us.
Growth is coming.
The question is whether we shape it together, or let it shape us.
I know which side of that question I am on.
