Prince William Supervisors Vote Unanimously to End By-Right Data Center Development

MANASSAS — Prince William County supervisors voted 8-0 on September 22 to end by-right data center development countywide, forcing future projects through a special-use permit process that puts the Board of County Supervisors in the final chair for each application.

The zoning text amendment, initiated by the board on June 9 and championed in its grace-period form by Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy, shrinks the long-standing Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District that since May 2016 had allowed server campuses to proceed by-right inside mapped industrial and office areas near high-voltage lines. Existing centers, projects under construction, and site plans that already cleared quality-control thresholds would remain inside the overlay under Gordy’s 90-day grace framework.

Chair Deshundra Jefferson called a rare mid-hearing closed session lasting just over thirty minutes before the final tally, saying afterward that the board needed legal guidance on a “tough vote.” Jefferson said some colleagues wanted a shorter or longer grace window, but she did not want a 4-4 deadlock that would “kick the can down the road.”

Gainesville Supervisor George Stewart pushed a substitute for a zero-day grace period, warning of a “gold rush” of applications during any runway. That substitute failed 3-5. Stewart and Gordy were joined by Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye in support; Jefferson, Coles Supervisor Yesli Vega, Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey, Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry, and Woodbridge Supervisor Jeannie LaCroix voted no, keeping the 90-day path alive for the unanimous final approval.

Public comment ran hot. Patrick Harders, a Gainesville resident and the 2025 Republican nominee for that seat, tied the overlay vote to a forthcoming rural small-area plan and to calls for a one-year moratorium on data-center applications. Ross Snare, a community leader and former Prince William Chamber of Commerce chair, announced he would resign from the chamber — which has historically backed the industry — and urged a broader pause, calling the decision a generation-shaping land-use choice rather than a single-parcel rezoning. Rachel Ellis of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County dismissed the amendment as “smoke and mirrors” without enough teeth.

Setbacks from homes and schools were deliberately left for later. Planning Director Tanya Washington told the board staff is aiming for a November Planning Commission hearing on buffer language and a January board date. The Planning Commission had struggled on September 9 between a 180-day/500-foot package and a zero-day/2,500-foot alternative before Occoquan Commissioner Raheel Sheikh switched to a 120-day/500-foot compromise that advanced 5-3 — a recommendation the board did not lock into Tuesday’s text.

The vote lands as Prince William counts more than fifty operating data centers and a pipeline exceeding seventy-five additional facilities in various stages. Supervisors and school leaders have celebrated the tax base that paid for teacher raises and the state’s first universal pre-K push, while neighborhood groups from Haymarket to Woodbridge argue diesel generators, transmission rebuilds, and overnight noise have outrun the original overlay’s promises.

Coles Supervisor Yesli Vega told reporters the same week that last year’s roughly $550 million in new data-center revenue was spent entirely — mostly into schools under the county’s revenue-sharing formula — rather than returned as large property or car-tax cuts some residents expected when the industry was courted. Chair Babur Lateef has defended that choice as keeping tax rates stable while funding classrooms that compete with Loudoun.

Industry representatives warn that special-use review will slow investment and push megawatts into neighboring localities still offering by-right paths. Neighborhood coalitions reply that a public hearing for each campus is the minimum accountability after a decade of overlay expansion. The 90-day grace period is now the immediate battleground: how many site plans can clear the quality-control bar before the by-right door closes.

Separate town halls on Dominion transmission rebuilds, including a September 17 session at Nokesville Volunteer Fire Department featuring Gordy, Jefferson, and Vega, have fused the data-center land-use fight with power-line politics. Residents hear the same theme at both microphones: Northern Virginia’s digital economy needs electricity and land, and Prince William no longer wants those decisions made on autopilot.

All Virginia News will track the Planning Commission’s November buffer hearing and whether any “gold rush” filings materialize before the grace period ends. For now, Prince William has drawn a bright procedural line — future data centers must face the board, not just the zoning map.

Email the Prince William Board of Supervisors At:
Chair At-Large (Deshundra Jefferson) – djefferson@pwcgov.org,
Brentsville (Tom Gordy): tgordy@pwcgov.org,
Coles (Yesli Vega): yvega@pwcgov.org,
Occoquan (Kenny Boddye): kboddye@pwcgov.org,
Potomac (Andrea Bailey): abailey@pwcgov.org,
Woodbridge (Jeannie LaCroix): jlacroix@pwcgov.org,
General Board: bocs@pwcgov.org,

Email the Prince William School Board at:
Babur B. Lateef, M.D. (Chairman At-Large) — blateef@pwcs.edu,
Richard M. Jessie (Vice Chairman, Occoquan District) — rjessie@pwcs.edu,
Erica C. Tredinnick (Brentsville District) — etredinnick@pwcs.edu, 
Lisa A. Zargarpur (Coles District) — lzargarpur@pwcs.edu,
Jennifer T. Wall (Gainesville District) — jwall@pwcs.edu,
Tracy L. Blake (Neabsco District) — tblake@pwcs.edu,
Justin David Wilk (Potomac District) — jwilk@pwcs.edu,
Loree Y. Williams (Woodbridge District) — lwilliams@pwcs.edu,