PWC Supervisors Approve Major Limits On By-Right Data Center Development: Report

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — The Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to significantly reduce where data centers can be built without a public hearing, according to a new report.

The Prince William Times reports that the board voted unanimously to overhaul the county's Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District, reducing the area where qualifying data centers can be developed by right, meaning without public review and a full board vote, from about 9,700 acres to roughly 3,650 acres. Most new data centers proposed for outside the overlay will require a special use permit and will have to undergo public review and a vote.

The revised overlay will generally preserve by-right development on properties meeting one of five eligibility criteria established by the county, including certain properties with existing data center development rights or projects already moving through the development process. The county also closed the overlay to future expansion.

The changes significantly alter the landscape for data center development in the county.

Supervisors Keep 90-Day Transition Period

The board approved a 90-day transition period for certain properties already within the overlay, rather than the 120 days recommended by the county Planning Commission earlier in September.

A motion to get rid of that grace period entirely failed, the Prince William Times reports.

Some residents and advocacy groups had urged supervisors to eliminate the grace period, arguing it could lead to a rush of applications seeking to preserve by-right development status before the new restrictions fully take effect.

Data Center Battles Reshape County Policy

The vote comes after several major data center proposals became the focus of intense public debate in Prince William County. Resulting public pressure resulted in recent high-profile data center projects being overturned or blocked.

Read more from the Prince William Times here.