Prince William County Board To Vote On Restricting Data Center Development

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA – The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on a zoning change that could eliminate most by-right data center development in the county.

Currently, data centers can be built by-right – meaning without public hearings or board votes – in designated parts of the county, including in the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.

The changes to the county’s zoning ordinance would shrink the Data Center Overlay District and essentially redraw it to include only areas where data centers have already been developed. They would also require data centers proposed for other parts of the county zoned for business, office and industrial use to obtain a Special Use Permit, a process that includes a public review and ultimately a decision by the Board of County Supervisors.

These changes were recommended by the county’s planning commission earlier this month. The commission also recommended a longer grace period for developers to try to bring proposed projects into compliance – 120 days rather than the originally proposed 90 days.

Some citizens' groups in the county, including the Coalition to Protect Prince William, support the zoning changes but are calling for the grace period to be eliminated.

Public pressure within the county has resulted in recent high-profile data center projects being overturned or blocked.

The board meeting in which the vote is scheduled to take place will start at 2 p.m.

See more: Virginia Gov. Spanberger Orders Aggressive New Data Center Regulations