LETTER: School board chair should do his homework on rural area data centers


March 24, 2022

I’m not surprised that our school board chair decided to endorse the Prince William Digital Gateway.   After all the shameless lobbying he has endured, I’m amazed he didn’t name a high school after it.  I just wish he had employed the critical thinking he expects of his students.

 

The County’s revenue sharing agreement provides 57 percent of general revenue to the school system.  Everyone supports generating more revenue for our schools, but there are more prudent options for doing so.

 

Opponents of the Prince William Digital Gateway have argued for months that the choice is not between developing data centers and forgoing that revenue.  Rather it is a question of the most appropriate LOCATION for them.  Sandwiching a 2,133-acre industrial corridor on agricultural land between a national park and a state forest is not a prudent exercise in civic planning.  Such a boneheaded idea would certainly earn any student an “F”.

 

There is ample suitable land remaining for data center development in the existing overlay district.  The fallacy that there's not is repeatedly advanced by those who selfishly want to drive development toward their own properties.

 

The Prince William County Finance Department recently reviewed the economic benefits claimed by this proposal’s applicant and found them to be grossly exaggerated.  Building out the existing overlay district would yield greater net benefits without causing extensive environmental damage and understandable citizen outcry.

 

Dr. Lateef should study harder before speaking out on a subject on which he has so obviously not done his homework.

 

Bill Wright

Gainesville

 

 

 

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