On November 4th, 2021, residents of the active adult community of Heritage Hunt in Gainesville, Virginia attended an inspirational and informative presentation from members of The Coalition to Protect Prince William County, the Prince William Conservation Alliance and the National Parks Conservation Association about how we could fight to protect our community from the onslaught of an immense and incompatibly sited industrial development called the Prince William Digital Gateway.  We responded immediately by forming the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group, which was the beginning of a 15-month struggle against an irresponsible and indifferent local government that continues to this day.

We overcame initial false complacency, because we were told “not to worry” from the beginning.

    • On August 12, 2021, Heritage Hunt residents were told by long-standing (and formerly trusted) Gainesville District Supervisor Pete Candland that the proposed data center development along Pageland Lane was a “done deal” and would not have a big impact on our community. First impressions are lasting and many at Heritage Hunt simply accepted it, having been assured there was nothing to worry about.  By that time, evidence indicates that Supervisor Candland was already helping Pageland Lane residents to offer their land for the proposed data center project. 
    • Candland later (October 25, 2021) agreed to sell his own land to data centers, requiring him to recuse himself from any vote on the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal due to his conflict of interest. Despite his selfish personal choice and greatly diminished effectiveness, he refused to resign and allow someone else to represent the Gainesville district (County Supervisor Pete Candland joins his neighbors in asking the county to replan their neighborhood for data centers | News | princewilliamtimes.com). 
    • As we were to learn, the project was to be the largest data center complex on the planet, with over 27 million square feet of data center buildings (the equivalent of 150 Walmart stores), supporting structures, up to 105-foot heights, a new four-lane highway, new power lines and extensive clearing and grading of a 2,139-acre agricultural and residential site. It would be the largest single server farm on the planet. A $30 billion project (Opposition mounts against ‘rural crescent’ data center plans | News | princewilliamtimes.com).

 

  • We effectively surmounted a steep learning curve.
    • At the November 4th 2021 presentation mentioned above, Heritage Hunt residents learned that the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal was actually a significant threat to our community, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Conway Robinson State Forest and other parts of northern Virginia.
    • The Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group was formed and began researching the size and scope of the project and its many impacts.  It was a remarkable effort.  We had to quickly come up to speed on:
      • Water quality and drinking supply impacts
      • Noise level impacts
      • Transportation impacts
      • Historic preservation threats
      • Environmental threats – nature, air quality, light pollution
      • Hidden costs of public infrastructure and services
      • Electrical demand and infrastructure impacts, and much more   

  • Our group initially had to wade through a wave of misinformation shaped by public opinion experts with a deliberate intent to obfuscate and deceive.
    • The Pageland Lane area property owners, backed by the well-funded public relations expertise of QTS, Blackstone and Compass, laid down an informational smoke screen falsely claiming that huge amounts of tax revenue would result from initiation of the project.  This revenue would solve every County’s problem and would boost economic opportunity and increase school funding. They said that this revenue (initially claimed to be $700 million a year) would materialize magically overnight.
    • Those opposing the development, were portrayed as backward-looking exclusionists, only seeking to protect their privileges. 
    • Opponents of the proposal were also portrayed as selfish elitists, deliberately obstructing improved schools and limiting economic equality.
    • Opponents of the proposal did not agree that the mere presence of power lines along the Pageland Lane corridor (which had been there for years) had already rendered the area industrial. 
    • There is no factual basis for these claims, but that did not impede well-funded propagandists.       

 

  • We carefully and reliably documented the real Prince William Digital Gateway impacts:
    • After learning about the likely effects of the Prince William Digital Gateway, the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group carefully documented them based on the above factors. Our studies and assessments were much stronger and more revealing than those prepared by the County staff. 
    • The Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group helped to generate our own solid assessments and supported similar assessments of other non-partisan organizations and the media. They showed there would, indeed, be costly impacts on drinking water supplies, historical and cultural resources, noise levels, energy supply, wildlife species, tax base, truck traffic, sprawl and much more.
    • Our research and documentation have held up to scrutiny by third party experts and the media while being summarily dismissed by an agenda-laden County Board. 
Three Resource Protected Areas traverse the Prince William Digital Gateway area:
  • Bull Run, Little Bull Run and Catharpin Creek.  All lead to the Occoquan Reservoir, the source of drinking water for 800,000 northern Virginia residents.


  • We have transcended a deliberate attempt to introduce geographically, demographically and economically divisive overtones into the debate.
    • A part of the Pageland, Blackstone, QTS, Compass and County Board narrative has been to divide the County (east versus west) along demographic and economic lines. The Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group and other allies have been able to document compelling information on the African American history of the Pageland Lane area, the presence of graves of formerly enslaved people (that would be defiled by the development) and how the impacts of the Prince William Digital Gateway will likely generate higher water bills, energy bills and more taxes (over the next 12 years).  This will harm people of color in the County for many years. 
    • The cautions we identified were endorsed by the Prince William County Racial and Social Justice Commission, which issued two resolutions expressing concern for the Prince William Digital Gateway’s potential impact to historical and cultural resources and local drinking water supplies (Racial & Social Justice Commission shows 'strong concern' over planned data centers at Manassas Battlefield (potomaclocal.com)). 
  • We have stuck to the facts while being tagged by self-interested politicians and financially-conflicted landowners as novices and liars.
    • Despite all our efforts at careful discovery and documentation, as noted above, and finding third party support for our findings, the Prince William County government has largely dismissed our facts.  They say we fail to comprehend the real picture. This is classic propaganda.  The County Supervisors have no real basis for dismissing our findings, other than that they are threatening to their pre-conceived agenda. And, they insist that our concerns will be addressed, without offering any concrete guarantees of their good faith.  Despite this frustration, the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group has stuck to the facts and avoided stretching them the way the opposition routinely does.  
  • We have filled a critical expertise and fact-finding niche in the overall opposition front.
    • The Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group has become a definitive source of factual expertise for many other organizations opposing the Prince William Digital Gateway.  The “Gray Gladiators” of Heritage Hunt are the go-to sources for reliable information on excessive data center development. 
  • We formed a new legal defense organization and recruited a litigator.
    • Good work, early in the game, by members of the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group resulted in the creation of Gainesville Citizens for Smart Growth and raising funds to hire an attorney to advocate for our rights. 
  • We elicited widespread support for litigation among Heritage Hunt residents.
    • The advocacy efforts of the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group in the Heritage Hunt Board of Directors conducting a survey of residents, and two of three respondents supported spending Heritage Hunt HOA funds on litigation. 
    • The Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group also collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition to the County opposing the Prince William Digital Gateway and participation in town halls on the topic has been standing room only.  
  • We helped build a significant media presence.
    • The efforts of key members of the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group has resulted more than 150 articles, op-eds, radio broadcasts, TV spots and more.  As time has passed, the big-tech, data center threat narrative has begun to resonate with the media. 
  • We became a persistent advocacy presence to the County, State and Federal politicians.
    • This started with windshield tours, testimony at County meetings, letters, e-mail campaigns and more. The Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group has not shied away from speaking truth to the County Supervisors, state and federal legislators and others.  Many Heritage Hunt residents had little experience with such advocacy efforts but have risen to the occasion and the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group has supported them along the way. 
  • We pushed the County staff to do their jobs and make concessions.
    • With pressure from members of the Heritage Hunt Data Center Working Group, County staff sought outside reviews they had been refraining from and did more research than they would have done. They developed a Comprehensive Plan Amendment mitigation package that was much stronger than what had been originally planned. This was (naturally) rejected by QTS, Blackstone and Compass, but it showed that the opposition to the project was having an impact at the staff level. 
  • We have brought about delays in the initial timeline of the Prince William Digital Gateway project.
  • Our opposition provided the impetus for bills introduced before the Virginia General Assembly to put sensible restraints on data center development, particularly near historic and environmentally sensitive areas.

Village Place Technology “Park”, Haymarket, VA

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