PW Conservation Alliance Program

 Last Thursday the Prince William Conservation Alliance hosted a virtual meeting titled “Smart Growth Protects What We Have: A discussion on Data Centers... from the Rural Crescent to the Occoquan Reservoir.” The event was co-hosted by the  National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club Great Falls Group, Piedmont Environmental Council. 

After an introduction by Kim Hosen of the PWCA, the speakers were: Dr. Jack Kooyoomjian, ret. After 40 years with the U.S. EPA, Julie Bolthouse, Deputy Director of Land Use with Piedmont Environmental Council, and Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth. All the speakers spoke about the impacts from the proposed PW Digital Gateway project summarized below by PWCA.

The PW Digital Gateway is about industrial development. The supervisors and developers are looking to the Rural Crescent for industrial development. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors initiated an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan for PW Digital Gateway to change the zoning from agricultural to Technology / Flex (T/F) on more than 2,000 acres along Pageland Lane for the development of data centers, but could be used for any light industrial development. The zoning being considered is for industrial uses - anything from data and distribution centers to asphalt plants. This could have serious implications for the environment, quality of life, our water supply and water use. In the Community Survey done by the Planning Office that was not what the community wanted. 

The speakers pointed out the impact that this proposal will have on Prince William County. Dr. Kooyoomjian stated that we need to have low density development in the Rural Crescent to protect the streams and creeks and recharge the groundwater to protect the drinking water supply for the region. The massive amount of building associated with the PW Digital Gateway will increase the sedimentation that flows into the Occoquan Reservoir. Not only during the construction phase, but also because impervious surfaces increase the velocity of storm water that scrubs streams and creeks and carries sediment downstream. Already more than 10% of the volume of the Occoquan Reservoir has been lost to sediment buildup- that is a billion gallons of lost water storage at a time when demand for water is forecast to increase beyond the capacity of the existing water systems in the next decades. 

All our water in Prince William is connected. 

Ms Bolthouse from the Piedmont Environmental Council emphasized that the request was to change the zoning from agricultural to Tex Flex. This development will require that Pageland Lane become a 4 lane roadway to carry the proposed traffic including during the construction period. Though the PW Digital Gateway says the developer will extend the water and sewer lines from Heritage Hunt to the Rural Crescent, that is drinking water not the promised recycled/ reused water.

Ms. Bolthouse points out that the total amount of proposed data center space is twice of the existing data center square footage in Loudoun County (the data center capital of the nation and the world). It took Loudoun County 14 years to build out the existing data centers and Loudoun County still has approved data centers that have not yet been built. The majority of the 2,400 acres in the existing Data Center Overlay district are owned by data center development companies or directly by data center operators. There has not yet been the demand for the land, it is being “banked” for the future.

Loudoun Data Center Alley

Transmission Lines cover the county

Stewart Schwartz from the Coalition for Smarter Growth pointed out that the land proposed for the PW Digital Gateway is open agricultural or existing 10 acre residential. PW Digital Gateway is not consistent with Prince William County's 10 Principals of Smart Growth.  The infrastructure beyond the transmission lines (which cover the county) is not there. Beyond the potable water and sewer that the developers say they will extend from Heritage Hunt, the county will have to provide a source of cooling water, the 4 lane expansion of Pageland Lane will have to be connected to Roads that can carry its traffic which will is the zombie Bi-County Highway. Other county services (police, fire,  SW4 etc. will have to be provided at taxpayer expense.) Mr. Schwartz believes that the PW Digital Gateway is about building the Bi-County Parkway.

County staff clearly stated that there will be huge and negative impacts on the environment and natural resources of the county from the proposed massive 80 foot high buildings; and recommended against approval. There will be costs to county residents for years ahead of any potential revenue from data center taxes. The data center land already being "banked" for the future is producing no revenue for the county. PW Conservation Alliance will be posting the entire discussion on their U-tube channel. I will provide the link when it is up.