Gigawatt-scale project from QTS and Compass nixed on technicalities around public hearing advertisements
The long-proposed Digital Gateway data center project in Virginia’s Prince William County has seen its zoning authorization revoked after a lawsuit by local residents.
QTS and Compass had filed to develop thousands of acres of greenfield land in Manassas for a massive data center development. The companies were given the green light for the 2,100-acre, multi-gigawatt development in December 2023 after a marathon 27-hour public meeting.
However, as reported by Prince William Times and others, a judge this week ruled in favor of homeowners who said the county did not advertise its zoning changes properly.
The Oak Valley Homeowners Association and 11 Gainesville-area residents had filed a legal challenge to the rezoning. They argued public hearing advertisements in the Washington Post didn’t comply with Virginia statute or county ordinance for proper notice, and that materials relevant to the application were made available to the public at the time of the initial ad.
Deciding in favor of the Oak Valley association, Circuit Court Judge Kimberly Irving ruled the advertised notice provided by the county didn’t comply with state code and county ordinance, voiding the rezoning previously authorized by the county board of supervisors.
Defendants in the case were the Prince William board of county supervisors along with H & H Capital Acquisitions and GW Acquisition Co.
Judge Irving wrote in her ruling: "This court finds that the advertised notice provided by the county did not comply with either the state or county code. The defects in the advertised notice were solely caused by the county, not the Washington Post."
Opponents of the project celebrated the ruling. On Facebook, Democrat delegate Josh Thomas called the ruling “a historic day for Prince William County, and the country as a whole.”
In an email, opposition group the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, said: “Thank you to everyone who never gave up!”
“Dear QTS Data Centers and Compass Datacenters, your biggest mistake was underestimating the citizens,” Elena Schlossberg, executive director of the coalition, added on LinkedIn.
Oak Valley Homeowners Association is a 254-member homeowners association, and owns land in Gainesville close to the PW Digital Gateway project area.
“This is a victory for every resident of Prince William County who looks to the government to be transparent and accountable,” Mac Haddow, president of the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association, told the Washington Times.
The county has 14 days to appeal the ruling./“We appreciate the court’s careful consideration of this case. The county attorney’s office is reviewing the decision and will advise the Board accordingly,” said Nikki Brown, director of communications and engagement for Prince William County.
The American Battlefield Trust and the Coalition to Protect Prince William County are currently involved in a parallel lawsuit which the trust said makes many of the same arguments that the judge ruled in favor of today.
“Today’s ruling is a major milestone in our efforts to protect the Manassas Battlefield, demonstrating the merit of our claims that a lame duck Board of Supervisors acted inappropriately in its haste to rezone the Prince William Digital Gateway,” said American Battlefield Trust president David N. Duncan. “We look forward to continuing our fight to ensure this hallowed ground is preserved forever.”
Whether QTS and Compass, the two data center operators involved in the project, will attempt to move forward with the project is unclear.
The county board has since changed and would be less likely to re-approve the zoning requests, with some board members running for election on an anti-data center platform.
“We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are assessing our options moving forward,” Compass Datacenters told the Washington Times. “We remain committed to building a first-class data center campus in Prince William County and will provide further comment as events warrant.”
QTS told DCD: "While we are disappointed in yesterday’s ruling, we remain committed to the project and being a responsible, trusted partner to the Prince William County community. The Prince William board of county supervisors previously approved this project, and this decision is delaying critical infrastructure required for American AI, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in local annual tax revenue and thousands of new job opportunities for the county. "
Another twist in the tale of PW Digital Gateway
Reports of a PW Digital Gateway surfaced in 2021, originally as an 800-acre development later tied to QTS. However, more landowners joined, and the proposal expanded to one that would turn some 2,133 acres of the county's "rural crescent" over to data centers.
In total, QTS is aiming to develop around 11.3 million gross square feet (1.05 million sqm) of data center space, while Compass aims to develop up to 11.55 million sq ft (1.07 million sqm) of data center space. The project would total some 37 buildings at full build-out.
While they have now become a near-weekly occurrence, the PW Digital Gateway was one of the first gigawatt-scale data center campuses proposed in the US. It was one of the first data center projects to make the national news, with mainstream outlets covering the backlash against the proposed development.
DCD visited the site back in 2022 ahead of the final vote and has spoken to both proponents and the opposing coalition about the large-scale project.
The project had been mired in controversy throughout its planning; residents who weren’t willing to sell decried the potential impact on the rural area, its proximity to a Civil War-era battlefield, and the potential environmental impacts of such a large development. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the project, and the coalition hosted an unanswered protest outside QTS’ existing Manassas data center.
