Board of County Supervisors - Regular Meeting

All right, staff, please close the chamber doors. It is now 2.02 on Tuesday, July 7th. I know we have a lot of people here for one particular item that has requested a referral. There are a couple updates to the agenda. Item 11B. has requested a deferral to September 1st, 2026. And then item 11 D has requested a deferral to a date uncertain. So I want to make those announcements before we go ahead and get started. I am going to ask that people please maintain decorum. We are now going to begin our meeting with a moment of silence. All rise if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Thank you, everyone. I know we have TV cameras, and I will allow, being a former member of the Fourth Estate, I know that you need to stand. But everyone else, if you're going to be in board chambers, you are going to need to have a seat. That is not a Chair Jefferson thing. That is a fire marshal thing, and there's a cute little plaque over there that says so. So we're going to move on to item number three, procedural matters. I don't think that is necessary today, so we are going to skip it. Everyone is here. So we are going to move on to agenda item number four, and that is approval of the minutes. May I get a motion?

So moved. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right, let's go ahead and take our votes.

I'm a yes. Yes.

Vote unanimous. Supervisor Vega abstaining from vote.

All right. Thank you so very much. So we are going to move on to agenda item number five, and that is commendations and proclamations. Can I get a motion for 5A? So moved.

Second.

Yes, we're probably moved and seconded. Any discussion? Seeing none, let's go ahead and take our votes.

Supervisor Ingrid? Yes. Supervisor Stewart? Yes. Thank you, sir. Vote unanimous.

All right. Thank you. So to Madhuri Thomas and anyone else associated with criminal justice services, if you would please meet me at the podium. All right. And 5A is a resolution to proclaim July 19th to July 25th, 2026. It's pre-trial probation and parole supervision week. Pre-trial, probation, and parole supervision are essential parts of the Prince William County justice system. The system's officers contribute greatly to it by supporting rehabilitative justice and helping court-involved individuals become productive residents. They maintain contact with court-involved individuals, supervise their behavior, and make appropriate referrals to treatment, ensure their strict adherence to mandated conditions, including appearance in court, and ensure that the courts are promptly notified of any noncompliance of probation or pretrial conditions. Therefore, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims the week of July 19th to July 25th, 2026 to be Pretrial Probation and Parole Supervision Week. and encourage all residents to honor these pre-trial probation and parole services officers and recognize their achievements as they truly are unseen heroes and they help underpin our criminal justice system. Would you like to offer some remarks?

Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, members of the Board, and County Executive Shorter. It is my privilege to be joined today by an outstanding group of leaders who represent this important work, and they are with me today. Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice Unit Director, Ms. Kimberly Keller. District 35 Manassas Adult Probation and Parole Chief Jillian Mackling, and Office of Youth Services Pretrial Services Coordinator Mr. Kevin Jenkins. On behalf of our local community corrections agencies, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your unwavering support in proclaiming July 19th through 25th as Pretrial Probation and Parole Supervision Week. Your recognition of this week demonstrates your commitment to the professionals who work every day to strengthen public safety, support rehabilitation, and improve outcomes for individuals, families, and our community. In FY26, our pretrial probation and parole agencies monitored and supervised more than 3,500 youth and adults while providing evidence-based services and interventions and peer support. Together, we recognize the dedicated pretrial, probation, and parole professionals whose compassion, integrity, and commitment make a meaningful difference every day. Their work extends far beyond supervision. They provide guidance, accountability, resources, and hope, helping individuals make positive changes while enhancing the safety and well-being of our communities. Thank you again for recognizing Pretrial Probation and Parole Supervision Week and for your continued partnership and support. We are deeply grateful for this proclamation and for the opportunity to celebrate and the exceptional professionals who serve our community with dedication and distinction. Thank you.

All right, thank you so very much. We're now gonna move on to agenda item number six, and that's the consent agenda. Does anyone on the dance have anything they would like to pull off for questioning or further discussion? I don't see anyone, so I would like to go ahead and get a motion to move 6A through 6I forward. So moved.

Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I see Supervisor Bodie.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very quickly. uh wanted to just highlight and thank seth handler boss and his team the parks department for their continued work on the aqua greenway and that item 6c continues to move that project along and obviously looking forward to us hopefully cutting the ribbon on that greenway in the near future so i wanted to say that and also wanted to highlight 6a um it's going to go by sort of probably under the radar but for folks that remember there was at one point a data center proposal called the John Marshall Tech Park. The board turned and decided they didn't want to go in that direction. There's going to be another project there, but wanted to just highlight for folks that in the past were concerned about that project, that 6A continues on a path away from John Marshall Tech Park and it's towards something else. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much. Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to highlight items. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on. sorry excuse me no I'm in the wrong section I apologize I'm good all right you're good then let's go ahead and take our votes vote unanimous

All right, I have so many papers on my desk. Please apologize. We're going on to agenda item number seven, and that is public hearings. We have a lot of people here, and before I go ahead, I just want to give instructions. We will have public comment time, and we've actually moved it back. We traditionally have it earlier in board meetings. Public hearings are different. The public hearings are related to the items under number seven, and that does include consolidated land use hearings. So I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearings for these items. If you're here for public comment time, we're going to get to you guys very soon. Do we have anyone signed up for public hearings? All right.

Okay.

All right. This is for 7A and 7D. I have one person signed up to speak on 7A and 7D, and that is Melody Miller. And just for everyone's note, when you come to the microphone to speak, I would really appreciate it if you start by stating your name and the magisterial district where you reside. Don't have to give me your address unless you want me to show up for lunch or dinner. And I will probably critique the cooking because I'm picky like that. Melody, you may come forward. You have to also make sure it's on, but make sure when you speak that it's closer to your mouth.

How about now? Yes. Sweet. Okay, cool. So for item 7A, I don't know if you want me to roll just into 7D, but... You will have a total of six minutes because you're speaking on two separate issues.

Got it.

Okay. So for 7A, I do understand the perspective that the ordinance that we're trying to repeal is very rarely used, but I have some concerns I wanted to bring to the board. So according to the staff report that was associated with this, if this local license kind of thing is eliminated, homeowners facing issues with smaller projects under $1,000 will be forced to file a warrant in debt through the general district court, small claims. And for larger projects, they'll have to navigate state level Virginia contract transaction recovery fund. And that actually requires a formal court judgment before you can enter that system. That raises two critical questions that I wanted to bring to the board before you vote on repealing this. The first is, what specific remedies or resources is the county going to offer to homeowners to navigate these alternate systems that now we're taking the county resource away? Forcing an everyday citizen to handle the legal complexities of these two systems that they're not familiar with is pretty daunting for people that work full-time mostly in Fairfax or Arlington or not in Prince William. Will the Department of Development Services or our Consumers Affairs staff or somebody local in the county provide dedicated advocacy? Will they provide guidance? Will they provide educational materials to ensure that our county residents aren't left entirely on their own if a contractor walks away from a job? $1,000 is not major, but it's something that most of us can't afford to just write off. The second thing that I wanted to ask is how is our local court system going to handle the additional expense and the operational burden of shifting all of this consumer dispute onto the general district court? Their dockets are already bulging. They already have things that get deferred for months. And this inevitably is going to mean more cases on the docket. And that's going to lead to injustices for our citizens. So I wondered if you guys had assessed the impact this is going to have on court wait times that and if you had a plan to support our legal infrastructure as it absorbs all of these local consumer complaints. So I do applaud the intent of cutting red tape. I just want to ensure that the citizens are not left vulnerable in the process because we are removing a level of protection for the county citizens and the consumers. So I just wanted you to clarify that and think about the court impacts before you're moving forward with this one. That is my grand sum total of 7A, so I will be moving on to 7D, or do you want me to wait? Roll on in. Roll on, got it, okay, cool. So the rezoning of 7D is the Woodbridge Magisterial District. The problem that I have with this guy, let me get to this. You know from previous talks that I have a giant problem with some of the environmental impacts of this. The limits of disturbance on this particular rezoning, it covers nearly 100% of the parcel. They want to clear cut all of it, which is not necessarily needed, but approving this rezoning will totally wipe out the entire local tree canopy. They have extended extensive waivers that they've requested to take all of the buffers down to the minimums. So whatever trees are left are going to be struggling at a minimum. The buffer for Route 1, for example, in this proposal, and somebody can correct my math if I'm incorrect in this, is down to 30 feet. I don't know if you guys have been on Route 1 lately, but 30 feet probably doesn't cut anything for Route 1. It's a pretty busy, or Jefferson Davis Highway, or whatever it's called now after the renaming. So they've asked for complete waivers of the 15 foot landscape around community facilities, and they have taken the open space associated with this down almost 15%. So in addition to all of the other development proposals that we're approving in this county, we keep taking these, it's a death by a thousand cuts, right? We keep taking them down by 10%, down by 20 feet, down by 30 feet, down by 50 feet. And we're just losing sight of the grand plan over all of the comprehensive plan of a total tree canopy. We're just removing it by inches, okay? So I don't know that there's any benefit other than financial to taking the buffer down from 50 feet to 30 feet, but this rezoning would make that just kind of a done deal. The other thing, as the board knows and I'll say to the public, I am a member of the Fire and Rescue Services in Prince William County, Station 2. This is Station 2's area. They are not going to be able to handle this without significantly more funding. They're already kind of at capacity for their call volume. OWL, for those of us who don't know where Station 2 is. They have a capacity right now, and I'd have to talk to DFR and confirm it. I believe their capacity is 4,000 incidents per year, and last year they had 5,300. So they're all, like our schools, they're already kind of operating at and above capacity, and so you're going to approve a rezoning for this and kind of put a lot more strain on that. So you're already operating in an unsustainable district. So Long story short, the mitigations that the developer is offering to do this rezoning do not meet the consequence that the taxpayer is going to have to live with from a environmental water quality mitigation standpoint, from a fire and rescue mitigation standpoint. I didn't even touch on the schools, but it's there. There's burden on the school as well. The environmental waivers are too high. The public risks for public safety are too steep. And I don't believe that there is county benefit that is relevant to approve this rezoning. So thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. I believe we don't have anyone else on them. So I'm going to turn to Supervisor Angry for remote public hearings.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do we have any online, remote? No speakers. All right, we have no speakers. Manager, back to you.

All right, thank you very much. Since we already heard from someone in person, we have no one else online. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearings for agenda item number seven. I should have asked my colleagues if they have anything that they had any further questions on. Okay, if not, oh, wait, hold on. Supervisor, oops. I was timing this myself, too. Supervisor Bodie.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No specific questions, but I see Alex at the podium. I saw the applicant in the back, so he might want to respond to what was said. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Bodie. Chair Jefferson, I do need to make a correction. The proffers for Griffin Heights, which is item 7D, should be dated July 7, 2026. In reviewing the proffers, while the MZP is correct, the waivers that were just talked about was missing some language, so I had the applicant add that to it, and I'm going to share it with the county attorney.

Staff agrees with the application.

Supervisor LaCroix, are you aware of everything, and you're good? Thank you very much. So I'll give the county attorney a moment to review. It is good. So I, so I guess on 70, we will have to say with the proffers dated July 7th, 2026.

And can I respond to supervisor Bodie? Thank you, chair. Um, so, uh, we did vet it through the fire Marshall's office, fire and rescue, looked at it and provided us feedback on the application. Uh, they didn't see this as being a significant issue. Uh, I know that there's several, um, you know, uh, evaluations that are done by the fire marshal's office and they look at all these things and they contact the relevant parties and then they give us feedback on it and based on that we're comfortable with the proper language and the application we're recommending approval

Appreciate it. And one small follow-up question. Ms. Miller also mentioned buffers along Route 1. I know in looking at the map, there's actually county-owned right-of-way between the site and Route 1. So can you talk about how big that is and the effective buffer between Route 1 and the actual parcel?

So there is existing county-owned land use. Between 80 and 230 feet. So there's significant existing buffers between Route 1 and the application's property.

Sure. So in essence, even though on parcel it's only about 15, 30 feet, an effective buffer between that parcel and is about 85 to 100 feet, you said? 200. 200 feet. All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate that clarity. Thank you.

All right, there are no more any other questions. So I would like to go ahead and get a motion to move 7A through 7D forward.

Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded, and I would like to note for 7D, it is with the proffers dated July 7, 2026. Any further discussion? Supervisor Gordy.

Thank you, Madam chair. Um, included in this, uh, is, uh, item, uh, seven B, which is, um, the contract, uh, with a, uh, uh, uh, with a contractor to, uh, begin the design and construction of the subtly manner, um, interchange on Prince William Parkway. Um, I really appreciate transportation's hard work on this. We've had to work through a lot of unique challenges here because it's not just about Sedley Manor. It's about Wellington Road. We've got two intersections with the parkway. This is a highly congested area and also very dangerous. fact that we are able to bring this forward this wasn't this was actually planned for a few years out our transportation team went to work they found the funds got the grants worked with mbta and now we're getting ready to move forward with this contract and we'll break ground in the fall So, again, thank the transportation team for all their hard work on this and look forward to this being constructed and providing tremendous relief on the parkway out in the Bristow area. Thank you.

Thank you so very much, Supervisor Bodie.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to briefly mention 7C for folks that aren't aware of what this resolution does. It allows us to establish, in addition to just the Office of Elections, Registrar's Office in Manassas, as an early voting location for all elections. It also adds the DMV. I know the DMV is actually a widely popular early voting location. It's in my district, but it's used by several folks in my district, Sir LaCroix's district, Sir Angree's district, even some parts of the Coles district, and the Potomac as well. So DMV, as of this ordinance, will be adopted for an early voting location moving forward for all general elections. So looking forward to having more folks served in early voting. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so very much. Supervisor LaCroix. I just wanted to mention 7D Griffin Heights. They were some of the first applicants I met with. And I just want to take a minute to thank traffic and planning and the applicants like these that are helping me to correct some of the blight in the Woodbridge District. And it's going to matter in the long run. And I thank you all. Thank you so very much, Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank Mr. Olson and his team. This is something that they presented to us during the budget cycle, and as continuity and follow-through, here it is on our agenda, and we really appreciate the high level of service that the Board of Elections Office is providing for our citizens. Thank you.

Thank you so very much. I would now like to call for the vote. Thank you so very much. We're now moving on to agenda item number eight. That is county executive time. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours.

All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. There were three new directives issued during your last meeting. One, there was a directive for staff to develop a data center system. buildings and campuses decommissioning policy framework. This directive was assigned to the planning office and the Office of Sustainability. Staff was also directed to provide a status update on ZTAs, CPAs, the zoning ordinance, the draft batching schedule for the zoning ordinance, and estimated timelines for presentations to the board, planning commission, and other boards and committees. This directive was assigned to the planning office and the update has been made to the agenda for the work session next week. Staff was also directed to review the county's electric utility consumer tax, including but not limited to how the non-residential consumer minimum billing charge can be increased specifically for non-residential customers with high energy use. I will bring back an appropriate set of recommendations to the board for consideration. This directive was assigned to the Finance Department. There were two directives closed since your last meeting. The response to the directive regarding the implementation of live streaming of the board meetings on Facebook Live was sent to the board on June 23rd. Last week I sent the board the response from the Prince William County, well, from Prince William Health District regarding the maternal health directive. Last week we sent the board an update on the directive regarding responsible bidders. Since your last meeting we have received a memo or you have received a memo sent from the planning office providing an update to the county's progress towards meeting the Metropolitan Washington COG housing targets. You also received the county's 2025 fiscal year or fiscal year health outlook report in the 2027 through 2031 adopted estimate for general revenue. As well, you have received a memo developed by the Office of Sustainability in response to Supervisor Bodie's request from the June 9th board work session for information regarding water quality projects and programs included in the strategic plan environment goal work plans. You also received an update from the county, the county's ongoing efforts regarding streamlining the permitting and development process. I wanted to just acknowledge and give a big congratulations to Director Shayna Terry and our procurement office who earned the 2026 Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Services Award from the National Procurement Institute. This is a prestigious recognition and honors the county's dedication to procurement excellence. and reflects the commitment to innovation, professionalism, productivity, and certainly leadership. Also proud to announce that the county has received the Charging Smart Bronze designation, and I'd like to recognize Director Julia Mano and the sustainability team for all of their work. This achievement shows the county has met national best practices to increase energy and transportation options in this community. Prince William County is just the sixth county in Virginia to earn a charging smart designation, really exemplifying the county's leadership and commitment to supporting EV adoption. And I think, Madam Chair, with that, that is all for me, unless there are any questions.

Does anyone on the DS have any questions, comments? Well, congratulations to Shana Terry and Julia Mono for, um, making us continue to do great work and making us all look good. Thank you. I'm going to move on to agenda item number nine, and that is County attorney time. Mrs. Roble, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Madam chair, members of the board this afternoon and closed session. We will have consultation and discussion with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the acquisitions of real property for a public purpose with the accompanying legal advice from legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to probable litigation and regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel regarding land acquisition of property interests for right of way. At for the property located at one seven five five five main street in the town of Dumfries, the Potomac district owned by C and J two LLC for the route one to Fraley Boulevard project. And for the second one property located at one three nine zero zero noble wood Plaza and Woodbridge, Virginia, and the Neabsco district owned by Dodi ventures Inc with the tenant of Gina C fam DDS PC doing businesses, bright stars, pediatric dentistry, and orthodontics. for the improvements to the Minnieville Road, Prince William County Parkway interchange, where such consultation and briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position, negotiating strategy, or litigating posture of the public body. These items are appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A378 of the Virginia Code.

Move for approval, Madam Chair.

Second.

All right, let's go ahead and take our vote.

Vote unanimous.

All right. Thank you very much. We are moving on now to agenda item number 10, public comment time. And I know that's what everyone is here for. We haven't had this many people in the board chambers in a very long time. So again, let me just give some instructions because I want to make sure that everyone who has signed up to speak has an opportunity to speak. And I do want to make sure that we maintain decorum. Respect. We don't all get along. We're not all going to agree. But people need to be heard. You will have up to three minutes, and there is a timer up there that will show you. When you are done, when I say thank you, you move on. We have a lot of people signed up. As much as I want to hear from the community, if we don't have to be here to owe Dark 30, I don't want to be here to owe Dark 30. Maybe you do. If you do, we can talk about hobbies later. But for purposes of tonight, I want to make sure that we get through this meeting. I'm going to call people. I believe you gave them numbers, correct? So everyone has a number. That is your winning lottery ticket or not. I'm going to call people up in groups of five. Please, make sure that you are present. Make sure that when you hear a few numbers before you, if you have to go ladies' room, boys' room, whatever, make sure you've done that and you're ready. Because once I call the number, I'm going to move on. I have already in front of me four pages of sign-up sheets, and I know there's more coming. Okay, I'm looking at you, Andre. I know there's another one. And we have people who are signed up to speak virtually as well. So what I'm gonna ask is people numbers one through five. If you can go line up in the back, we already have some at the podium, numbers one through five.

Madam Chair, I would note too, there's green slips and yellow slips. The green slips are the residents.

Okay, green, so I'm calling people because we have, thank you, Andrea, we have green and we have yellow. The yellow is for people who are non-residents. The green are for people who are residents. So if I can have green one through five. I'm trying to wait to see that I have everyone lined up in the back because, again, once I call your number, if you are not ready, if you are not present, I will move on. No clapping, no cheering. If you want to do your jazz hands, do your jazz hands. No clapping, no cheering, no outbursts. I maintain a tight ship, again, because I want to make sure that everyone's voices are heard. So again, start by stating your name, the magisterial district where you reside, Three minutes, look at the timer. And also, adjust the mic, please. I just have to say that. If we can't hear you, we can't hear you. Adjust the mic. You're going to have to be on top of it. I don't know if we disinfect for germs or anything. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. But you're going to have to be right there, right in center. If I can't hear you, I'm just going to be polite, and I'm going to raise my hand, and that means I cannot hear you. So you are the test case. Go ahead. Everyone's watching you. No pressure. No pressure.

Bethann Kim, it's working, yay. Gainesville Magisterial District. I am opposed to the data center. I'll be honest, I had what I wanted to say in my mind when I arrived here, and I listened as I was sitting and waiting to sign up to some of the things the people around me who are in favor of it had to say. And one of the things I came away with is that It's not so much they're in favor of the data center, as far as I can tell. It's that they feel like they've already been screwed by the data centers and by the power lines that are being planned through their property. And... all of the sort of ancillary things. And I can understand that. But at the same time, if this goes through, then a lot of people other than them are going to be screwed by data centers and power lines and loss of home value. This proposed data center project goes within two lots of my house in at least two different directions. I heard, oh, well, data centers don't really make that much noise. I drive by them and I don't hear anything. Driving by is not the same as living next to something. My dad couldn't hear a siren going off two feet away from him. The fact that you can't hear it doesn't mean other people who are living near it aren't hearing it and aren't impacted. by that humming and that ongoing noise, especially as we've seen recently when something happens and they're told to use their generators for an extended period of time. Now, does that happen all the time? No. But you know what? Snow Creek doesn't happen all the time, and it doesn't mean it's not a problem. Heart attacks don't happen all the time. It doesn't mean they're not a problem. It shouldn't be allowed to go through because of the massive amount of harm it's going to do to the people who are staying here. The ones who want it are kind of definitionally not staying here. They're not going to be impacted long term. They're not going to be voting here long term. They're not here. They're going to sell. They want to retire. It's in some of the letters from them. We want to retire. We want to cash out. We want to make generational wealth. It's in something I've seen online that was circulated when they started this thing several years ago when the digital gateway was still in process. They're not staying here. They're not going to vote for you. They're not going to vote for anything going forward. The people who oppose the gateway and this project and other data centers are the ones who are going to stay here. We're the ones who are going to keep paying property tax. We're the ones our home values are going to be destroyed. We're dealing with the environment. You already know how bad this is for all of those things. This is also bad... for you, if you want to stay in politics, bluntly, because Fauquier hates it, Prince William hates it. 71%, I think it is, of voters hate data centers. If you are hung with a label of being pro data center, that will follow you in every office you try. and get elected to kind of forever. So it's not in your best interest. It's not in the county's best interest. It's not in the best interest of anyone who's not cashing out to approve these. Thank you.

Thank you. Before I call up the next speaker, green number two, I just want to let everyone know I was asked to remind folks you could still speak, but 11B, and that's to initiate a comprehensive plan amendment for the Savage Estates and 11D, that's a request to... INITIATE THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT FOR THE DELA SOUTH INNOVATION CENTER. BOTH OF THOSE HAVE BEEN DEFERRED. SO I JUST WANT TO LET EVERYONE KNOW, I'M SAYING IT AGAIN, I HOPE EVERYONE IN THE HALLWAY CAN HEAR ME. WE'RE NOW GOING TO GO ON TO AGREE NUMBER TWO. SORRY.

I'M SORRY. YOU STATED THAT THEY HAVE BEEN DEFERRED. THERE WAS A REQUEST PUT IN FOR 11D, BUT WE HAVEN'T DEFERRED ANYTHING.

AND I APOLOGIZE. THAT'S TYPICALLY SINCE MY TIME ON THE BOARD, WE HAVE ALWAYS WHEN PEOPLE HAVE ASKED FOR A REQUEST, WE HAVE GRANTED IT. I MENTIONED IT AGAIN. NOW, I DID MENTION IT AT THE START OF THE MEETING. AND IF THERE WAS AN OBJECTION, I WISH WE WOULD HAVE HANDLED IT AT THE START OF THE MEETING. BECAUSE WE ARE NOW INTO PUBLIC COMMENT TIME.

I got it, but the way you iterated it at that time was not in this way. And so if that's the case, then I'm going to object right now.

All right. I am so sorry, everyone, because I have some procedural questions. Please stand up there. Stay there. I am just going to give us a five-minute recess because I want to confer with the attorney, and I want to confer with our parliamentarian because this is not typically how we've done things, and I want to make sure that we're following the correct process. So thank you. ASK THE PEOPLE TAKE THEIR SEATS. SO TRADITIONALLY WHEN SOMEONE HAS REQUESTED A DEFERRAL, WE HAVE GRANTED IT. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME ON THIS BOARD, I'M NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT PREVIOUS BOARDS, BUT ON THIS BOARD WHERE WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO VOTE WHETHER OR NOT TO REQUEST THOSE DEFERRALS. We are going to start with 11B, and then we're going to go with 11D. And I'm going to say something. Sorry, county attorney, you probably don't want to hear this. One of the reasons why I typically move forward, and I don't know if the applicant for 11D is here, the attorney, but I'm going to say this. I actually, you don't have to come to the podium, but I just want to look at you when I make sure that I say this. I HAD A TOWN HALL AND SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BEHIND THAT PROJECT ARE ALSO BEHIND THIS ONE. AND I HAVE TRIED TO DO EVERYTHING CLEARLY AND FOLLOW ONE STRAIGHT PROCESS BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO WASTE TAXPAYER MONEY ON ANOTHER FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT. IF IT WERE UP TO ME, I WOULD HAVE DONE THINGS THE WAY THAT I HAVE ALWAYS DONE THINGS ON THIS BOARD AS CHAIR PROCEDURALLY. I DON'T SHOW ANY FAVOR. I DON'T SHOW ANY ANIMOSITY. I TRY TO FOLLOW A PROCESS. BUT WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE THAT PROCESS TODAY. SO I JUST WANTED TO BE CLEAR WITH THIS. FIRST, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A MOTION TO DEFER SAVAGE ESTATES, AND THEN WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A MOTION TO REJECT THE DEFERRAL FOR 11 . So we are going to move on with that process. Supervisor Gordy for 11B.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the deferral for 11B. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion?

Just for explanation, the applicant or the developer is having to work out some contractual issues with the landowner. And so until that gets resolved, this is really sort of in limbo. So we're pushing this off until I think a date certain is the first week in September. September 1st, I believe. Yeah, thank you.

All right, let's go ahead and take our votes.

Vote unanimous.

All right. Thank you very much.

And Supervisor Stewart, 11 D. Madam Chair, I move that we deny the request for deferral on 11 D and proceed. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right, I see Supervisor Bailey.

Yeah, I want to go back just for a moment and thank Supervisor Gordy for informing us earlier of the deferral. It meant a lot for us to have prepper planning to digest what the deferral was with the date. Really appreciate this. Unfortunately, with this vote, we didn't have that opportunity to be prepared to think through. So I just want, for the record, I wanted to say that. It's important when we come up on the dais that we are prepared to accept a denial or deferral and respect the requester's request. But unfortunately, we didn't have time to prepare for that on today. And so, Madam Chair, we thank you for not moving the process, but acquiescing to the process in order for us to have input on the deferral.

Thank you. And for my one eighth, I did check with the county attorney to make sure that I am in full compliance with everything. Okay. You hear that full compliance. So with that, let's go ahead and take our vote on 11 D. I'm sorry. I'm supervisor Stewart.

If you can read it, I'm moving that we deny the request for deferral and proceed today.

11D, that is 11D, and that one is, that is Dulles South Innovation Center, Gainesville Magisterial District. Any other questions? All right, let's go ahead and take our vote.

So just a reminder, this is a motion to deny the referral. Okay, very good.

And by deferring the denial, we are gonna go ahead and we will hear it tonight.

by denying the deferral.

Motion passes seven to one. Supervisor Angry voting nay.

I'm sorry, wait, hold on. Did you want to vote to move it? Okay. All right. I just want to make sure. So we are going to go ahead and we will hear, we will defer 11B and we will move forward with 11D. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to resume public comment time. I'm going to ask green card number two, green card number three, green card number four, green card number five, and I will add on green card number six. And I will again ask for proper decorum in the board chambers and also outside in the atrium because I don't want to hear people. I want to make sure that we're going through this process as orderly and smoothly as we can. So again, green card number two, you may begin again, start by stating your name, where you generally reside, and you will have time up on the screen. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Beth Waller, and I live in the Gainesville District. And I'm asking you to vote yes to move forward the Dulles South project. I live on Sanders Lane. I've lived on Sanders Lane since 1997. When I first bought my horse property out there, it was a quiet country lane. And now it's a major thoroughfare. There's just nothing but traffic. There's truck traffic. There's dump truck traffic. Non-stop commuter traffic. I feed my horses at 4.30 in the morning and there's truck traffic. There's never a point when there's not traffic. The backups at the one-lane bridge are insane. In both directions, coming from Loudoun and coming from Prince William. Prince William County has added so many homes in the Haymarket and Gainesville neighborhood, and those homes put commuters past my house. Trying to mow my lawn puts my life at risk. because I've got so many cars speeding past my house. And I'm now looking at having another power line put on my property. I already have one power tower on my property. And I'm looking at a third one going on my property, in my pastures, taking my land. Sanders is going to have to be widened. At some point, some board here is going to come in and say, we have to widen Sanders. We have to widen the road. And it's going to take my property. So yes, when the last person said, I'm greedy because I want to leave, I'm not. I would love to stay in my house. I love my farm. But my farm's not the farm I bought almost 30 years ago. My farm is now being taken over by speeders who pass on the double lines. I can barely get out of my driveway on any given day to get here. I had to wait three minutes to get out of my driveway to get here today because of traffic in both directions. That's not being addressed by any of these people who say no. I live here. I live it every day. I'm going to live with another tower going, a big one. The hums of the towers. You talk about the hums of the data centers. I get the hums of the power towers that will never not be there. And they're going to make it worse. So I'm asking you not to just say no because it's easy to say no. I'm asking you to give this project a chance to explain itself, give the project a chance to be heard and reviewed. This is not just saying if you say yes today, it's not just saying yes. You're saying give the process a chance. Give the people a chance to actually see what they're looking at building. It's not straight data centers from the one lane bridge to 234. It's not. There's green space. There's opportunities here. There's opportunities for this county to make some money off of these data centers and to give the people who are being hurt by what the problems are now a chance to have a say in it. Thank you. I appreciate you taking my time.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. I'd like to first say thank you, Supervisor Stewart, You're standing behind your word, and I appreciate you. Now, four years ago, I feel like I'm in a deja vu dream. We were here with so many people, so many people wanting to sell their land. That was about 100 homes trying to sell their land. I agree. We're in America. You get to sell your land. But I, in America, get to also tell my supervisors, how I believe it should be built from that point on. Because I am, as the other speaker said, still in the neighborhood. So I'm imploring you, just like Hans and Fran said, hear them now, believe them later. The Planning Commission has a reason for saying don't build data centers there. And you know it and I know it. It has to do with our children's health. They're drinking water. They're breathing water. You have children up there. You need to look out for them. I thank you for listening. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Neil Kelly, and I'm from the Gainesville district. I'm a resident of Gainesville District and want to extend my heartfelt thanks to those supervisors who voted to halt the waste of taxpayers' money on the Digital Gateway lawsuit. I believe we all can agree that those funds are much needed and better utilized in other purposes. Today I'm here to voice my strong opposition to amending the Prince William County Comprehensive Plan for the Delta South Innovation AI Data Project. Our county already has approved more data centers than any other area in the world. This project brings significant risk that we cannot ignore. The negative effects on our rural community are evident. Significant increase in water and air pollution, worsening traffic conditions, disruptive noises, and rising utility bills for our residents. This is a path that we cannot afford to take. If you doubt the concerns of the citizens opposing this plan, I urge you to consider the insights from the county planning office, the very experts you trust. Their analyzing this event clearly states, staff recommends that the board not initiate the comprehensive plan amendment, CPA 20260012, Dulles South Innovation Center. The request raises substantial questions and concerns regarding infrastructure adequacy, environmental impact, rural character, land use compatibility with surrounding agricultural and forest designated lands, and the Cat Harp and Hamlet. I strongly implore you to vote against this project and to prioritize the health and well-being of our community over corporate interests. Let's prevent another lengthy and legal cost that's going to conflict with our residents. Thank you for your time.

next speaker please hello my name is wendy wright and i'm in the gainesville district i'm here to ask you for something simple but critical a thoughtful comprehensive planning process for the future of this corridor because whether we act intentionally or not change is already happening In the nearly five years that I've lived on Sanders Lane, traffic has increased dramatically. What was once a quiet road is frequently congested. During peak hours, cars line the roadway to the point that my driveway is completely blocked. Pulling out safely has become difficult and at times dangerous. Accidents are no longer a rare event. They're becoming part of the pattern every day. And this is just the beginning. Loudoun County is already investing $54.8 million to widen the road from Tall Cedars Parkway to the Braddock Road into a four-lane medium divided corridor with pedestrian infrastructure and multi-use paths. That project will be completed in the next few years. And eventually that expanded roadway will continue down Sanders Lane, only to be met by a one-lane bridge that already struggles to handle the demand. What happens then? Without coordinated, forward-looking planning, we risk creating a predictable bottleneck between Prince William and Loudoun counties, one that will push even more congestion, cut-through traffic, and safety risks directly onto the roads like Sanders Lane. This is why planning matters, not reactive decisions, not piecemeal fixes, but a comprehensive approach that considers traffic flow, safety, regional coordination, and the lived reality of residents already experiencing the strain. The question is not whether this area will change, it has. The question is whether we guide that change responsibly or allow it to unfold in ways that create avoidable risk and long-term problems. I'm asking that the board take a long view to coordinate across jurisdictions to prioritize safety and infrastructure alignment before the pressure becomes unmanageable. Because those of us who live here, this isn't theoretical. It's daily life. And right now, it's getting harder and more dangerous by the month. I'm asking you to vote yes. Thank you for your consideration.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Steven Jones from the Gainesville District. I am a resident of Sanders Lane and I'm here to ask for your support for the Dulles South Innovation Project. I live on Sanders Lane and my house will be impacted by future development in one way or another in the coming years by the widening road or the power lines. As a resident, I want to say how I'm impacted by future county development. It's frustrating to hear people who don't live on Sanders Lane tell everyone how rural it is. The farmer I get my hay from takes his life in his hands multiple times a day driving his tractor up and down Sanders Lane and across that one lane bridge. Sanders Lane just is not rural anymore. Second, as a career tech executive, I fully understand the national benefits of data centers and the capabilities they bring. The battle for AI superiority is well underway, and for everyone that's concerned about the future of AI and what it means for your jobs, your children, your future, and the world, now is the time to intelligently plan for the future. Data centers and cloud computing are here to stay. Dulles South puts them in the corner of the county, away from houses, schools, and other landmarks. I would ask you to vote yes to initiate this CPA, have the conversation, do the studies. You can still guide the outcome and mitigate items of public concern. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. I would like to now call up numbers 7 through 13, green numbers 7 through 13. And while I do that, I want to let everyone know that this is public comment time, which is different than a public hearing. WE HAVE NOW PULLED THE SIGN-UP SHEETS. FOR PUBLIC COMMENT TIME, WE PULLED THE SIGN-UP SHEETS 15 MINUTES AFTER IT BEGAN. SO THE SIGN-UP SHEETS ARE NOW CLOSED. WE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE WITH EVERYONE WHO IS ON THE LIST. I BELIEVE WE HAVE, WHAT, 80 PEOPLE, 90? WE'RE UP TO 90. AND THAT IS JUST RESIDENTS. SO, AGAIN, I'M CALLING GREEN PEOPLE WITH THE GREEN CARDS, 7 THROUGH 13. All right. You may proceed. Again, start by saying your name and the Magistral District where you reside.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the Board, ladies and gentlemen. My name is David Phillips. I live in the Gainesville District at 4611 Sudley Road. I support initiating this CPA study. I'm a retired Air Force colonel who spent the last 18 years commuting to and from the Pentagon, in and around the battlefield, and as you've heard, traffic congestion is a nightmare. VDOT has already shown studies that 40,000 vehicles come from US 29. You got 50,000 going through Sudley. And it all the access roads already impact that significantly from Sanders all the way from us 15. The only upgrades that have happened is a single red light at the intersection of suddenly Paige Lynn and Sanders. And unfortunately each of my sons have had accidents at that intersection where one almost died. The congestion has not been relieved. We need improvements. The increased property taxes over the past year, we have not seen any significant road construction or anything out in that area. Growth continues to move west, increased traffic from those residential communities in Loudon, as well as north and west of Sudley. They're trying to access the new HOT at University, Balls Ford, and Sudley, and they come through us just to bypass 66 on the battlefield. We need the study so we the property owners and county authorities can help jointly shape what our commercial and residential options should be. what infrastructure and utilities might be needed, and together we can plan smart growth and preserve the nature of the battlefield. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Jennifer Newfield. I'm in the Gainesville district. I'm a resident and landowner in Cat Harpin. I was raised and shaped in Prince William County. My dad lives in Oaksville. My sons live in Haymarket. My aunts and uncles and cousins all live in Woodbridge. My family's here. This is my home. I care about Prince William County and its future does matter to me. I'm not leaving Prince William County. I want to see this county flourish and not become one that increases taxes year after year. Cat Harpin land makes up 2.9% of the county. That's it. There are approximately 1,100 people in Cat Harpin out of 510,000 people. 1,100 people out of 510,000 people in Prince William County. That's only 0.21% of the population. 0.21% of the population is willing to give up land to make Prince William County a flourishing county. If the CPA study is approved, you would get much more information to consider rather than caving to anti-progress misinformationists that do not have all the facts. The developer is aware of Prince William County's deep appreciation for green space, and you should at least look at what they are proposing. Please be willing to get the whole picture rather than just shoot down what this county needs for essential services. Please vote yes to fact-gathering. Before you throw away a projected $38 billion in revenue over the next 20 years, so many services and programs could be initiated and funded by this project that would be tucked away in a small corner of the county, an area that does not have schools, it does not have battlefields, and it does not have food-producing farms. This is land that is already slated to have Dominion Power's giant 180 feet tall expansion poles running through it. The opposition speaking out against this without seeing all the facts do not live in Cat Harpin. I've seen so many people chiming in after seeing a misinformation campaign confuse Cat Harpin Road, which is in Gainesville, with the actual area of Cat Harpin because they don't live here. If a proposed project that has the correct parameters to benefit a community without harming said community is shut down, that's a loss for Prince William County. The opposition is flooding social media with misinformation without knowing the facts and details. They don't even want to get them. Please be willing to initiate the study so that the facts and details can be explored openly and publicly. Please vote yes to this potential. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Matt. I am part of the Gainesville District. I only have three quick things to say. I think there is a lot of confusion by the people I've met here today thinking what we are asking for is more than just a study. That is what we're asking for. We're not asking for approval for demolition. We're not asking for approvals for road widening. We're not asking for approvals for data centers today. We're asking for a CPA. It's as simple as that. And as a landowner living in Gainesville, I can't understand why we would say no to this progress. There's also a lot of information out there about how we the landowners are going to be leaving the area and that we are vacating and moving to other counties and that could not be further from the truth. I personally will be staying in Prince William County. My children live in Prince William County and I plan on staying in the county for the rest of my life. We all love this county. And as a small side area, we believe that the work that could happen in Cat Harpin will benefit the residents of Prince William County throughout. And we ask for your approval. Thank you for your time.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is Isaac Duenas, and I'm also in the Gainesville district. I live in Cat Harpen. And like Matt said, I actually agree with what he said. My family, my siblings, their kids, we all live in Gainesville. We all live in Prince William County. And we also want to hear this opportunity. Our kids go to the schools in Prince William County, and we always talk about the infrastructure, the services, and what great opportunity this could bring to this community. So please support the CPA. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you. Just got a couple of things I want to say. Like a lot of these guys, I've also been here for a very long time, 20 plus years. When we moved there, we bought a 12-acre piece of property. It was very rural. The fact that we got a stop sign recently, we feel like all of a sudden we're a metropolis suddenly. I also, in addition to owning that property, I own more rental properties in Prince William County. I also am a business owner in Prince William County. I strongly support the Dulles South study as well. I think that we need to make an informed decision. Just because we're scared of data centers and we hear a lot of the things that are happening, it goes unchecked. We got to make a responsible decision, right? And to some extent, you know, the $38 billion that we hear is a potential revenue over the next bunch of years. for us just to dismiss that as a board, for instance, would be kind of dereliction of your duty to make, um, to make all the facts known and make an improper decision. Um, the reality is, as we've heard, growth has come, uh, We are no longer rural anymore. We get lots of traffic. I still can't get food delivered to my house. So we start talking about more housing, more of the land of Pageland being bought up and being turned into housing developments. You're going to need infrastructure to support those families and those people as well. That Dominion Morris Wishing Star transmission line, which was, I guess, approved at a federal level, is in progress, so that's coming, and we can't really do anything about that, and so that's just gonna continue to add more and more to traffic. And I think that if we sat back and looked at all the potential revenue that the data center could bring to us, I think that transportation costs, Residence tax reliefs, we haven't seen taxes go down since in the 20 plus years that I've been here. We hear the stories that Loudoun County's taxes are coming down because of the data centers that they've implemented there. So we'd like to see some of that come back to us as well at some point. And again, as Alaska folks, I have no intention to leave as well, but I think to be able to hide those data centers back in the corner of the counties is not a bad idea. Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, my name is Philip Hereover. I live in the Gainesville District. I have resided in the area for my entire life, raised here, educated here, traveled around the world with the Army, came back and did 30 years of service in this county as a government employee. I've seen growth, I've seen good growth, I've seen bad growth. In this case, this is a project that's pushed off to this side of the county. You've eliminated the schools, the churches, the high density housing, and you have people that are willing to vacate something that's actually very, very, sensitive to them. I actually built a home in this area after retiring and decided to stay in the county. I would like to stay in the county, but I know that the alternative is gonna be your higher density housing. I'm very familiar with the services that you will have to provide to these high density housing areas, what it costs, the use of water. We're talking about data centers and water. how many people are going to be sprinkling their lawns, how many people are going to be flushing their toilets. You still have the same battles you have to fight. But I'm here today to ask you to vote yes for the CPA for the Dulles South Center, and thank you for your time.

Can you quickly give us your name? I want to make sure I'm getting everyone's name.

Philip, hair over.

All right. Before I get the next speaker, thank you so much. Before I get the next speaker, I want to go ahead and call 14 through 20. Speakers, green, 14 through 20. Green, 14 through 20. All right, now we have some people kind of moving in and out, so I'm just gonna wait for this to settle. The only people who should be standing are green 14 through 20. Okay, if you're not green 14 through 20, please have a seat. If you're 21, please have a seat. All right, you may begin.

Yeah. Hey, good afternoon. My name is Jay Nagasamy, and I'm from Gainesville District, and I support the Dallas South Innovation Center because it's the right project in the right location. Placing it on the periphery of the county helps to preserve our residential and community centers while supporting investments, jobs, and counties' tax base. For the reasons, I respectfully ask the board to support this project initiation. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, Board. I'm John Brower from Haymarket. I'm here seeking your support for the study of the Dulles South. I think it's a great location. There's no schools. There's no subdivisions like Piedmont. Oak Valley, and best of all, there's no battlefield. It's perfect location, so please support the study. Thank you very much.

Next speaker, please. Hi, I'm Patricia Jurgensen. I live in Cat Harpen in Gainesville District. I'm here to ask you to do the right thing and vote yes to the CPA plan. Thank you for what you do each and every day for the citizens of this county. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Darrell Blackwell, Gainesville District, Cat Harpon resident. My perspective is shaped based upon a lifetime of law enforcement service, public service. I served eight years in the United States military, including service with Operation Desert Storm, and subsequently spent more than 30 years in law enforcement. Throughout my career, and by the way, I have children that are a product of your school systems, and now they're law enforcement as well. My daughter is a Prince William County police officer. So I'm taking this very personally, because I think about her every night when she's coming home from her work. So throughout my career, I have seen firsthand the critical importance of maintaining strong public safety agencies and well-funded public institutions. You can't do that without tax revenue. One lesson that both military and law enforcement service taught me is that mission success depends on having the resources necessary to protect and serve the public, which I love doing. Whether on the battlefield or in the local communities, personnel can only perform at their highest level when they have proper training, staffing, equipment, and support. As Prince William County continues to grow, and it will, the demands placed upon our police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, teachers, and our probationary officers depends highly on this increase that we need. Meeting those demands require a stable and sustainable revenue. This project will be just that, a significant source of tax revenue that can help fund public safety operations. improve personnel, improve emergency response capabilities, support recruitment, and retention of qualified personnel, and strengthen our schools without placing the burden on residents, on the homeowners. I'm asking you to vote yes. I put my blood on the line every day for almost 36 years, and I'm asking you to think about it. Think about my baby. She's my baby daughter, but she's out there trying to do the best she can to protect the community. And you know, my people don't normally, based on the reconstruction era, my people came from Louisiana. After being freed, they set up, almost 100 years ago, residence right here. My mother just celebrated her 95th birthday. Vote yes, do the right thing.

Next speaker, please.

yes i am glenn curtis from the coles district thank you sir for your service that was inspiring um i've lived in prince ram county 33 years i live right across from the klein property which i'm sure many of you are familiar with it's been in battle for years it is getting ready to be developed and i don't even know now what it turned out to be but many Homes and condominiums and some kind of complex and whatever and when we first moved our home Where we currently live 26 years ago Liberia had very little on it now traffic is an absolute nightmare that climb property will have bring hundreds, thousands of more cars and people in traffic. Personally, I'd much rather see or not see a few data centers over there with the proper screening trees and whatnot and much, much less traffic. And, you know, that for what we see in our county we know the development is coming one way or another and I know it's popular it seems to be on the big bad boogeyman data center side but I'm encouraging you to vote yes to at least have the discussion and hear both sides of the pros and cons because I see a lot of pros especially with our school system the roads and hopefully less traffic, like many of the folks out there have already said. It's only going to get worse, so we should do our part to do what we can to be wise in the decision-making process and not vote based on ideas and made-up stories that probably aren't going to turn out to be true. Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate you all's work.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Johnny Curtis. My wife and I have lived in the Cat Harp in the Gainesville District for 30 years. We plan on going to heaven from here, hitting the coffin from this here. We're staying. We live on the awesome Bull Run. Our property borders heavy industrial land, the stone quarry. It borders the buffer of the stone quarry, all trees, and we love it. We love that preferable to housing developments. I'm asking you today to please vote yes, as someone that's staying, to explore opportunities, to open up your mind to see, man, there's some real issues that we could deal with here. Not just to say no, not just to preserve, but to dramatically improve the battlefield. Cat Harpin, and Prince William County. We love the battlefield. We don't live in a community with community trails or on a 55 mile an hour road. We are in that battlefield at least once a week on the trails. Hopefully through this, we could have more trails. to open that up. But the big black eye for the battlefield, a disgrace, is the commercial truck traffic that's there every day. Since I moved into the area, some of the first people we met were talking about how we gotta get the truck traffic out. It is expanded, and there's no answer. Right now, it's funneled in there. There's no through truck traffic on Pageland. There's no through truck traffic on Cat Harpen Road. The trucks can come down Sanders, which you've heard is a death trap, one lane bridge. And no one's mentioned this, but where Sanders comes out on 234, there's a freaking mirror to help you see around the blind curve. So when these trucks go in 50 miles an hour, they're trying not to kill you. So my request, is there an opportunity that data centers can fund better roads, have Pageland, have Sanders go four lanes, have the data center money, when eminent domain comes in, have them pay them the real money to take their land to build these roads. Get the truck traffic out of the battlefield. Make it better. That's a great possibility. I also believe this is a great place to put the data centers. Get them away from schools. Get them away from housing communities. Put them back in there. Require them like a data center campus where they're in the middle with massive buffers. Put new trails in there. They've offered this. We want to see them. We want more trails. People don't have communities, maybe in townhouses, apartments, having more places to get out in the nature. That would be awesome there. And then lastly, for the sprawl, this could help control the sprawl. I'm driving through this community every day in my line of work. I've seen the rural crescent break down from agricultural land. Now it's a PMR. Even on Cat Harpen Road, the Smith family farm, a unanimous board vote said 234 acres is now going to be 375 new houses on it. Lightner Road, 80 acres, wiped out every house and tree, 222 new acres coming. So my request, please vote yes to at least explore some options to help us understand that.

Next speaker. And before you come up, ma'am, I just want to call the next group. I want green 21 to 26. Green 21 to 26. And I recommend if your number is going to be soon called up, please, we have a little bit more seats in the board chambers. I recommend that you may want to come in here if you have a seat. All right. If I did not call your number, I would request that you have a seat. All right. There are a lot of people standing. I did not call your number. All right. You may proceed.

Thank you. My name is Julie Brown, Gainesville District, and thank you for hearing out some of your constituents today. I've been a resident of Prince William County for seven years and a Northern Virginia resident for much longer. My husband and I chose Caharpin because Caharpin It seemed like a good mix of agricultural land near commercial areas. Having grown up here, I knew how rare a thing that was. As soon as we moved in, neighbors told us of the increase of traffic construction and ongoing county development proposals. it seemed the quiet country life wasn't going to be for us after all. In seven years, I've noticed an uptick in cut-through traffic on Sanders Lane, an electrical substation warehouse built right over the bridge, bearing of tons of electrical fibers, new towers, notices of eminent domain. In the coming years, the list goes on. This paired with the drive to any commercial area being littered with new construction and data centers left and right has irrevocably changed our small town experience. Prince William County is changing just like it and it's constantly developing neighbors. Let's have a say in how it's developed. Please vote yes today and consider the CPA. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Jason Brown. I live in Catt Harpin. I'm a part of the Gainesville District. I want to thank you all for your service. Chair Jefferson, board members, very much appreciate what you do and your integrity in leading our county. Just as my neighbor shared a minute ago, I almost kind of paired exactly what he said about service and caring for the county and all those things is absolutely wonderful. I served for 12 years in the Navy. as an officer. I'm currently a leader at a local church. I'm a husband, a father of three. Just heard my wife share our story about how we arrived in Cat Harpens. So, you know, it's important to me that in leadership, I think what I'm going to do today is just simply appeal to your character. In leadership, we're called to integrity, right? It's easy to say no. It's difficult to say yes often. I sat in in courts marshals with sailors under my charge and had to advocate for them or lead them in those difficult situations. I've been, believe it or not, falsely accused of different things in other positions of leadership. I've sat with my children in school administrators offices. So I understand what it means to be in difficult situations and controversial leadership opportunities. I appeal to you. This is your opportunity to make that kind of a decision and make a decision that's based on the facts. I think the easiest thing to do is hear the feelings of your people and follow along with what those are, right? But instead, you have an opportunity to address the facts. And as you've heard many times today, I'll just say the same thing. This is an opportunity to study those facts, gather those facts, and make a fact-based rational decision, not one born out of feelings. Your people will adjust their feelings when they see that you've made a decision of integrity. So that's my request to you today. I'll close by saying I noticed that Governor Spanberger the other day made a similar comment that walking away from the data center industry is not a wise choice. It doesn't benefit our county or our country. And so as we celebrate 250 years of freedom in our country, I think it's an opportunity to act accordingly. So thank you again for your service, and please support the Dulles South Innovation Center.

Next speaker, please.

I have a picture to put up on the board. Am I able to do that?

ELMO, give us a few seconds. You can put it down, but it's going to take us a couple seconds to get it going.

Hi there. Thank you for letting me speak this afternoon. My name's Lori Miller. My family has lived for 35 years on Circuit Court off of Cat Harpin Road. We have a five acre farm, horse farm, donkeys, we have everything, all kinds of animals, wonderful when we moved here 35 years ago. We could not afford Fairfax, my husband's a detective in Fairfax, we still cannot afford to live there. We came out to Prince William, raised our kids, they now live in Lake Jackson and throughout Prince William County, so we will be staying here, we're not moving, and my job is in Lake Jackson. I used to ride these trails. This is the hunt club, the hounds, that used to run beautiful, beautiful trails from Cat Harbin. They would run, believe it or not, to Fauquier County. You could go to Long Park, and some of you might know Long Park has a riding ring there. Nobody uses it, but it's there. Maybe back in the day when I first moved here, people used it. I think some club in Nokesville used it. Used to ride the trails. here were beautiful. Guess what housing development that took over that farm? That is now Oak Valley. There was also a farm, beautiful horse farm, Show Barn, where Heathcote is. That is now Heritage Hunt. The Royal Crescent means nothing to me with horses. I mean, my horses got out. My husband, unfortunately, left the gate open. I am calling 911 because you know why? Cat Harpen Road is not like it was 35 years ago when I first moved there. It is 60 mile an hour. People are racing up and down Cat Harpen Road. I called 911 because I don't want someone to get killed when, unfortunately, my husband didn't lock the gate and my donkeys and horses are running down Circuit Court to Cat Harpen Road. It has changed. It absolutely has changed. When I used to ride through Oak Valley, I tried that. My boarders and I would ride through Oak Valley. Do you know people would follow me? Most people liked it. But I'd have people follow me and tell me, I can't stand the poop that the horses leave behind. Do you know what it was like to go home after riding for a couple hours? Go home, put a trash bag in my car with a shovel and go right over to Oak Valley and shovel manure and bring it home and put it in my garden. I mean, that was ridiculous. It has changed out there. I'm sorry. We're not moving away. We're still going to vote. We're still going to work. It is changed, and you guys have an opportunity to decide what that change is going to be. It doesn't have to be full-on whatever is in that CPA, but I hope you guys really don't think the rural crescent is going to be there and last. With what's coming off of 29, the commuting that's through from Fauquier and Loudoun County coming over our way, I mean, it's just crazy, but thank you for listening.

Next speaker, please.

My name is William Williams. I live in the Gainesville District, and I urge you to vote yes on this CPA study. Let the county staff talk to everyone. Talk to the opponents, to the supporters, architects, engineers, everybody. Listen to the advancements in energy consumption and water reclamation and hear what the experts have to say about traffic and open space and, of course, tax revenue. It's simple. Hear what everyone has to say. So I ask that you please give fair consideration to the proposal and allow this study to be completed. And remember, this is just the beginning. It's not a final approval. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Yes.

Hello. Good afternoon.

Please adjust the mic. We cannot hear you.

Do I need to stand closer? Move it closer to your face, please. Okay. How's that?

Better.

Good afternoon, my name is Karen Fonce and I live in the Prince William County Cat Harpen area for more than 20 years. My family built our life here. And this community means a great deal to us. Our family supports moving forward with the Dulles South CPA because it would allow the county to begin its full review process, including traffic analysis, environmental review, fiscal impact, resident input, benefits to all PWC residents with board oversight before any final decision is made. As a part of a family that owns property in this corridor, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you directly and to share our perspective and for you to hear my family's request. Please vote yes to move forward with the CPA. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, chair Jefferson and members of the board. My name is Teresa Dunbar. I'm in the Gainesville district. I have lived here for many years. I've raised my family here and I care deeply about our community. I'm here today because I believe our community deserves a thoughtful, transparent public planning process. The question before you is not whether to approve development. It's whether to begin a transparent public planning process. That's why we're here. A yes vote does not approve development or rezone anyone's property. It simply allows the county residents and landowners to examine the facts. understand the potential impacts and opportunities, provide meaningful public input, and make an informed decision. Voting yes today does not predetermine the outcome. It ensures that your eventual decision will be based on a complete record rather than an incomplete one. As someone who calls Prince William County home, I respectfully ask that you give our community the opportunity to fully understand this before making a final decision. Please vote yes to initiate the CPA and allow that public process to move forward. Thank you for your time and your service. Next speaker, please.

Hi, thanks for having us here today, and we appreciate everything y'all do. My name's Kristen Webber-Moore. I live on Sanders Lane in Catt Harpin. I've lived there for over 26 years. I've seen five cars go up and down the road, and now we're at least 20,000. Every day, all of us put our lives in danger, dealing with what I call Hell's Highway, quote unquote. There is no excuse for what's going on right now. Nobody wants to do anything about it. We've tried for years and we're still trying. All we're asking is if you guys could please consider just looking into our future a little bit and helping with the safety of everyone's lives on Sanders Lane, including Page Land, into Route 234 where they do have the death mirror and the death light where somebody literally was stopped at the red light and turned around in the non-turning lane of the left to go around me onto Page Land at a dead red light. That was yesterday. Today, who knows? Who knows what's going to happen when I go home? I never know because these people are crazy, absolutely crazy. I just wish you guys would consider a guest to at least look at our studies, and I appreciate your time, and y'all have a good day.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, and members of the community. My name's Lynn Horton. I'm a property owner on Sanders Lane, and I'm here to ask for your support of this proposal. You know, many people describe a rural area as something like open spaces, quiet roads, a slow pace of life. Well, years ago, we did ride horses down Sanders Lane. We would hear an ambulance, and all the neighbors, we'd call each other, you okay, you okay, checking on each other. But come on, let's be honest, this is no longer reality. Our road is struggling with an abundance of vehicles today, oversized trucks, 18 wheelers, dump trucks, EMS, and even, if you would believe, tour buses. And sadly, an alarming number of accidents have occurred, and even death. My point is, traffic, growth, development has transformed our area. We can't pretend that we're conserving the same rural community that once existed. Unlike any other types of development, data centers don't bring daily communers. District Supervisor Stewart stated that a data center doesn't fit in the area, but I respectfully ask, what will fit in our area? Do traffic and accidents fit in our area? Does plowing down trees, maybe perhaps building mansions fit in our area? Does taking my own life in my own hands, getting to my mailbox fit in the area? As a property only owner, I believe I should have the opportunity to make use of my land that benefits my family and my county. I've invested in this property, I've cared for it, and I pay tax on it. The question is whether we embrace change that provides long term economic benefits, or do we continue to pretend we are something that has already disappeared. I respectfully ask the board to consider the economic benefits and the safeguards that can be put in place to address the concerns you may have heard today. I believe this project represents a responsible investment in our county's future. In closing, I ask for your support to move forward with this project. I also ask for your support for my well-being as I embrace a terrifying Olympic adventure as I retrieve mail from my mailbox when I go home to my rural area. Thank you for your service and dedication to this county.

All right, I'm gonna call up the next group of speakers. And again, I'm asking people, if you have not been called, you do not need to stand in the back. I'm gonna have numbers 27 through 32. Green numbers 27 to 32. And while people are shifting about, if there are folks in the atrium who would like to come into board chambers or if your number's called up soon and you wanna come in, please do so now. So again, I'm calling green numbers 27 to 32. And other folks, if they want to come send to board chambers, this is your window of opportunity for now. I see a very cute dog. The dog, please make sure that he behaves.

All right, you may proceed. Hi, my name is Lauren Smarbeck. I've lived in the Gainesville District for 22 years, and I'm asking you today to not do what Loudoun County did to their residents. Please don't drop data centers anywhere. Helter Skelter throughout the county like Loudon did. There are data centers in neighborhoods, at every street, on every highway, and we are offering something today with Dulles South to contain the data centers. Not only will it contain the data centers, but we've already dealt with the problem of the power line. We've already dealt with the problem of the repeal of the rural crescent, which is probably why The vast majority of people moved to the area in the first place. I've lived here for 22 years. My husband developed my community and built my house. So those who say that it's easy for us to take the money and run, it is not. My husband died eight years ago, and I'll be leaving the home that he built. We have a huge problem between Page Lint and Cat Harpin. It is dangerous. And unfortunately, the addition of the red light only made it worse. Every time I go to that light, I hold my breath and pray that someone doesn't come around that curve and slam into me. We have wrecks on suddenly at Cat Harbin on a weekly basis. This is gonna allow the county to tie Loudon and Prince William together because what's holding them from doing this now is a one lane bridge. How many one-lane bridges are left in Prince William County? With the traffic that we have, this is ridiculous. Sanders is dangerous. Sudley is dangerous. Pageland is dangerous. And so is Cat Harpin. Data centers are here to stay, unfortunately. I believe that Dulles South gives a comprehensive plan to corral the data centers away from the battlefield, away from communities, and away from schools, and it keeps them in one spot. Hopefully it will open up common area so people can enjoy more space, because right now you cannot. I respectfully ask that you consider accepting this CPA study so we can see what's best for the community. We need it. We are hurting out there. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

I guess I got to lean down a little bit. Oh, there we go.

Good afternoon. My name is Todd Tennant. I've lived in Northern Virginia for 54 years. My wife Nancy and I moved to the Gainesville area in 2002. We built a horse farm, or she built the horse farm, and raised our family in what was then considered the Royal Crescent. since we moved in we've seen three high schools massive high schools one of which our three children attended serving around 3 000 students each have been built that were all built within 12 miles of one another we've seen massive housing expansions massive traffic massive retail expense expansion sorry i don't understand how you know these social media activists and coalitions can say this area is rural the rural christen died 10 years ago I'm here to actually talk about the board's fiduciary obligation to the citizens of Prince William County, an obligation that exists no matter how you feel about data centers. Two weeks ago, QTS withdrew its digital gateway appeal. The project is dead. It represented a real piece of this county's projected commercial revenue growth, revenue this board had already built into its long-range fiscal planning. And there was cheers from the rafters about that. No one, no staff, no opposition group, no one in this room has proposed a concrete plan to replace that lost revenue. Meanwhile, PWC's own BPLO data shows the county's non-data center revenue commercial tax base has been shrinking as a share of the whole for years. Initiating the CPA study doesn't approve a single building. It doesn't commit this board to anything except doing its homework. It gives the analysis you need to responsibly manage a revenue base that just lost a major pillar. Voting no on this study isn't caution. It's choosing to fly blind on a fiscal risk you already know exists. This board has a duty to study it before it decides. Please initiate the study. Thank you for your service.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, I'm Anna Marie Bianco. I'm in the Gainesville district and I'm here tonight to urge your approval of this comprehensive plan amendment. A comprehensive plan is not a monument set in stone. It's a living blueprint. It is meant to guide our county toward forward thinking, and to do that effectively, we must reflect the world we actually live in today, not the world 20 or 30 years ago. The reality on the ground is that our community has already changed, as you heard from many of my neighbors. The traffic is here and the infrastructure demands are here now and the financial pressures on you all and our communities are great. Denying the CPA won't freeze time. It won't erase the heavy trucks from the roads of magically restore the quiet pastures of the past. What it will do is lock us into an outdated framework that prevents us from managing this growth intelligently. So in my mind, you must approve to do the study and see what the possibilities are and how you can have a hand and we all can have a hand in how this development goes forward. The amendment is about fairness. It allows landowners who have invested in and cared for this county to put their land to use that benefits both their families and the larger community at large. Many of my neighbors have talked about the fiduciary responsibilities of this board. It is incompetent not to look forward, to look at this small portion of our county where the location is perfectly positioned for this type of development. Change can be unsettling, but stagnation is worse. We have the opportunity to implement strong safeguards, guide the development responsibly, and secure long term economic stability. When we talk about that development and responsibility, It is our responsibility once, if something gets approved beyond the study, to hold those developers to what we agree to, what those buffer zones should be. I heard earlier today about a different area where buffer zones are being asked for waivers and reduced. But we, the county, need to be smart. And when those plans come before you, think about the schools, the playgrounds, my children, your children, the future generations to live here. Density housing, there's so much that could be gained. I know my adult children can't afford to buy a home right now. They're living at home, working from home. And so I really implore you to approve the CPA, to see the possibilities, to see that we can include affordable housing. This is a large parcel. It's not just data centers. It's green spaces. There's a lot more that can be done. We have to do it responsibly. So please approve the CPA. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson and members of the board. My name is Brian Dunbar from the Gainesville District. I was born in Prince William County and I've called the Royal Crescent my home for the past decade. So I care deeply about what happens in this county. I urge you to vote yes to initiate the Dulles South Innovation Center CPA. The digital gateway rulings addressed failures in the public notice process, not the merits of data center development. That is a reason to conduct this process carefully. This vote does not approve development, rezone property, or commit the board to any specific outcome. It authorized a study, public input, and careful comparison of alternatives. In 2022, the county changed the planning framework for the former rural Crescent. Whatever one thinks of that decision, voting no today does not restore those protections. It simply prevents the county from studying one coordinated alternative. Residential development pressure is already here. In 2024, the board approved Smith Crossing for 375 homes, replacing the county's only certified century farm. A pending proposal for Cat Harp and Valley Estates seeks residential designation for 1,000 homes on 214 acres. That is what the future currently looks like without a plan. Piecemeal development, one property at a time, with roads, schools, and public safety addressed after the fact. A coordinated plan would let the county address impacts up front. There's also a fiscal reality. Raising the tax on data center equipment was a smart decision, but Prince William's effective rate is now comparable to neighboring jurisdictions. Future revenue cannot safely depend on further rate increases. The county's adopted five-year plan shows mounting fiscal pressure by 2031. If the county keeps expanding expenses while rejecting future data center growth, residents deserve to know how the budget will be managed. Higher taxes, reduced services, or residential development with the related increased expenses that that would bring. Staff has raised concerns that should help define the study, not prevent it. but the recommendation does not appear to fully account for the development pressure already demonstrated by Smith Crossing and Cat Harp and Valley Estates. The realistic comparison is not this proposal versus a permanently preserved rural landscape. It is this proposal versus the development that is likely to occur. I could understand opposing a project after studying the facts. I do not understand opposing the study before the facts are gathered. As someone born here and a rural Crescent resident for the past decade, I urge you to vote yes and initiate the study. And I'll take one extra second since today is my birthday. As a birthday present, I ask you to vote yes. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello. My name is Dominic Bianco, and I reside in the Gainesville area, Cat Harpin. I also own a small business here in Cat Harpin. And people that know me know that I care for the community greatly. I've always got my eyes on everything. And I see what's happening, and things are changing. They're always gonna change. Change is good. Change could be bad, but it's gonna change. Now, how you embrace your change needs to be an educated change. You can't just move forward without a plan. If you just renege the plan, then we don't have a way of moving forward. But we have to move forward. Every day, things are moving forward. So please, take a look at this CPA and approve it. Thank you very much.

If folk can please silence their phones, I'm gonna call up before the next speaker. Speakers 33 through 38. If green, I should say, green speakers 33 through 38, you please come stand in the back. And again, to remind folks, when it's your turn to speak, start by stating your name and the magisterial district where you reside. So green 33 through 38, you are on deck. All right. I guess we are good. All right. You may proceed.

Good afternoon, Board of County Supervisors, Madam Chairman, and County Exec. My name is Brian Jurgensen. I'm in the Gainesville Dicks District, specifically from Cat Harpin. I just retired 32 years from Prince William County Fire and Rescue, and it is an honor to serve you as well as the citizens of Prince William County. I've been with the county since 1994. I've seen the county explode exponentially, honestly, residential and commercially, and mostly on the west side of the county. You know, the eastern side of the county was already pretty well developed, and now the western side of the county has been pretty well developed. What was quiet, rural communities such as Haymarket and Gainesville and Bristow are no longer, and we're never going to get that back. I bought my house in 2008 in Cat Harpin. It's quiet. It's what everybody's imagining rural district life was about. It's quiet. Maybe one car every five minutes down Sanders Lane because there was a gravel road in Loudoun County. Nobody wanted to go down the gravel road. That's all changed. It's not been that way for 10 years, and it's never going to turn back. In a fire and rescue, we think about every decision as a risk and reward. We do a scene survey, we gather all the information we can, and we decide what's best. We decide what's best thing to do. How much are we gonna risk versus what's the reward? And I'm asking you to vote yes for this CPA because that's exactly what you're gonna get. You're gonna get the facts, you're gonna get the hard data, you're going to get the viewpoints. And only then, when you put them all together, can you really come up with a logical and responsible plan on how you want to handle it, if you want to handle it, what your rewards are versus what your impacts are. You can see the wave of support for this. It's overwhelming. And there's a whole bunch more outside. And this is your community in Cat Harp and asking you, let's just get the facts. Let's understand exactly what we're dealing with. The only people that are going to know that data center project is there are the commuters that are coming in and out of Loudoun. Those are the only people that will ever know it's there. It doesn't affect any residential communities because those communities are going to be part of this program. So I'm asking you, let's do our due diligence. Let's put the citizens and, again, the risk-reward, and let's gather all the facts, the hard data, the viewpoints, the pros, the cons, the benefits, the impacts, and then we can make a sound and responsible decision after that's done. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

My name is Jerry Miller. I'm Gainesville District Cat Harpon resident. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today and for your attention to this matter. I'm currently retired after serving 22 plus years in federal law enforcement. Why do I ask you to vote yes to approve the study? Because the study will provide the opportunity to gather the facts. As a law enforcement officer, I had to gather the facts every day. That was the only way that I could make an informed decision. And if I didn't have the facts, I couldn't make the decision. You've had many people today that seems to probably, if we did a search on all the topics today, fact was probably the biggest word that's gonna come up most often. That's all we're asking. We're asking for the opportunity to bring the facts forward. Your vote of yes will push the study. The study will then provide the facts. That will give everyone the opportunity to understand the full complexity of this total project. I'm part of that area. I don't even know all the facts. I'd like to know more about it. The study will provide that opportunity for myself and for all of you. And that is all we're asking. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Lana Hare. I live on Sanders Lane. I have been there for 47 years, 61 years in Prince William County. I worked for Lockheed Martin and retired there and have been in my home forever and I always thought it was gonna be the place that I reside and live happily ever after. I would like to ask you, the BOC, a question. How many, with a raise of hands, of you have actually visited that rural Crescent area?

First of all, this is your opportunity to speak to us. There's no call and response.

Okay, so I can't get that information. Well, I'm here to ask you to vote yes on the Dallas South CPA. It's vital to the future for all of the families who reside there. We have been living in limbo with all the things that have occurred in the past, from Disney to Pageland, the Bayou County Parkway, and it just seems like it's never ending. The development is nonstop, the traffic is ferocious, and it doesn't get better. Think of the people and think of the future of the Cat Harpen residents. Make it a win-win situation. What is a study going to hurt? It's only going to improve our knowledge of where we need to take Cat Harpen for the future. And I thank you all for your service. God bless.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, and my name's Mike Uliano, and I live on Sanders Lane. And like other people, the road's getting dangerous. I get up every morning, Monday through Friday, I leave the house at 4.30 in the morning, and I have to stop at the end of the driveway because the traffic is bad. There's 10, 15 people, sometimes more, and I have to wait two, three minutes just to get out the end of the driveway. And you heard other people talk about the area. We've recently, well, not recently, but we have had Dominion Valley's substation that was supposed to go into their neighborhood put into ours. And in this area, it actually resides in Loudoun County, but it affects us because of the power line that comes through. It would be an ideal place for this area to be developed into what everybody's talking about. We know we need the studies, but we're just asking for help. A good neighborhood and a community is a well-balanced community. And with having that, everybody could benefit from it. So what I'm saying is just look into it and thank you.

Before I call the next speaker, I want to remind folks, unless you are in queue to speak, I do need everyone to have a seat. This is not my role. There's a sign over there. It's what the fire marshal and I have been enforcing that. So if you want to stay in board chambers, I ask that you have a seat. If not, you're free to be in the atrium. All right, next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Robin Ellison Grove. I'm a fourth generation resident of Sanders Lane and the Cat Harpin community. I was actually born in Fauquier Hospital because in 1961, Prince William didn't have a hospital. I'm here today to ask for a yes for the study of the Dulles South Innovation Center. You have a responsibility to all the Prince William County residents. Saying no and closing the door without an educated study and evaluation is irresponsible. Our county has severe resource voids and needs. Our shortfalls are embarrassing to me as a resident of this many years. I think it's pathetically sad that we live so close to the DC area and we have families in need of housing, food insecurities. It's unacceptable to be next to the nation's capital and have family struggling. We have to be responsible with our budget. We have to look and make educated decisions for opportunities that could change that. And we have constantly, as residents of Sanders Lane, had to hear how we don't have resources to even monitor the traffic violations that you've heard my neighbors talk about. You know, more housing will just drain our resources. Commercial businesses is properly placed. We'll help the funding so we can help people that maybe aren't as privileged as a lot of the ones that are here today. I grew up as a kid on a farm kid in Cat Harpin. I grew up with a community that respected one another. helped each other, and sincerely cared about the county and its direction, regardless of whether you were a farm kid or the son or daughter of a professional. There was no them and us. It was all our county. I am so disappointed by the narrative of recent years. It is unfair to the citizens of Prince William County that a small, loud group of pretentious and insensitive people with money behind them control the narrative. Many don't even reside in the county. The lies and the lack of integrity in the local media is unacceptable. And by the way, speaker number one, many of us wish to continue living here in the community. It is our home. It is where our families are at. Thank you for your time and appreciate all the work that you do for our county.

All right, next speaker, please.

Do you want to call the others up before I go?

You have one person behind you, and that's when I'm going to do it.

Okay. I've got something to post. Can I get access to the screen?

No problem.

Hope everybody can see that. So my name's Josiah Hunter and I live off Sanders Lane in the Gainesville District in Catt Harpin. I grew up in Fairfax, my wife grew up in Centerville, born and raised in the same home. We moved here 20 years ago. Four years ago, we learned about Page Land. We got our neighbors together to figure out what's going on. So I've spent the last four and a half years, for the most part, speaking for my neighbors and they're here today. No developer approached us. No broker pushed this on us. This has been community-driven from day one. Most of you have received multiple emails from me over the last several weeks. But what I want you to look at is what actually exists here today that surrounds this site and what doesn't. There are no schools. There's no battlefield, there's no home developments encroaching, instead the parcel is framed by infrastructure already built for this scale of use. The largest substation on the east coast anchors the north edge, Sudley Road bounds the south, a rock quarry sits to the east, and low density land along a dirt road to our west. The primary north-south transmission line runs directly through the center of the property. And this isn't a case of industrial use encroaching on a rural or residential corridor. It's a corridor already defined by heavy infrastructure where a business district is the logical next step rather than disruption. People have talked about Sanders Lane already. If you go to the other side of Sanders Lane where North Star Boulevard is, it's already a four-lane divided highway. Now, Chair Jefferson and I had a conversation shortly after she was elected where she actually said, one day I could actually see a four-lane divided highway on Sanders Lane. That was a conversation she had. I believe she means that. And it is going to come. But what that means is more than 100 neighbors on my street lose their property to eminent domain. They lose their property to benefit others, and they bear the brunt of it. The same goes for looking at the power lines that are being built. We're going to be asked to bear the burden, the industrial burden, of those power lines expansion to feed 40 megawatts of power going into Loudoun County, where Loudoun County will benefit from the economic growth. We will not. What we have today, and I believe I can say this, part of why the deferral was requested is because our developer, who we have worked with, who we have told what we want, is willing to work with the county and to see your vision, to adjust their plan to make sure it meets your vision. I can say that because I texted them while I was here, and they said, make sure you get that point acrossed. That's part of why they asked for the deferral. It's not so they can force something on the county. As I sat in Supervisor Stewart's office, and he and I had a conversation, he made a campaign promise to listen to us. And if he votes no, he's going back on that promise. He won by 450 votes. 600 people in my neighborhood voted for him, and a vast majority were Republicans that crossed party lines to do so because Patrick Carter's was a hard no, and he wouldn't even listen to us. I can tell George Stewart he won't sit in that seat if he says no.

All right, before we go on to the next group, I am going to, I'm sorry, before I let the speaker, we're gonna call up 39 to 45. So green, 39 to 45. If you are green between the numbers, or starting with 39 to 45, that is you, this is your opportunity. Please come up here and get in queue. All right, you may begin.

Good afternoon. My name's Stanley Grove. I'm from the Gainesville District. You can call me Stosh, as all my other neighbors do. I'm here to ask for support for the Dulles South Innovation Center, but I want you to know how much we've given as a community to Prince William County, to the state of Virginia. Through our community, we have two high-voltage power line easements. We have a transcontinental AT&T phone line easement. We have a high pressure gas line easement. We have fiber lines that run down our road that have never been there before that support other data centers. And then there's the road. Everybody's told you how busy it is, but nobody's told you our road is not wide enough to handle what's going up and down it. If you would just take time to come out to see our road, you'll see a lane of tire tracks going down the gravel part of the road where people don't fit on it. I'm very proud of my house. My wife is proud of our house. We plant flowers. We cut our grass. But every time we go to cut the grass between the V-ditch and the road, we say a prayer that we're going to live through it because we know there's vehicles that are going to be riding down the edge of the road that are not wide enough to handle that road. So I'm just asking you, please just look at it, see what you can do. Don't take any more of our property, because whether you do it or not, somebody's taking it. It's going to be a road, it's going to be a power line, and we're tired of giving our land up for nothing. And that's what's going to happen. So please consider it. Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, I'm a local farmer. I know most of the people that's already spoken today love them dearly, and I really don't like the leave area, but it's kind of like forcing us to leave, and I seem to think that if they're offering us great money to relocate, and it would take a lot of money to actually relocate me because we have two huge farms, and the one lane bridge, well, I hold the record of crossing it the most, at least eight times a day. I've seen cars upside down in the creek, in the creek upright tractor trailers head on i've seen everything but nobody wants to do anything about the bridge because it's v dot prince william county and loudon but nobody claims it but um... it'd be nice to actually just get away from the bridge thank you thank you sir next speaker my name is will kennedy i'm in the gainesville district i'd like to ask you for your support for the doles innovation cpa

Um, this will place data centers away from the schools, high density, um, housing. It'll produce fantastic funding for our public schools. This area has changed a lot in the past 10 years already has and will continue to change. Um, the change with the new power lines that we did not request is already coming through. It'll support somebody else, not us. This gives us an opportunity to fund some of our changes that need to happen within the county. Um, again, this area is not surrounded by schools, people. It's a great opportunity for the county. Thank you much for your time.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Stephen Poovey. I live in Cat Harpin. I live on the power lines that everyone's talking about here. I also live on the gas line that runs for the county. And my children, my wife and I plan to raise them for their whole life. and now we're all being displaced by these huge power lines that are on our land. The kids have to stare at them. We have to hear them. The buzzing is not going to be a new thing. The power lines can be heard wide and far, and I just ask you all to at least consider the facts of this case and maybe drive down a road during rush hour one day and put your life on the line like we do every day with our kids and just kind of set your think up for that. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, and thank you to the board for your service to this community. My name is Abhi Agrawal. I'm a local physician, a resident of the Gainesville District, and my family and I live in Cat Arpin. I grew up next door, just in Loudoun County, and I've seen firsthand how quickly a community can change. Today, I see those same changes arriving here. The traffic has become so heavy and the cars speed so fast in front of our home that I had to build a fence around my property just so my young kids could be safe. Change is already here. Today's vote is not an approval of a data center. It's simply a vote to continue an open, transparent, public process where every question can be asked, every concern can be heard, and every voice will be addressed. I respectfully ask each of you to vote yes today and allow that process to move forward. Thank you for your service. And thank you.

Next speaker, please.

My name is Amy Vineyard. I am a resident of the Gainesville District, and today I ask for support for the Dulles South Innovation Project. So I am born and raised Northern Virginian, which often in this area is hard to find. Grew up in Fairfax County. My husband and I decided to start a family. We bought our first home in Prince William County in Manassas. Had two beautiful children there. thought, hey, the grass is green on the other side, let's move to Loudoun and start a life there, and it ended up, not even a year later, we decided to move back to Prince William, because that's what we love. We love everything about Western Prince William County. We love the schools. I have two small children, and my investment is in the future for them, and it's in Prince William County. We have no desire to... to sell off our beautiful home that we love, that we designed, we built, to move anywhere else. This is the county that we look to invest in, and for our children's future, and for their children's future. So with that said, the area that we live in today, that is Count Harpin, and even in the close to five years that we've lived in our neighborhood, as everybody has said, what was considered rural is no longer rural. Expansion is inevitable. And with that, change has to be made. And change, as we all know, is very uncomfortable. People don't accept change. They don't want to adopt a change. But you guys, as the Board of County Supervisors, are the change agents for this county. And to make all the right decisions for what makes fiscal sense for the investment and future of this county. With that said, there is a proposal in front of you with the technology investment for an area of land with an assemblage pulled behind it to agree to allow that investment in advancement in technology to occur. That would be to the benefit of every homeowner, resident, every child, facilities, services, whatever you have to do for the future of the county residents and its people. So with that said, I just remind everybody today that this vote is not about proving a development. We keep going back and forth, and I'm sure we'll hear the opposition and the rhetoric and the party lines and everything in between the environmentalists. It's not what it's about and what we're asking for today. A lot of time, Consideration and careful thought and planning has been put together for the Dulles South Innovation Project, different from Pageland. I know there's probably a lot of apprehension about everything that you guys have endured with that project. Our project is different. It should be given the same due consideration as its own unique project for all the advantages that it brings to this community and to the county. So with that said, I respectfully urge you to support this study and allow the process to work for what it is, to have an unbiased opinion going into this and understand and make informed decisions based on facts. Thank you.

All right, before the next speaker, I'd like to call up my next group, and that is speakers Green Card 46 to Green, no, we're good, don't worry, but Green Card 46 to Green Card 50. All right, we may, I'm sorry, sir, if you can find a seat, but we, otherwise we may proceed. Please close the door. Thank you. All right, we may proceed.

Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson and members of the board. My name is Scott Deibler. My wife and I have lived on Sanders Lane for the last 26 years. I want to be very clear about what's happening to our property and why your vote today matters. Right now, we are losing land. Dominion Power is expanding the transmission right away across our property by roughly half an acre to serve regional demand. On top of that, there are ongoing proposals to widen Sanders Lane, referred to as the Bi-County Parkway, and even the new name, Cat Harp and Creek Parkway, which would take even more of our land and further reduce our home's value. And here's the part that should concern you about these changes. The people who benefit from the projects are not the people paying for them. I know you're hearing from Prince William County residents and other individuals who do not live in Cat Harpon or even in Prince William. They're all asking you to stop the data centers and some are asking you to build this Cat Harpon Creek Parkway. to lessen their commute. But those individuals that you're hearing from do not live in Cat Harbin. They're not the ones losing acreage. They're not the ones living on Sanders Lane with hundreds, if not thousands, or more cars driving past their home each weekday. They are not ones worried about the value dropped of their property. My wife and I are. and we're not alone. My wife and I are joining over 250 property owners in Catt Harpen who are asking the board to update the current comprehensive plan so property owners along Sanders Lane have an option to sell to data center develops if they choose. The current comprehensive plan is outdated. It designates Cat Harpen as an agricultural forest area. And in reality, that's not the case. It is a residential community with half acre to 10 acre homes and some larger parcels. And it is already being changed by infrastructure decisions being made outside of this room. So if you vote against initiation, understand what that means. You're not stopping change in Cat Harpen, and you're leaving hundreds of property owners, including my wife and I, to absorb the impact of Dominion Power and road expansion without a plan, without protections, and without the ability to make decisions about our own property. Voting yes is not initiation. Voting yes on initiation is not approval. It's the minimum responsibility of the board to update this outdated plan, study the impacts, and allow a real public process to take place. An updated comprehensive plan gives tools to set standards, require buffers, and plan around the infrastructure that's already coming. With a thorough review of the Dulles South CPA, all affected landowners and every Prince William County resident will have the opportunity to review and comment on the merits of the proposed plan. Right now, Cat Harpen is being changed without a current plan and without fairness. I'm asking you to fix that. Please vote to initiate the Della South CPA review. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Aziza Yuldasheva. I am a resident of Prince William County in the Gainesville District. I live here with my teenage daughter and my elderly mom. I support voting yes to initiate the Dallas South Study. We moved to Prince William from Fairfax County during the pandemic, and I thought my dream of having a forever home with space, nature, and privacy came true. My mom planted a beautiful orchard, we built a barn, and my daughter got horses, one in Rome. We hike and forage in our woods and our dogs roam freely. We even have a permanent stand in the Haymarket Farmer's Market. But as we lived here, I've become keenly aware that this scarcely populated but high traffic corner of the county with such close proximity to DC is a prime target for expansion and development. and rightfully so. Development of this area is inevitable, given the population growth, technology changes, and the county's economic needs. And with talks of development of the area constantly brewing, what worries me is the uncertainty. What is next? When? How will it impact us and the rest of the county? The Dallas South Innovation provides certainty for us as a family on what will happen with this area and with our property in our future. By the way, we do plan to stay in this county for years to come, even if we sell and move. Now, as a lawyer who makes multi-million dollar worth decisions every day, I know that the only way to make an appropriate decision on this matter is to assess complete information, costs and benefits, pros and cons. I urge the board to initiate the CPA process to do exactly that, to study the facts fully, the most up-to-date data, expert knowledge, and views of the entire community, including those living in the area like me. Voting yes means having a transparent discussion focused on solutions. What if there is a way to approve the CPA, which is requested by hundreds of local households and which could benefit the county's budget for years to come, while also addressing conservation, water, energy, and roads? Why would anyone say no to exploring this? I was going to stop here, but I will add something. When we came in here, my mom said, this is very refreshing. Now, we are both immigrants and both naturalized citizens, and this process of governing and decision-making is just very, very refreshing to us. And that's why we came here to this country. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Paris Yousefi. I live in Gainesville district. 24 years ago, we moved to Prince William County in that area. And then I raised my children and my six grandchildren in that district. And we're all very extremely happy. And then we are asking you to go ahead in the project and approve the project. And then saying yes, that's exactly, I'm a grand example of saying yes. 20, I'm sorry, 36 years ago, I came to this chamber. I was sitting right there. And they gave me the yes, the project that we are presented that was opening the gymnasium. and they never ever said no. They gave me the opportunity to open a gym. We gave the opportunity to all the kids around the county, and then we developed a strong program through the county where every year we're holding the mega meet, more than 1,000 gymnasts across the nation to compete in our gym, and all the revenue going to the research for the cancer. That's the consequence of saying yes. And we would like you to just go ahead and then say yes to this project. Thank you so much.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you. My name is Ben Blakeslee. I'm a resident off of Sanders Lane in the Gainesville District. First off, thank you all for your service. I know it can be trying, and I wanted to say I appreciate it. I'm here today because I'm in favor of approving a study that reviews the economic development in the area and the land that I live in. My worry is that if it doesn't pass, the growth will happen without the say of those that live there. The growth is not whether it's going to happen. It's going to happen. Many residents have already had the opportunity to explain how that's already impacted us. Um, and I've been there the past several years and I love the song country road, but when you go up to the one lane bridge on a rush hour, you're not humming that in your head. You're thinking something completely different, a different terminology. It's, it's impacted everybody there and turning away and thinking that not studying a project that's come this far, um, is gonna make a positive impact. I just, I don't understand why more information is not better. So the question is, With this change and with this growth, how are we going to do that? Having a study just to see viable options that involve the residents that could help the county's future, I feel like is a great choice. And I ask you and urge you to vote yes for that. Thanks.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, I'm Evelyn Parks with the Occoquan District, and I respectfully request that you deny initiation of the Dulles South Innovation CPA. With each data center vote, our county's well-being is at stake. Let's give the frameworks that county employees have worked tirelessly on time and a chance to work. This includes our strategic plan, our comprehensive plan, and our community energy and sustainability master plan. My late father, A. Jeffrey Parks, was the lead consultant in helping to create the 2025 to 2028 strategic plan that is now being implemented. He was a Prince William County resident for 30 years, and Prince William County was his dream client. He and his team worked diligently to interview county staff and residents and share their feedback on what they desired for the future of Prince William County. This feedback is the basis on which the strategic plan goals were created. Oftentimes with each proposal, the strategic plan information is reviewed.

I am sorry, but you're number 70. Yes. We haven't gotten there yet. Did you change with somebody?

Somebody switched with me so I can go home to my ill mother. All right. You may proceed. Okay. Thank you. With each proposal, the strategic plan is reviewed and often ignored. Please take our feedback into account. If this proposal were to move forward, it directly contradicts the following strategic plan goals. Environment. There is an objective under environment to safeguard the quality of the county's air, water, and natural resources to ensure they are not compromised for future generations. This proposal would add pollution from an extra 42,000 daily vehicle trips and thousands of diesel generators with limited regulations. It would also place extreme strain on our watershed and our power. And this would remove forest and replace it with impervious services. The next goal, quality of life, this goal statement is to enhance quality of life, including resident retention by creating a resilient and healthy community where residents can afford to live, work, play, and retire. The Cap Harpins Spray Park, which just opened, could be surrounded by data centers if this proposal goes through, forcing Prince William County children to breathe toxic generator air while trying to have fun and cool off. Data centers like this would use up our power and our water supply and drive up our electric prices while driving down our home values. That does not sound like quality of life to me. And the smart growth goal includes an objective to ensure Prince William County's growth is holistic, holistically addresses the impact on natural resources, enhances community and economic resilience. This can't be attained if the comprehensive plan is changed every time there's a request. Please protect our natural resources. These are things that we cannot get back. Please learn from the Prince William Digital Gateway, listen to your planning staff, and listen to your constituents. Vote no on the CPA initiation. Thank you. Thank you.

Before I call up the next speaker, I would like to call up speakers 51 through 55. 51, green 51 through 55. And I was going to say, yes, if you want to trade spaces with somebody, just let me know because we have sign-up sheets. And I'm doing my best to try to go through and make sure that everyone who is speaking has signed up. So please help me help you. And if there is anyone else, before you go, Melody, if there's anyone else who wants to come into board chambers, this is kind of the time to come in and come out. So if you want to come in and come out, let's quickly do that. All right, find a seat, please. Thank you very much. All right, next speaker.

uh okay uh here i am again my name is melody miller i live in neabsco as many of you know i also run on the west end of the county in supervisor gordy and supervisor stewart's area um so i'm asking you to vote no to the to the change in the comprehensive plan we have a plan for a reason uh and there are many things that i could say but i'm going to give you the top ones that i'm concerned about The first one is water. The site that they're trying to propose through this amendment is nearly 2,000 acres, and it sits right on the headwaters that feed local rivers and provide drinking water to millions of people in northern Virginia, like 40% of the people in northern Virginia, not just Prince William County. So data centers of this scale, 43 million square feet, depend on enormous amounts of water for both evaporative and closed-loop cooling. And the industry promises around closed-loop cooling have not held up in other approved projects. I have friends that are working in data centers that I talked to about this. We should not be gambling with the water supply of our citizens, our neighboring counties, or the state to accommodate this scale of data center on land that holds one of our most precious irreversible resources. Second, the pace of the development in this county, as I've mentioned before in other meetings, has completely outrun our infrastructure. The taxpayer funded staff report actually on this one says that this project would raise daily traffic on Sanders Lane and the surrounding rural road network nearly 27 times to the current levels. We simply don't have the roads, we don't have the water lines, we don't have the electrical substations, a lot of Catt Harpin Road remains rural water, or the emergency services, for my own personal interest, to support a project of this magnitude. Approving the land use now and hoping the infrastructure catches up is something that we've been doing for years and it hasn't worked out well. But it also ensures that taxpayers are going to foot the bill while living in the chaos. And that's kind of where we are now, and most people here are tired of it. Our right to a livable county is one of the things that we've heard a lot of concern about. We didn't move here to live beside an industrial complex ten times the size of some of the projects that are already under federal scrutiny elsewhere in the country. Our most basic expectation as citizens is that the county's own comprehensive plan, which, by the way, took years of public input and was paid for by tax dollars, actually means something and that it's followed, which doesn't mean that we amend it every time it's convenient. Right now, the plan operates a little bit less like a blueprint and more like a list of suggestions that we amended every time a developer assembles enough parcels to ask for a waiver. I'd love for the board to remember that the responsibility of the board is to hold the plans that the citizens have approved. Finally, the cost burdens don't add up. The applicant claims on this that the project will require minimal demand on public infrastructure, but that's just not the truth. At a minimum, this is going to require new roads, infrastructure, power lines, substations, city water, city sewer, and new capacity across the board just for this one project, all of which will ultimately be paid by taxpayers and rate payers. Residents are already seeing double digit electricity hikes tied to regional data center growth, not just this one, but all over the region. I think we've got 44 more in the pipeline plus the 40 some odd that we've already got. And it is fundamentally unfair just to ask residents to bear those costs while absorbing the traffic. I'm asking you to listen to the recommendations of your planning office, the expectations of your citizens and vote no to the comprehensive plan amendment. Thank you so much for your time.

Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, Board of Supervisors. My name is Lisa Polgar from the Potomac District. And as the previous speaker said, today is my birthday. So please, on my birthday, please vote against approving the CPA for the Dulles South Innovation Center. I turned 70 today, believe it or not. The major issue before this county has been and will continue to be the strain on our grid and water systems. Please protect Prince William County from becoming a home to 43 million square feet of data center space, double the Prince William County Digital Gateway. The board approved the Energy Sustainability Master Plan. What is the point of passing A master plan if we are allowing the continuous expansion of data centers with their massive energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions, which pose significant risk to achieving the county's climate goals, if we're going to violate those goals all the time. We have 85 million square... we have 85 million square feet of data center already. The Dulles South innovation data centers would add 45 million more square feet. That's 50% more than what we currently have. The existing data centers are already gobbling up enough power to serve 646,000 homes. That's about four times the actual number of households in Prince William County. The county endorsed a goal to source 100% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2035. Even under current data center development, not including what has not been built, and the greenhouse gas emissions, we will not meet those goals. For the sake of our county, please deny this application for CPA.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. To quote Monty Python, now for something completely different. I'm not here to talk about data centers. I'm here first to thank members of the board. Janine LaCroix, Jennifer Jefferson, Kenny Bodie, George Stewart, talking to you dude, Andrew Bailey, thank you so much for supporting PWC Hunger Free. I would like to say that our rally last month, we raised over our goal of $10,000 for our local food pantries. I want to start today by saying that we welcome the resolution to add a volunteer coordinator and liaison. This position would connect our county government with those working to help feed residents in our county who are struggling with food insecurity. A position dedicated to strengthening strategic partnerships and battling hunger is a step that our county has needed to take for a long time. According to the Capital Area Food Bank's 2025 Hunger Report, 43% of Prince William County residents are experiencing food insecurity, and this is the second highest rate in the DMV. Chair Jefferson, you described the goal of this new position as strengthening partnerships so Prince William County can better coordinate our efforts to address important issues like food insecurity and connect residents with opportunities to serve. The Prince William County Food Council exists to create a sustainable and equitable food system that benefits our community, our economy, and our environment through community-driven solutions and collaboration. I ask today that this resolution explicitly states that this position would work with the Food Council. If the goal is really in coordination and connection, then the people already coordinating and already connecting residents to services should be named partners in this role. I'm asking this board to direct that food insecurity be named explicitly within the service delivery goal, using the exact language already in the plan. The service delivery goal commits the county to filling current gaps in service needs. Food insecurity affecting 43% of the households in this county is exactly that kind of a gap, and it deserves its own key performance indicator. The KPI could be as simple as tracking how many residents this new liaison position actually connects to services each year. It needs to be a number that the public can see. I strongly recommend coordinating with experts such as the Capital Area Food Bank to define the most meaningful metrics. I'm asking that this progress be reported where the public can see it as a quarterly board work session, not only through an internal strategic team's accountability and reporting. If food insecurity is worth naming in this plan, it is worth the board's hearing about this in public, on record, and on a schedule. This resolution calls for a position to strengthen partnerships. We are asking you to build it with the existing partners and make this position accountable with metrics. Thank you for your time today. And again, thank you so much for your support at PWC Hunger Free.

Thank you so very much. Next speaker, please.

My name is Alfred Smith. I come from the Gainesville district. I've been in Prince William for over 23 years. I retired from the military, worked with an engineering company, took over the company, sold the company. I've had plenty of people that work within Prince William County that have worked for me. Forgive me for saying a Republican at heart. I did vote for a Democrat. And thank you so much for demonstrating the strength that you did at the beginning of this session that validates the vote that I did give to you. So thank you so much, Mr. Stewart. And Madam Chair, thank you for showing the leadership of stepping outside of your comfort zone and making sure the right things happen earlier in the session. So that's enough of that. I'm asking you to vote yes to advance the CPA for the Gainesville, I'm sorry, for the Dulles South Innovation. I am an owner in Cat Harpen, and you've heard so many owners come up here. The uniqueness of this particular project that I wanted to get through to you is there's a lot of debate about, well, they're going to take the money and run. Well, a lot of us have been here for 20-plus years. My church is here, a very faithful individual. I've invested in businesses in Manassas and have no intent of leaving those investments on their own. We plan to stay here, me and my wife, here in the area. I hope to find a home in Prince William County if this overall plan goes all the way through. Again, we love our church, we love our home, we love our family who are all familiar with this area. I would say that... It's very rare that you have a constituency that's standing in front of you in the numbers that you have today. And I know this is a long session for you guys. I really appreciate that. But everyone who lives there is telling you this is a good thing. We've been looking at this plan for two years. We've been working together trying to figure out how to make this work the best for everybody across the board. Many of us love Prince William County. We've been behind you many, many times. We've worked on your campaigns. We've voted for you. A lot of it is predicated on we really believe that this is the best way to fill the budgeting gaps for Prince William County. And we think that it's wonderful that there is a financial upside, but many of that financial upside for each of us individual families get reinvested into the community here at Prince William County as evidenced by the small businesses that we've already invested in. So I ask you, urge you to vote yes on this initiative. And I pray that God blesses you with the wisdom to do all things that are right. God bless you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Laura Harders and I live in the Gainesville District. I just want to say thank you, Al, for sharing that you voted for Supervisor Stewart. I know a lot of people did because they thought that you were going to vote yes on certain projects involving data centers. But I know that you are doing your job in talking with the whole community and looking at the actual impacts. I'm asking you all to vote no on the CPA for Dulles South Innovation Center, also called Dulles Cloud South, and AKA Cosmos, with a ridiculous website of aliens attacking Earth. I've heard, wow, great job to the citizens on Sanders Lane, though, for showing up. So far, I've kept tally, and over 40 landowners have come and spoken. I know you all want this project to go through. You want the CPA initiated. And so you're going to also hear from other citizens who live very close by. who are concerned who are also residents of this county and i don't believe every time a group of land owners decides to assemble and sell to big data centers so they can get a million dollars per acre means it's justified for you to have a comprehensive plan amendment and then to just do the bidding of ex-politicians like pete canlon and corey stewart who are also involved in lots of different land deals in the gainesville district right now it is The same old story. I'm seeing people getting up and talking about the roads need to be widened. It's not a rural community. Well, guess what? I live in a rural community. That's why I can't get food delivered to me. It's because I'm rural, and I just got high-speed internet within the past few years. My husband and I live off of Sedley Road. We are a part of Sedley Mountain Estates, part of which is in Catarpin. We are in Sedley Springs, and we love where we live, and we will fight and make sure that truth is heard regarding projects and citizen approval and what the popular opinion is. So you have 252 parcels. They're asking for you to switch it from AF Agricultural and Forestry to I3 Industrial and MU1 Mixed-Use Hamlet, but is that the proper siting for this? We're talking about 1,940 acres, 43 million square feet for data centers. I drive down Sanders Lane quite often, thank you. And it is a one-lane bridge. It is rural. Where I live is rural. And data centers right now are under more scrutiny than ever before, not just at the local level, but at the national and international level. So I ask you, is this fair? I ask you to vote no on the CPA, and I thank you for your time.

All right, Jessica, before I call you up, I just want to get the next group, and that's 56 to 60. If you have a green card, numbers 56 to 60, please go and join the line in the back. And if we have anyone else who wants to come into board chambers, this is your opportunity.

All right, you may begin. All right, good afternoon, Chair Jefferson and board members. My name is Jessica Grove, and I live in the Gainesville district. I listened to the town hall in Loudoun County last night with Chair Phyllis Randall and she made it clear that buy right is no longer allowed in Loudoun County and that siting is the most important thing to consider. She said that many times and data centers do not belong near homes because it does affect their quality of life who live nearby. So how much will the community gain when sacrificing the over 300 lives of those who live directly adjacent to this project? I live less than a mile. My mom lives even closer. My brother lives on the line. But don't worry, he will be thoughtfully planned around. I wonder what's going to happen to his water. Also, I met a very nice lady, Ramona, last week, two weeks ago, at Senator Lucas's town hall. She lives right on Sanders Lane. She's growing up. She's living in her family home from when she was a child, and she hopes to pass that to her brother and sister so they can live there also. She's not selling. Because she wants to live in the rural area that she planned on. And the rest of us who are left behind also deserve that right. Will the revenue that this project may bring in cover the disruption of the lives of my family and the families along Aldi Road, Log Mill, Sudley, and over the Loudoun County line in Willowsford and Joahher Place? Is it worth it to displace all the wildlife that Cat Harpen calls home? Is it worth it for the kids who play at Cat Harpen Park to breathe toxic fumes? Even if the revenue does show up someday, is it possible that the energy costs will outweigh the benefits? Last week, Henrico was asked for the teachers to turn off the lights and unplug chargers that aren't in use because their electric bills are going up too high. So they're going to try to do their part. But Henrico County has 37 data centers. We have way more. When is that going to happen in Prince William? Is the revenue going to make up for that? Harvard did a study on the Vantage Data Center in Loudoun County, which uses on-site gas turbines for power in one of the densest corridors in the world, with an estimated $53 to $99 million in annual health damage from associated air pollution among the largest health damage estimates produced for a single facility. A single facility. What is this going to do to the community that surrounds it? You might say this is not farmland, but there are people that are being sacrificed right next to this. I ask that you vote no, and I thank you for not deferring this vote today. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name's Michael Slater, and I live in Four Seasons. That's a different story. stand before you once again to plead, to ask for clear thinking about the detriment of even more data centers in our county, especially when you put them next to homes and schools and other places where they will drain the life out of human vitality. And I use that word drain very solidly because the folks who live in the area in question here, I hope you're not on well water. because you won't be. You see, the facts behind all of this are very plain. We have talked about it ad infinitum over and over again. And if you don't know the facts, you haven't been paying attention. Who in their right mind would want to invite health risks, pollution, skyrocketing electric bills, drying up water resources, not to mention destruction of a beautiful Virginia? Some of you think this is funny. It's not. You know, there's no county that doesn't have a few problems with traffic and other things like that. I appreciate that. My heart goes out to you. But the solution is not to drop a monstrous data center down the middle of it. I'll tell you what it comes back to. It comes back to the greenback dollar is what it comes to. That's what's driving the whole thing. Don't be fooled by this Trojan horse approach, people. That's what it is. Don't let the glitter of the dollar fool you. And while you're thinking about money, it has an incorrigible, enchanting effect on clear thinking, and it distorts what would be otherwise seen as short-sighted, illogical, unwise, inhumane money. And while you're at it, ask your board where their contributions came from. Talk to them privately and say, where did your money come from and who did it go to? Seems to me that loyalty has found a new, lush, comfortable home, and sometimes it's not with the voters. So ask yourself, whose side am I on? How will I sleep at night? Have I misused the office that I am elected to? You know the answer. It comes from a quiet, still voice of reason, of grace, of wholesomeness. Don't let this be the continuation of a precedent that's going to affect the whole county. It's not limited just to the Gainesville area. It's not limited just to Dulles South. You're lighting the fuse, folks. And I don't know what else to say to convince you. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Ms. Madden, could I use Elmo, please? Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is Liz Martirana, Gainesville District. And in about two more weeks, my husband and I will be celebrating 50 years since we moved to Prince William County. We've been here a long time, too. We've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and I would say the data centers are by far the ugly. I would ask you to vote no on the CPA before you today. I'm a pretty visual person, and this map is a study that VCU did and released back in February. This happens to be the spray of particulate matter in this particular map. Also, they took into consideration data centers that are in application and have not been built yet. So I'm going to read that the goal of this research is to examine the extent of current and potential future air pollution emissions from data centers in Northern Virginia. focuses on the direct criteria air pollution emissions, pollutants such as carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides that directly harm human health. resulting from the data center's use of backup diesel and natural gas generators. This happens to be showing only particulate matter. And I hope you know particulate matter, you cannot see. It's the size of not even a strand of your hair. You can't smell it. It has no odor either. That's why it is so darn dangerous. And within a month of that study, the Piedmont Environmental Council also released a study they commissioned with Harvard. And that study only spoke to the natural gas turbines at the Vantage VA2 data centers up in Sterling. They reported, and I quote, fine particulate matter is widely recognized as one of the most harmful air pollutants to human health. Extensive scientific evidence shows that long-term exposure, including at levels below current federal standards, is associated with increased risks of heart disease, stroke, respiratory illness, asthma exacerbation, and premature death. So back in the first quarter of 2023, the DEQ held hearings down here in Woodbridge. The purpose was to grant data centers in Loudoun, Prince William, and Fairfax 24 extra hours of run time. And I said at one of those hearings that... Someday the congressmen in Washington as they're gasping for breath and coughing and hacking are gonna say, who the hell okayed that in Prince William and Loudoun and Fairfax counties? This is dangerous. I say we are drowning and we are gasping here and we cannot do this to our citizens, we cannot do it to our children. I ask you to vote no. We don't need any more data centers approved. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Hey, good afternoon to the Board of County Supervisors. My name is Mohit, and I am a resident of Prince William County. I live in Cat Harpin. I was born in Fairfax County, moved here in 2001. I went to various different schools. Tyler Elementary, JWLV, Glen Kirk, and then Gainesville Middle School and Battlefield High School. So I've seen this area grow, this county grow, change, come to this county. And I'm here to request you all to please vote yes to the initiation of the Dulles South Innovation Center. As we all sit here, listen to the supporters and the opposition. I couldn't help but notice that when the opposition speaks, the cameras just show up for them. And that's just something that I want to point out to everybody. I thought it was kind of odd, but I don't want to take up too much of your time. I do want to request that you all vote yes to this initiation. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Before our next speaker, are you number 60, sir? 59 or 60? He's 59. 59? I'm 58. You're 58, 59? Okay, so number 60 through 65, green cards, I'm taking that you can line up to speak. And, sir, go ahead, next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Raminder Singh. I live in Gainesville District. And I moved here. I bought my first home in Gainesville, a community in 2001. That time, the Linton Hall Road, there was only one shopping center, giant shopping center, and two, three restaurants and one gas station in 2001. And right now, look at that. how much development is on Linton Hall, Gainesville, Linton Hall interchange, all these things, because all this thing has happened for the revenue, extra revenue. And the second my point is, I heard on the one speaker before, she say, these people who sell their land, they can move from the county. I move in 2001 in Prince William County. After that, almost 11 family member, household family member move in the Prince William County. My brother-in-law, he live in Somerset. Another brother-in-law, he live in Linton Hall. My aunt live in Dominion Valley. feed them out because of that because we love Prince William County and we I never ever even I sell my land to the data center or not. I live in here and I die here and that's why I request you to please vote for this initial study. Thank you.

Thank you sir. Next speaker please.

I'm behind you.

Okay. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. Catherine Kulik, Vice Chair, HRA Roundtable of Northern Virginia Gainesville District. Well, here we go again. Another massive industrial data center project. And Dulles South Innovation Center is really huge. Bigger than the defunct digital gateway and the most ill-conceived development ever proposed in the history of our county. Until now. And this one is shockingly larger than Loudoun's data center alley. It's a cavalcade of naively compiled dangerous ideas such as powering the gigantic site using gas turbines. Those would be heard and felt far from the site as well into Loudoun and Fairfax counties. This insane proposal is dressed up as an appropriate alternative to the digital gateway and that the requesters are merely seeking a conversation with this CPA initiation. Where were these folks during the last conversation? In a coma? Does anyone want a repeat of the five years of agonizing frustration the Digital Gateway brought to Prince William County? Staff got Dulles South CPA right in nearly every aspect of their excellent report, and we should all acknowledge that and thank them for their fine work. A Gallup poll from May found that 71% of Americans would oppose a data center in their area. 71% of Americans agree on nothing. except this, and sending early warning shots that they are willing to choose their local leaders based on the data center issue. In the small town of Festus, Missouri, residents ousted half their city council after those members approved a $6 billion data center development. Data center bans were recently passed in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Monterey Park, California, Seattle, Washington. Last month, Utah State Senate President J. Stuart Adams, one of the most powerful elected officials in the state, lost his primary election after supporting a major data center development near the Great Salt Lake, as did multiple county officials. It is one of the clearest signs yet of the growing political risks tied to this industry. and suggests the opposition to data centers is no longer confined to planning disputes, but is emerging as a voting issue capable of reshaping elections. In May and June, voters in California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas launched efforts to recall elected officials over their handling of data center proposals. The anger and frustrations are real and they are growing. But the biggest lie is there's only two types of development, data centers or dense housing. Pick your poison. Wrong. PWC needs to look to new economic opportunities, ones that showcase the beauty, natural and historic attractions that the county intrinsically has. Let's make and promote Prince William as a destination for a thriving, diverse, and broadly popular economy, rich in employment opportunities. Localities nationwide promote tourism as an industry that brings joy, revenue, and lower property taxes while protecting and preserving the things we love rather than those your constituents have grown to hate. That conversation has already started. Let's make it a reality. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Bobby Kelly, and I have spent the last four to five years of my retired life in this chamber saying the same things that I would like to say, but deja vu, I'm not going to repeat them. But I'm strongly opposed to the opening of the CPA for the Dulles South Innovation Center. That's a proposal to set up 43 million square feet of data centers. 43 million square feet. That's unbelievable. But I want to say that you as a board have an opportunity here. You all must by now be painfully aware of the negative criticism of the previous board's decision on the digital gateway. I was amazed at the coverage it received with its demise. It spread far and wide. The celebration was felt throughout this county, the whole Commonwealth, and the country. Social media had a field day because it was a successful David over Goliath story. And that's a good news story that we need in this current time. So wouldn't you all as a board rather be the reason for a feel-good story than the reason for a story about bad governance? You have a golden opportunity to right the wrongs of the previous board and be a leader in good governance. Be a positive benchmark, not an example of how not to do land use decisions. And the facts support that decision. The facts support saying no to this opening of the CPA for reasons that we've covered over the last few years. And many of you sat through those meetings. A 27-hour meeting to talk about the benefits and the demise of data centers. So you have the information. Your staff obviously has the information because they recommended to not move forward with the CP change. So listen to them. So the gig is kind of up. You know, the country's gotten onto it now. And we learned a lot from the Digital Gateway. This new study isn't going to produce anything different than what we've talked about for the last four and a half years. It's all the same. So let's not go down that rabbit hole again. Enough is enough. I beg you to do the right thing. I did learn today that traffic problems are going to be solved by data centers. That's amazing. What else can data centers solve? Certainly not traffic issues. so i would encourage you to say no i would also encourage you when you talk about the financial benefits to look at the analysis that was done during the digital gateway because there's creative math going on and you really need to look at the facts so i suggest we have the facts I suggest we don't have to reopen the CPA. I strongly encourage you to become role models for how to do land use, and I support strongly the opposition to opening the CPA and just say no. Enough is enough. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. I want to remind everyone the rules were set early. No laughing, no talking, no discussion. You can use your hands if you want. The first group did very well with that, so I'd ask that you honor that request. All right, next speaker, please.

Hi, my name's Annalee Gallagher and I'm from the Gainesville District. I've been a resident of Prince William County for my entire life, so the last 30 years. I grew up here and I plan to raise my family here. You here today are on the side of developers and data centers or the people of this county. There's no in between. Right now we're at a tipping point in the history and trajectory of this county. We always look back as community members to a few years ago when all of this began. and say those board members betrayed us and that is their legacy. They may have done a ton of good, but what will they be remembered for? What will you be remembered for? Who will you stand with? It's no longer about party lines. We are united behind opposition for turning our land into a dystopian industrial wasteland. We are united in protecting the watershed and the thousands of residents who rely on its drinking water, as well as the thousands of well water that residents rely on in the area of this proposal, including myself. This Dulles area is beautiful, full of wildlife and smart development with a mix of multi-acre developments, farmlands, and streams that directly support the watershed. People have invested their money to live here, including myself. There is a reason for the comprehensive plan and the zoning that is in place. Everyone's saying that this is the perfect place to put data centers. No, we have to keep what is left of that end of the county. There are working farms down 15 that would be negatively impacted. You all saying the Royal Crescent is dead. Well, you don't live along the roads that this impacts. There's thick woods, there's quiet, there's open fields. It's very rural. There are a large number of homes there as well that will feel this directly. Our children will feel this directly when it destroys our water. If the power lines that you all speak about are heard far and wide, how much will 43 million square feet of data sound like? The perfect place for these data centers is zoned industrial. Put them in the industrial overlay. Listen to your staff who advised against this. The residents in favor of this absolutely have a right to sell their homes, 100%, but not at the detriment of the rest of us. I understand there are more power lines. There's traffic. However, smart development in solving traffic problems is not approving 43 million square feet of data centers. Unfortunately, these residents are dealing with decisions approved by previous boards and ignoring their concerns. We can't make that mistake here again today. They say over and over this project will be tucked away and impact a small group of people. That is not true. It would impact surrounding counties, states, increase traffic, and impact all of our water. And that we do not, if the data centers are not approved, what will we put there? Nothing. We can't handle additional homes. The grid can't handle more power. To me, it sounds like we need a traffic study and ended at that. So I'm begging you to please vote no today and no more rezonings and no more data centers. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Next speaker.

Hi, I'm Kerry Needham, 40-year resident of the Gainesville District in Catharpen. I live very close to the subject property. I ask the board to vote no on initiating the proposed CPA. This application is grossly incompatible with the comp plan and all surrounding land uses. And it asks the board to abandon the 2022 comp plan, the pathway to 2040, before we've even addressed the impacts of the 36 million square feet of already approved but unbuilt data centers. Converting 2,000 acres of low density agriculture and residential use into the largest industrial data center complex in Virginia is a paradigm shift from the board vision adopted in the 2022 comp plan after years of public engagement. Residents, businesses, and property owners have relied on that plan to decide where to live, invest, and raise their families. Nobody wants to live near a data center. This application does not address any compelling public need appropriate for an out-of-town amendment. Local traffic concerns do not justify mass industrialization. The question is, how much is too much? The board has already approved an unprecedented amount of data center development, 36 million square feet still not built, yet concerns raised during the digital gateway debate have grown more serious and gone unaddressed. Our power grid is under great strain. This project requires massive new power infrastructure, substations and transmission lines, and backup generators. Before considering a project of this scale, we need confidence that existing residents and businesses can be served reliably without higher costs or additional community and environmental impacts. This site is in the Aquiquan watershed which supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands. Data centers require immense amounts of cooling water. Replacing agricultural land with sprawling industrial development increases risks to the quality and availability of the public water supply at a time when residents must already conserve due to drought conditions. Our county has still not adopted meaningful data center standards to address 24-7 noise pollution, the Occoquan watershed modeling, buffering for residential communities, air quality degradation, or transparency regarding power demand and infrastructure. Residents living near data centers continue to experience growing adverse impacts daily. While data centers generate tax revenue and construction jobs, they create few permanent jobs and impose permanent damage on our communities and environment. This board is about, I'm sorry, this decision is about whether this board will uphold the 2022 comp plan commitment made in collaboration with the community or allow it to be dismantled through piecemeal expectations. I ask the board to vote no on this proposed CPA and I thank you all for your time in public service.

Thank you. Before I get on to the next group, I would like to, I think we already have 45 up here, but just to make sure, I'd like to call, I'm sorry, 65. I'd like to call 65 to the new 70. So green card numbers, 60 through 70. I'm sorry. Oh, 65. I'm sorry. 65 through 70. Green card or green holders. I'm not going to make any immigration jokes. I hear people laughing. It was unattended. No pun meant. All right. The mom jokes sustain me, y'all. The mom jokes sustain me. All right, ma'am. You may begin.

All right. My name is Diane Yeager. I have lived on Cat Harbor Road in Gainesville for the last 38 years. I would ask the board to deny the request to initiate the changes of currently agricultural residential land use along Sanders Lane in order to develop Dulles South Innovation Data Center, a project double in scope and size to the now defunct Digital Gateway. I will iterate the more salient protest points contained in a flyer that has been circulated in my neighborhood. They are well worth repeating. Diesel generators, noise and pollution, likelihood of gas turbines or gas plants close to our homes, risk to our wells from groundwater pollution, risk to surface drinking water pollutants feeding the Occoquan River, environmental and wildlife devastation, dozens of additional electrical substations, miles of transmission lines taking private property, putting at risk our entire electrical grid, which has become inadequate, caused in large part by data center development and causing blackouts. Imposing significant additional electrical costs to our area, costs that these developers should be paying, but rather have and will continue to be a burden to residential families. Devaluation of the subject property's contiguous and greater areas residential real estate, not to mention perhaps years of construction noise, pollution, industrial blasting, road revisions, rerouting of traffic, and eminent domain seizures. Prince William County has far more than its fair share of data centers, most of which have and continue to wreak havoc on dozens of communities. Any consideration of Dulles Health Innovation Center is sheer insanity. Thank you for your time.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, my name is Eric Yeager. I'm a resident of Gainesville. I've listened to the opposition to the data centers, and it seems to me that most of them, I'm sorry, I misspoke. I listened to the people who would like to proceed with the data centers, but most of them spoke because of the traffic in the general area. Now, that seems like a problem that can be fixed without approving data centers. For example, the bridge at the end of Sanders Lane that connects Loudoun to Prince William County is a one-lane bridge that's about 50 feet long. Is it a big deal to make it into a two-lane bridge? I don't think so. But that... I realize that developing new transportation routes or improving old ones are not quite that simple, but it's something worth the research to see how long it would take to correct and how much it would cost. Concerning the 43 million square feet of data centers, that are proposed. To put it in perspective, the Pentagon, which up to recently, and may still be, is considered the world's largest brick building in the world. And it is approximately 6.6 million square feet. So you can fit approximately seven pentagons inside 43 million square feet of data centers. So that's an awful lot of land that's going to be occupied by developed buildings, which, by the way, EVERY DAY YOU HEAR MORE COMPLAINTS ABOUT WHERE DATA CENTERS HAVE BEEN BUILT AND THE PROBLEMS THEY ARE CAUSING TO INFRASTRUCTURE, TO WATER TABLES, TO THE QUALITY OF AIR. MOVING AHEAD WITH MORE WOULD BE A HUGE MISTAKE. AND SO THEREFORE, YOU KNOW, IF THAT, IF THE PROBLEM OF REPAIRING ROADS AND MAKING THEM WIDER CAN'T SATISFY PEOPLE WHO LIVE ON SANDERS LANE, THEN BY ALL MEANS, LOOK AT ALTERNATIVE USE FOR THE PROPERTY, BUT DATA CENTERS IS NOT THE WAY TO GO. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

THANK YOU, SIR. NEXT SPEAKER, PLEASE.

PATRICK HARTERS, GAINESVILLE DISTRICT. I want to first talk about a unifying message. And I know I'm not the most popular person in this room by any stretch. But what you have heard is nobody wants housing sprawl. And everybody is scared of housing sprawl. We're tired of housing sprawl. Everyone is. We want redevelopment and reinvestment, and we want to protect open space. But so many people do not believe that that's even a possibility. And I believe it is and keep that in mind on July 21st when Cat Harpin Valley comes in or when this same applicant that is proposing this 43 million square feet of data centers starts coming in with their assemblages because that's what they're selling. We have said it's predatory land practice around our community. I was offered the $500,000 an acre. It's predatory land practicing. It's taking on people's fears and assuming that this county is going to do the worst thing. It was said that Patrick Harters was a hard no, and the answer is I was a hard no, not because I wouldn't listen. Johnny and I talked a lot. I listened a lot, but I've been hearing it since July 20th, 2021. That's when we first said, why don't we look at a study? Why don't we expand from the Gadband property all the way up Pageland and maybe even up Sanders Lane to the Loudoun County border? I've been hearing this. You've been hearing this. Some of you were on this side with us arguing about how bad the digital gateway was. and what a way to start the fourth of july two hundred fiftieth anniversary then to find out the digital gateway finally died and it was the citizens coming together democrats republicans independence a community coming together which is the blueprint on how to defeat these data centers and how to fix Prince William County and get back to a normal county. But this project here, 43 million square feet of data centers. We have been on the wrong issue on data centers for so many years. But today, you have an opportunity. I've heard Chair Jefferson, I've heard Supervisor Gordy say, we need to start saying no. if there's ever been an opportunity say no a forty four million square foot data center that's more remote with less infrastructure this is it this should be off it's ridiculous forty three million square feet of data centers in a residential area so it's easy to say no but imagine prince william county will not only not be on the wrong side but you can make history today the digital gateway dies and cosmos died in one week in prince william county you will have put your stamp on history because it's the two largest data centers back to back going down in one week. That has not happened anywhere. That'll send shockwaves to the industry that the data centers need to start taking to the community into effect when they look at how they're going to damage the neighborhoods and we need to simply do better in Prince William County and start looking at new opportunities and turn the page from data centers.

Next speaker please.

Hi, my name is Lana Craven and I live in the Gainesville district. Dulles South Innovation Center at 43 million square feet will be the largest data center in the world if approved. The general consensus is that the standard cloud data centers require 100 watts per square foot and high density AI data centers demand 500 to 1,000 watts per square foot. This means Dulles South Innovation Center will likely require anywhere from 4.3 to 43 gigawatts of power. This is more than the grid capacity of nations like Norway and Argentina. It's clear that this data center project will greatly impact the quality of life for not just my family, neighbors, and community, but this entire county, the state, and surrounding states as we are all connected through transmission lines, watersheds, and air. Since the Board of County Supervisors approved the first data center in March of 2016, residents have watched data center after data center get approved with little to no concern for environmental impacts. Prince William County presently has a total of 85 million plus data center square foot, either under application, approved, under construction, and zoned, but not yet built. With each square foot of data center approved, residents have experienced predatory land acquisitions, inflated property values, neighbors fighting neighbors over proposed land assemblages, million-dollar lawsuits on the taxpayers' dime, threats of eminent domain to accommodate transmission lines and substations, air, light, and noise pollution, and threats to our watershed. Dulles South Innovation Center would push our county beyond the threshold of being able to safely provide water and power to residents. Watching this board vote on data centers since 2016 is like watching an 18-wheeler without brakes barreling down the highway. Approval after approval despite warnings from the bystanders. Well, you have the power to take this county off the crash course. stick to the comprehensive plan as it stands honor the energy and sustainability master plan goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions countywide to fifty percent below two thousand five levels by twenty thirty complete the promise water study listen to your own planning department residents and the environmental and conservation organization experts You have the power to save our county's agricultural and forested community and protect the environment for future generations. I urge you to apply the emergency brakes on this runaway data center rig and vote no on this CPA. And I do have a trophy here for first time no vote on a data center CPA. Supervisor Angry, I would love to be able to give this to you today. Thank you for your time.

All right, next speaker please.

Hi, my name is Mindy Diepenbrock. I'm from the Brentsville District and a resident of the Braemar community for over 25 years. I am a co-founder of the Save Braemar Coalition and I'm here representing our non-partisan group of almost 800 residents. Do you have any idea how hard that is to get people to agree on this? It's amazing. We are fighting multiple infrastructure projects surrounding and running through our neighborhood. Our community is facing multiple high voltage transmission lines and a massive gas insulated substation next to our homes and our schools. We're being used as an extension cord to power the 193 approved data centers within a five mile radius of our community. We were here just two weeks ago discussing the gas insulated substation and how the multiple infrastructure projects proposed for our community to power the data centers will have enormous impacts on our quality of life and our environment. A clear solution has still not been identified to mitigate these damages. And yet here we are again discussing another data center project. One not recommended by your own planning commission and one that is not consistent with the Prince William County Comprehensive Plan as others have mentioned. I have heard people's concerns about the traffic and the change in the rural character, and I feel for them. I really do, but it sounds like a traffic study, traffic management needs to be addressed. What we don't need is more data centers. Many people in support of this project are the ones that stand to financially benefit from the project while remaining removed from the actual consequences of them. I heard folks saying in the atrium that they were offered $500 to $1 million per acre and that the land developers will make even more. And many Sanders Lane residents are saying they will stay in the county. But where are you going to go? The Brentsville district is being swallowed by data centers. And infrastructure is spreading like cancer from data center to substation to transmission lines going through neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. So to the people in Cat Harpen who haven't experienced this yet, I'm here to warn you. Every data center added impacts others in the county and the county surrounding us. It's not just the district where they're being built. There is no good area. There is no quiet corner. We are all going to be affected. So ask yourselves, where will the power come from to feed this gigantic project? PJM issued emergency alerts this past weekend warning of a grid collapse, and we only have a quarter of the approved data centers online. What happens when all of them are plugged in? Will hospitals go off the grid? How many will die? What happens when the water runs out? And what happens to those living on wells? Data centers pollute the water that feed those wells.

We all know that the data center- I'm sorry, but next, I'm going to call up the next speaker. Thank you, please vote no. Before I do, I'm going to call up numbers 71 through 75. If you have the green, that is you. 71 to 75. And I'm also gonna let people know, we have 90 residents who are assigned to speak up. After they speak, the board is gonna take a 10 minute break, then we will return with our non-resident speakers, and then we will go into virtual speakers. All right, well, now we have more people coming in.

All right, Ashley. Madam Chair, number 70 was Evelyn Parks, and she left to go with her mom. Anyway, I just wanted to, for your register, I think I'm number 80, okay. Good afternoon or evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Ashley Studholm, and I'm the Executive Director of the Prince William Conservation Alliance. Oh, and I'm Occoquan District, Prince William Conservation Alliance. We work to create equitable and sustainable communities throughout Prince William County. Thank you for taking the bold move in hearing Dulles South innovation today. Now I respectfully ask you to honor the plans that you have already adopted, protect our drinking water, and deny the initiation of the CPA. Every resident has a right to safe, reliable, and affordable drinking water. In Prince William County, whether you live on the eastern end and receive your drinking water, from the Occoquan Reservoir, or you live on the western end and rely on a private well, both sources depend on the same watershed. Forests, farms, wetlands, and open spaces are not empty lands waiting to be paved over. They are a natural infrastructure that filters water, recharges our groundwater, and sustains the streams and rivers every one of us depends on. When we replace thousands of acres of watershed with pavement concrete industrial development, we are placing an increasingly fragile system under greater stress. There are limits to what a watershed can absorb while continuing to provide clean, reliable drinking water. And we do not know how to restore a watershed once its natural functions have been lost. Prince William County has already made significant concessions to accommodate more growth. The proposal before you asks you to move the line once again. It's time to hold the line and uphold your vision for the county's future. So much time, effort, and money went into developing the sustainability master plan, the strategic plan, the comprehensive plan, and the purchase of development rights program. This proposal undermines all of them. Today, we know far more than we did just a few years ago The Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab has documented increasing signs of stress in the reservoir. Fairfax Water requested that you take the Occoquan Reservoir into account when making land use decisions. Study after study on data centers have confirmed our concerns about water use, air quality, energy infrastructure, and the broader community impacts. you can make an informed decision today. Rather than continuing to test the limits of our watershed, let's work together and realize a vision that builds community and protects the natural systems that sustain us. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

My name is Matt Caddo in the Gainesville District. When I was a kid, my brothers and I used to enjoy going to our grandparents' home because my grandfather had a box of dominoes. We loved to play that game. We didn't, because of economic circumstances, didn't have many games at our home. And we loved to play it because we knew that there would be a winner at the end. And the winner was determined by how many domino tiles we could get to fall off after we'd set them up on the edge of the table. We called those kills. And so that was our game, figure out how many we could kill with the domino effect. Little did I know that 70 years later, I'd be standing here worried about the finger that pushed that domino. And metaphorically, that finger that's pushing the domino here in Prince William County that's causing kills is Corey Stewart, Pete Candlin, and Mark Looney. Because they're behind these data center projects, buying up land, creating assemblages. And it's really a problem for everyone that's in that domino chain because inevitably we fall. And the... the impacts that have been described to you today by those who wake up one day and they're lottery ticket winners on a land deal because of data centers and they hold it up. And it overcomes common sense, it overcomes sense of community, and it overcomes completely what we really should be doing in our community, which is working together in order to protect our community rather than picking winners and losers as we're doing. It does pit neighbors against neighbors. In the latest battle that we just overcame here, there were neighbors in Page and Land whom I love as friends, and yet we were pitted because of economic circumstances against one another. I would see them at community activities, people that went to my church. And the tension was always there. As much as we tried to mask it, it was there because there were people that were going to win big. And they didn't care. They were blinded by the circumstances that they really were winning on. And that was something. I sat in line at the Cat Harp and Post Office waiting to drop off some mail. And a woman that was standing in front of me turned around and she said to me, you're the guy from Oak Valley, aren't you? And I said, yes, because I live on Pageland Lane. So I braced myself for what was coming next. And she said, my husband and I kneeled every night and we prayed that you would win because we didn't want to leave our home. This was where we wanted to live and die and let our kids deal with the aftermath. She said, thank you for standing up. What a powerful message because she said that they were bamboozled, they were blackmailed, they were forced into joining the assemblage on Page Lane. That's a terrible circumstance to be in. Time for a reset. We need now to bar the door to the developers coming in and owning the planning office space. We need to make sure that as we move forward in the future that we don't allow non-disclosure agreements that bar us from knowing what's happening in our communities. Do the right thing today. Say no to this. Thank you.

Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is Sonya Kanekoshi, and I am in the Brentsville district. I live in Oaksville. I don't have prepared notes, and for me, I talk from my heart. I live, as I said, I live in Oaksville, and I have horses, and the worry of, I've come to the board before to talk about the worry of water, and we are in a well, and I worry about what the data centers will do to the water, and I also worry about the electrical grid, because if I lose electricity for any length of time, I have horses that get stomachaches. If you don't know horses, they get stomachaches, they can die. So I'm here to say please protect our natural resources in Prince William County. And I was listening for a long time in the beginning of this speaking, and I was listening to the people talking about their lane and the traffic. And I do agree that I think a traffic study needs to be taken care of, but I don't think adding... The previous gentleman said seven pentagons worth of data centers to this county will strain it even more. Princeville County is already infamy because of these data centers were well known across the country. I think adding more to this system will just break it. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Supervisors. I'm Rena Stapp, and I guess I'm one of those pretentious and insensitive residents from the Brentsville District, but I wouldn't say that I have money. You heard from me two weeks ago about how Braemar is one of the areas targeted by Dominion for substations and transmission lines. I still doubt Dominion will have a better plan in 90 days for that substation, but I suppose we'll have to talk about that again in September. I'm here to talk about Dulles South Innovation Center and asking you to vote no. Last week, we were accused of being NIMBYs, and I said, if there's a project being planned in your backyard, please let me know. Well, here I am. I'm here to fight for all of Prince William County. We want clean water. We want clean air. We want our electric bills to not skyrocket because of massive data centers planned in areas where we don't want them. The current data centers aren't even paying their part in taxes because of tax breaks and loopholes. So the county essentially is not getting their income from them. So saying that we're going to get all this for schools and for residents, that's not happening for who knows how many years. There was a whole debate in the legislative assembly about it, and we could barely get a budget passed this year because of data centers and tax breaks. We're not getting the money that we're being promised, so don't pretend that we are. We don't want... All of the, sorry, my phone went quiet. The current data centers aren't paying their taxes and we have no reason to expect the income from the next group of data centers. What we can expect is high power transmission lines cutting across the county, taking people's land, increasing everyone's power bills. We are on a co-op, many of us in Novak, so we all pay for the electric infrastructure and the electricity that is needed for the data centers, not for our homes. not for the homes that are being built, but for the data centers. We can expect more backup generators spewing diesel fumes in the air when there's a strain on the grid, like we saw last week. We saw pictures of plumes of diesel fumes going into the air. That doesn't just affect the people that live right next to it. It affects everyone. Air doesn't stay in its bubble above the data center. It will continue to flow. Also, we can expect construction noise and eventually data center noise. No one wants to live next to that humming and buzzing. Transmission lines also have that humming and buzzing. And you have heard us talk about we don't want to live under those either. I've grown up in Northern Virginia. I've been a PWC resident for 20 years. I knew there would be growth. I expected it. But we want to talk about responsible growth. not data centers and housing developers buying all the land and making all the decisions for us. It sounds like many residents on Sanders Lane need a study done about that road, so let's do that, and don't assume that the Dulles South CPA will affect any of that road's traffic in a positive way. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District. My family moved to Cat Harbin in 1979. We lived off of Sherry Court, which is in the middle of this. I would ride my bike to the one-lane bridge. I have scars on my face from when I took a tumble down a hill because of that. There's always been power lines along there. In my later years as a teenager, we would ride across the one-way bridge to the substation over there. Something for us to do. So my point is that... area has had power lines and substation for a very long time. My husband and I, when we got married in 98, we lived in Manassas for two years and then we moved back to Sherry Court across the street from my parents. Why? Because it was affordable housing. Sherry Court is One acre lots, brick ramblers, and some of them need to be updated, ours need to be updated. We were there for two years, realized we're a little too close to my parents, and moved down the street about a mile and a half to where we've been for the past 23 years. When we bought that house, we looked at something called like the comp plan, and it was in the rural crescent, so we knew the farm, the 200 acre farm that sat behind us could be nothing but 10 acre lots. That farm is still there. That farm sits between us and this whole area. It has 175 cattle. They also keep the cows on another area off of 234, which will be a couple hundred feet from where this is being proposed. This area is rural. And I also want to say, Jessica mentioned a lady named Ramona that is in this. And that's the other thing I want to point out that's different than the Digital Gateway. There are homeowners that don't want to be a part of this. And they're sitting there. Ramona, guess what? Her mom was my piano teacher. So I get that she wants to stay in her home that she grew up in. At some point, this board has to say no. And I know you guys know that. I know you guys know what's coming next year, and that's with the elections. The data center industry is no longer welcome in Prince William County. The residents are tired of giving up even an inch for them. You guys know the impacts of this industry. It's not 2023. It's not just Western Prince William that is aware of what's going on. Everybody is watching. They're watching how you're going to vote tonight. And we all know your voting records, all the yes votes. And residents don't want to hear sound bites. We actually want to hear a no. And real quick, I want to thank you guys for actually having this tonight and not doing the deferral. I did reach out to all the supervisors to do something different, because this is close to me, even though I've been here for every other data center application. And a shout out to Supervisor Angry, who recognizes that we need to move away from data centers. We are more than data centers. Thank you very much.

All right, before I get to the next speaker, I would like to call up 76 to 80. 76 to 80, and those are people with the cards that are green. All right, I'm just letting people get settled. A little bit more foot traffic.

All right, you may proceed, thank you. Awesome, thank you, good afternoon. My name is Nancy Armour and I'm an Occoquan District resident. Chair Jefferson and supervisors, thank you for taking time to hear us today and for moving forward with the hearing. I'm here today to ask you that you deny the CPA for the Dulles South Innovation Center. The Prince William County planning staff recommends denial of the CPA due to its incompatible land use. The impact on infrastructure and the environment are key concerns. My personal concern is the impact on the Occoquan watershed. I think I'm the only one left that still drinks tap water. My personal concern is the quality and the quantity of the water. When the Prince William Digital Gateway Project was being considered, Fairfax Water Authority expressed great concern about the ongoing development on the Occoquan watershed. I don't believe the water study was ever completed, and yet here we are considering a project that will cover over 3,000 acres without understanding the impact on our water. Please vote no to the Dulles South CPA tonight. Stand by the Comp Plan 2040, the work of the county's planning staff, the Sustainability Commission, our county's own strategic plan, and the majority of the counties, and now the countries, citizens, who want the data centers to stop showing up. Thank you very much. Have a good night.

Next speaker. Nancy, if you would take a look, I also have a water bottle. I drink tap. All right, next speaker.

Hi, my name is Paul McDonald. I live in Cat Harpin on Sanders Lane. I've listened to a lot of eloquent and passionate speakers, and aside from my personal views, I would think you as a board should consider doing this in-depth study just because of the number of people who are impassioned about the whole subject. It needs to be developed. Nothing is being locked in as I understand it. Sanders Lane does have rotten traffic. The road is dangerous. Saying doing a study means nothing happens. If you could go off and fix the bridge and give me a two-lane road without cutting into my land, I would love that. Two of my adult children are in Prince William. My wife and I don't have any intention of leaving them. They're our favorite people, two out of three of them. I would just like you guys to expand upon the possibilities. My final thought is I read something just yesterday. I don't know if it was an opinion piece or a marketing piece trying to push thoughts in one direction or another, but they said eventually these data centers are going to be pushing out serious tax dollars. Did they do it right away? I don't know. I don't have access to the books or the county but if the article I read yesterday said could be up to the equivalent of $10,000 a house, if you guys could turn around and say to the Prince William County citizens in large, not just Cat Harpin, we get to lower your property taxes $1,000 a year, I'm gonna suggest, unlike what other folks have said, you're gonna be able to bequeath your seat to your grandchildren because nobody takes care of the citizens emphatically and directly. So if you can help them keep their lives in order and take a serious look at this, I think that's only fair with all the people that are impassioned by it. Anyway, thanks a lot.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, thank you to all of the members of the Board of Supervisors, and thank you to all of those who have come out today to express all of their opinions on the issues that we have in Prince William County. But my name is Austin Adegbasan, and today I stand before you as a youth civic leader, a student activist, and most importantly, a rising sophomore at Gainesville High School. And today I stand with and I stand for the over 90,000 students that we have in Prince William County Public Schools. And I'm here to represent and to advocate for the creation of a non-voting youth representative for the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. The board makes decisions that shapes our parks, libraries, community centers, programs, and the futures of our neighborhoods. But the people that represent the future, our youth, have no representation on the body that makes those decisions. A youth representative would provide firsthand insight into the needs of young people. And while the board continues to do and has made thoughtful decisions on our behalf, there is no substitute for hearing directly from the students who will inherit the decisions that this board makes. And that is very true when it comes to land use, which we have heard of a lot from today. Whether it pertains to data centers or new developments in general, these decisions will shape Prince William County for decades beyond. And my generation will live with the consequences of it. If the board is making choices that affect our future, I truly do believe that young people deserve a voice in those conversations. We currently have representation on the school board because it does affect our daily lives. But the lives of the youth of Prince William County does extend beyond the classroom. The decisions made by this board affect our quality of life, our environment, and the kind of community that we will inherit. So I believe that youth representation should not stop with education. Creating a non-voting representative on this board strengthens the bond between young and old, between tenured residents and new births in Prince William County. And it encourages lifelong civic engagement and ensures that the next generation has a seat at this table. If we expect young people who will inherit this county, who inherit this community to care about the future of Prince William County, then I believe that we must have the opportunity to help shape it. Thank you so much.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you. Thank you to our youth and to such a powerful and articulate speaker. My name is Karen Sheehan. I'm a resident of Gainesville. This is my granddaughter, Kaylin. First of all, thank you to the seven supervisors who voted to deny the request to defer today. Thank you very much. No matter how many people try to package their statements that this isn't about data centers and it's just a study, you can't dance away from the fact that this is exactly to add more data centers in Prince William County. No more data centers. For over 12 years, this county's poor choices have consumed my life. Quite honestly, I have been affected by bad choices in this county ever since I chose Prince William County over all the other possibilities in this region when we selected our home at the base of Bull Run Mountain. But it wasn't until I was made aware of the threats coming directly to my little community of Haymarket that I finally woke up and took action. actions that I am still taking today. It was no more data centers then. It is still no more data centers today. We, the overwhelming number of residents of my community, of my county, my state, and my country, are fighting for our lives, fighting for our families, fighting for our well-being, fighting for our homes, fighting for our health, and fighting for our futures. We are fighting against data centers. We need you to listen to us. No more data centers. I'm not going to stand here and spend any more time educating and re-educating you on all of the risks, dangers, and inequities the people of this county are living through because of being overwhelmed by data centers. By my own choice, I spend every day of every week of every year putting together information, analyzing it, and putting it back out on the Coalition to Protect Prince William County website. This sign is now going to be popping up all over the county. You're going to be seeing it everywhere. People are rallying against your data center approvals. They want it in your face and they want it seen by all. In addition to risking the lives of the people of this community, You are risking your seat on that dais if you vote to consider or approve the Dulles CloudSouth Innovation CPA application. Karen, thank you so very much.

Next speaker, please. Actually, before I get to the next speaker, I would like to call up the next group of people, and I'm going to say this. When is your time to stop speaking, stop speaking. Because the next person who wants to pull that, I will close the board chambers and everyone will come in one by one. I've asked for respect early on. And I want respect. So before I get to the next group, or I'm sorry, the next speaker, I'd like to call up 81 through 85. So if your card is green, 81 through 85. All right, I just want to give people a moment to come in, to exit, to settle down, and then. All right.

Can I start? You may begin.

Thank you.

OK. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. My name is Isaac Tadegiri. I live in Kitharpan, Gainesville district. I'm here today to respectfully ask you to vote yes to initiate the Dallas South innovation application. I understand the concerns that people have brought about the power, noise, traffic, and quality of life. Those are important issues, and those need to be studied. Today's vote is not for the final approval, but it's just to initiate the study. And I think having the facts and data and public's opinion will help in coming with the outcome. People earlier said that this is a residential area and should not be disturbed. Well, we have a stone quarry across the county line, which often do stone blasting and send shockwaves to our house. Our residential area has a gigantic electrical substation. Our residential area has a high old age power lines which keep growing bigger and bigger to power the Loudoun County data centers. Our residential area has a potential of a four lane road which might go through our front door. I believe we should not approach growth from a mindset of fear, instead we should embrace innovation and allow new solutions to emerge when challenges like this arise. I respectfully ask you to allow this application to move forward so the county can evaluate it thoroughly with data before making the final decision. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Had to lower this a lot. My name's Margarita Moylan. I live in the Gainesville District. Wow, this feels like Groundhog Day. Here we are again. I do want to thank you all for listening to us. I know these long meetings can be very trying and I do appreciate what you do. If I remember correctly, planning staff recommended denial of the digital gateway project way back, but the board chose to vote against their recommendation. Imagine what could have been done with the money that went into fighting the citizens who agreed with the planning staff. You now have a chance to do the right thing. I want to remind you once again, I won't remind you once again the cons of data centers as so many have already articulated it so well. The main debate that we are faced with is, and most discussions come down to, is the trade-off. Those in favor will say data centers are essential infrastructure for the modern economy and generate tax revenue. Guess what? We already have built 12 million square feet, over 13 million square feet are under construction, over 11 million square feet are under application, and over 85.5 million square feet are zoned but are not built. I think we have enough. The economic benefits don't always outweigh the loss of land, environmental impacts, utility demands, and the changes to the county and the community's character. You as a board have initiated a long-term comprehensive plan for the county and need to stick to your plan. Your planning staff has studied this project and has recommended denial. I ask that you please listen to your own planning staff and vote no to this monstrous project. Thanks again for your time. Next speaker please.

Hi, good evening. My name is Jess Wagner. I'm from the Coles District. I'm respectfully asking for the board to vote no to initiate the CPA to begin the project in Dulles Innovation South. While I don't live in the Gainesville District, increased data centers affect the entire county through water and electricity usage. Though already, from the county website, 55 completed data centers in Prince William County, 27 under construction, and 48 more planned for a total of 130 data centers. A mid-sized data center on average utilizes 110 million gallons of water per year. So doing that math, 130 times 110 million, 14.3 billion gallons of water per year with the current 130. When the water is utilized for data centers for cooling, the water evaporates and does not return to the immediate watershed. That water is gone from the area and will not return with simple rainfall. Then we move on to the electricity usage. The county residents are supplementing the cost for the electricity usage. When I lived in a two bedroom apartment by myself, I paid $200 a month in electricity. And I understand that the state of Virginia voted for the state residents to help supplement Dominion Energy and Prince William County Board cannot control that. But adding more data centers is a way that it can be controlled and how you guys can't control it. The county shall continue to pay for this increase of electricity, and everyone is going to eat these costs. Data is not profitable. Just on the internet, you can Google it, OpenAI by itself is running at a deficit of $21 billion. What happens when this bubble pops? Normal citizens are going to be hurt. And as I've been listening, I've heard a lot of citizens saying, this is for facts, this is for information to be gathered. The information is already there. The facts have been gathered about what data centers do. This proposal is to change it to an industrial zoning. It's not going to be for residential, for little shops. That is what the intent is. So saying that this is to collect facts, that is not correct. The information that's being gathered, these are studies. You can find it on the internet. You can do the math. You can do it yourself to be a responsible citizen. Data center increases. It's increasing the land value. So that means it's going to be more expensive. for people to buy houses. I heard somebody say that. It's more difficult for that. People say, oh, because there's not enough houses. Well, adding data centers won't help that either. I just bought a house for $600,000 for 2,000 square feet. Sorry. Absurd. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate you guys listening. I know it's been a lot, and I really appreciate your work. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, Kevin Parker, Neabsco District. Thanks for hearing this today. I'm here to speak out against the initiation of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment for all the environmental reasons that others have spoken about, like water, climate, air pollution, noise. With water, the history of environmental problems has example after example of incremental degradation of water that was put off and led to big problems down the road. So it's better to not give in to the temptation to have these degradations and keep the whole system running well. For the previous speakers, I would say that data centers are not the answer for speeding drivers. Comprehensive plan amendments for data centers are not the answer for overturned cars. Another thing they say is it's just a study. We need a study. We had a study. It was a big study. It was the comprehensive plan. An enormous amount of study went into the comprehensive plan. And that study should mean something, and it should not just be something that staff should have to go and study again. I made the analogy before to you about the comprehensive plan being like a nutrition plan and comprehensive plan amendments like unhealthy temptations. So I would say that again and say let's stay healthy and stick with the plan. Thank you.

All right, before I call, okay, we have the next speaker, speakers, I'd like to get numbers 86 to 90, 86 to 90. And then after we hear from that group of speakers, we are going to take a short break, short recess. We will resume with the non-resident speakers, and then we will go to virtual speakers. So I would like to get the remaining people on this list to speak. And those are the only people who should be, other than the reporters, the fourth estate, those are the only people who should be standing. So, sir, with the cute dog, you may begin.

I'm sorry, ma'am. I couldn't hear.

I said you with the cute dog. Okay, I'm a cat person. I'm not going to lie. But that is a cute dog.

Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate you. my clear to go hot ma'am yes thank you good evening madam chair and members of the board i missed sign up i'm here because elena schlossberg gave me her spot because she said my voice had to be heard so i asked her to stand here next to me thank you my name is patch mcfall i'm a retired army officer i retired last year and i am a resident of the gainesville district this is my buddy bradley at their bradley fighting vehicle I'm here today to pull back the curtain on the actual tactics driving case number CPA2026-00012 and to explain exactly how this application violates fundamental property rights. When LSI 360 originally approached property owners in Log Mill Road West Corridor, their pitch didn't feel like a transparent infrastructure discussion. It felt like a high pressure, use car sales tactic. They relied on artificial timelines, group pressure, and selective disclosures to force neighbors into signing away their land. Recognizing the predatory nature's approach, I pulled out that assemblage tirely. Yes, I pulled away from the money. I chose to maintain my independence and protect my home. Yet, despite fully withdrawing from the Log Mill West assemblage, which they say is for housing, I woke up to find the developer had gone ahead and drawn their grand 1,900 acre master plan right over my deeded property boundaries and property rights without my consent. I immediately filed a formal notice of non-consent with the county attorney. the planning director, the planning office, and yes, every board member sitting up there with the county supervisors, I've filed non-consent. My property, Siffley, GPIN 7400-10-5112 on Log Mill Road West is not part of any contract. I share a private driveway easement that is legally protected. To the second, the developer does not have my signature, my permission, or my authorization to include my asset in their industrial footprint. And yet, here I am. I am still forced to stand here because my land remains trapped inside their application map. I ask this board, why should an independent property owner have to bear the immense stress of defending their home against a predatory corporate application? Why should I have to face the threat of going to court and spending thousands of dollars on litigation just to defend the deeded property rights that are already legally mine? This is not the definition of property ownership in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Property ownership means having the right to say no and having that no respected by the county government. These massive, unregulated assemblies are doing immense damage to our community. They are actively turning neighbor against neighbor, fracturing long-standing relationships, and destroying the peace of our residential areas. It was significant enough for your own planning staff to say no in their own report. Vote no on initiation today. Thank you for voting to deny the deferral. Thank you for your time.

Wait, sir, can you please give me your last name again because I need to write it down on the sheet, and can you spell it?

Yes, ma'am. McFall, M-C-F-A-L-L. All right, and the first thing we said, Patrick? Yes, ma'am.

All right, thank you so very much. Next speaker.

Have a blessed day.

There you go. There's your assemblage. My name is Chris Grove. I'm from the Gainesville District. I have no financial interest in the Dulles South assemblage. Also, to fight an ongoing false narrative, I am not funded by the People's Republic of China. The bottom line on the CPA initiation is that you all need to deny it. You need to make this a historic denial, and you need to deny it across the board. All thumbs down. This land use is not compatible with the surrounding areas. Point, end of sentence. This is not a study we're talking about. This is a CPA amendment, a comprehensive plan amendment. They want to change the original plan of moving 887 acres of agricultural and forestry district and mixed use one, 52 acres, to industrial. So there are 253 properties, as per the March numbers, in this assemblage. Contrary to the way this project is being represented, the project is not some philanthropic exercise where the 253 landowners are saving Prince William County from some economic doom. 48 of these properties are within 200 feet of the Dominion transmission lines. Another 33 are adjacent to those and many have to drive under the power lines to actually get to their properties. But over half of these 81 properties have purchased their land since 2008 when those lines were doubled. So 332 properties are within a half mile of Dulles South. That's outside of the assemblage. What about living in limbo for these folks? What about all the traffic? What about the hundreds of dump trucks and thousands of dump trucks for 10 to 20 year build out? So we were walking around talking to some of our neighbors this week and $20,000 a month came up in a conversation. This is what AWS pays to have high-end cars washed out of dealership in Chantilly because of the data center construction next door, and they gladly pay it. $20,000 a month. It was actually more than that, but pretty insane. So out of these 1,939 acres, given NOAA's 30-year average of 42 inches of rain, that's 2.2 billion gallons of water a year. Some of that goes in the aquifer. Some of it goes... Downstream. You're going to pave this with impervious surface. You're going to get most of that downstream, which is going to destroy the Occoquan Reservoir. So the homeowners are trying to sell us, telling this is no longer rural or rural residential, and the power lines make it industrial. Will power lines make it industrial?

I'm sorry, but I believe your time is up. Thank you. Oh, five seconds. I'm sorry. You got five seconds.

If power lines make it industrial, then you all are complicit for industrializing the rest of this county.

And thank you very much. That's how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. Next speaker.

Hi, I'm Megan Newland, Gainesville District. Unlike everybody else that's been here so far, I am brand new to the area. I have not lived here for a year yet. And my husband has been in the military and has worked for the government his whole career. So we've lived all over the country. We've always hosted Easter. And it is the first time that when people came for Easter that I was embarrassed of our new place that we lived because they could not get over the data centers. They were just shocked that it had happened, that people were letting it happen, and there was potential for more for it to happen. People that come visit us, They're just shocked. It's not the normal way that places are growing the rest of the country. It's just a different thing. So I live about a mile from Cat Harpen. And I feel for the people that live there. I'm sorry that there's already power lines there. But I don't think it means that we throw the rest of the residents under the bus. My house is still there. And our neighbors, we're all dependent on our wells. We already have well problems. And I only foresee them getting worse. And many people will, even though the previous speakers think that it's a good place to hide this place, there's still a lot of people that are still going to be there and that just don't want to see it. I know some of the people that have been here forever regret that their area is no longer rural. I would argue that it is still more rural than they think that it is, and the traffic Yeah, the Gumspring Road light stinks, the Manassas Battlefield, that stop sign, that's not bad traffic. There's much, we all have been to D.C., we know what bad traffic is. And we do need to plan for this growth and for this infrastructure, and we need to plan carefully. But working with data centers is sleeping with the devil to plan this growth. We need to plan it way more carefully. It can be done responsibly without money that comes with such dangerous strings that isn't embarrassing for the rest of us. I know that the data centers say they're environmentally sensitive, but we don't know the long-term health consequences for us, for our livestock. We don't know about our wells. We don't know about our environment. We're getting a glimpse. It's not good, the forever chemicals. And of course, we have to look out for everyone's resale value. I know that that's where it comes down to. It comes down to the money, but we're just hurting our neighbors and hurting each other along the way. And then, of course, the noise and the smog and all that. But most of all, it's just painful to move somewhere and see people abandon their morals and risk their health, their children's health, long-term health for better roads and walking trails and all the stuff that's been promised. I know they say there's no schools there and all that, but people do still live there and it is still people's health. I would never have bought a house here had I known that it was somewhere that I wouldn't have grown to love. It's just bad planning. It's not going well. And it's sad to see neighbors come after each other to see if they can still save their land or if they consider it lost and want the money. We can do better. We can grow better. And we can make it a beautiful area because it is gorgeous. It's beautiful. Thank you very much. Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Vincent Budzinski, MD. I've lived on Audie Road in Cat Harpin for the last 40 years. My neighborhood borders the eastern side of the proposed Dulles South Innovation Center. It is important to focus on the core problem of the application as stated in your staff's report, that the application is not compatible with surrounding use. The applicant's description of existing and surrounding land use is incomplete and, I believe, misleading. The applicant, in describing the area east of their tract, stated only, quote, the Blackstone Bull Run plant is located across Bull Run Creek to the east of the property in Fairfax County, unquote. They failed to reveal that directly to the east of their tract of land are residential neighborhoods, including Aldie Road and Richland Road. They have 67 residential properties in Prince William County not in their tract. which would be adversely impacted by their proposal. Furthermore, the properties on the east side of Aldi Road contain floodplains and dedicated wetlands that feed into Bull Run River in the Potomac Watershed, which could be adversely impacted by groundwater and surface contaminants from data centers. The applicant described the south of their tract as a mix of I3 and POS. We are aware that this area of Pageland Lane will likely be returned to agriculture zoning and residential use. Also, the applicant did not reveal that on the south, their tract abuts the Cat Harping Recreation Park, which was built by and is maintained by Prince William County. This park is widely utilized by the youth of our county and contains four soccer fields, five baseball fields, and a large playground. It is not appropriate to have industrial zoning or data centers located next to what should be a relaxing and safe recreational area for our youth, and which needs to be free of excessive sound and atmospheric pollutants that occur with data centers. Thus, the applicant's tract of land is in fact widely surrounded on all sides in Prince William County by long-established rural neighborhoods. In these neighborhoods, citizens are dependent on their wells for their water supply. Also, traffic in this area is limited to two-lane country roads, the capacity of which are adequate for the current residential use, other than perhaps a one-lane bridge. The trip generation analysis shows that proposed data centers would cause a 16.8 increase in traffic. This would overwhelm the roads and severely impact traffic flow for the residents. Also, it would negatively impact the access and experience of our citizens at Manassas Battlefield Park. Industrial zoning and data centers build out is not compatible in this agricultural area. Sources, or rather, Sanders residents would profit financially from data center development. However, I ask you to support the welfare of all the citizens in this area and the remainder of Prince William County by voting against this application.

Thank you. All right, everyone. We have concluded with the residents who have signed up for public comment time. We are going to take a 10-minute recess. After that, I will call up the people who... I'm sorry. Excuse me. Hello. Thank you. Again, I've asked for decorum. I'm speaking. So what I was saying is we've concluded with the residents who signed up to speak in person. We are going to take a 10-minute break. When we get back, we are going to go to non-residents who have signed up to speak in person. And then after that, we will go to virtual public comment time. After we close public comment time, we are going to go into agency time. And we have three things that we are going to be taking up. 11D is last. So we still have a lot of time. I ask those who have come out for this, if you want to stick around, obviously you're free to. This is an open meeting. But I would like to continue to maintain decorum. Thank you so very much. Ten minutes. We are back from recess. I have four people who are assigned to speak with yellow tickets. So if you have a yellow ticket and you have signed up to speak, you may please go to the back. There are four people. All right, sir. Step forward to the mic. Begin by stating your name, the jurisdiction where you reside, and up there you'll see the screen. You have three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Lowell John Johnson, Jr., also known as Jack. And we've lived in this county, Cat Harpen, actually, for 50 years and built a home right there on Sanders Lane. And we had to leave three years ago. We got pushed out. And the reason we got pushed out was mainly because the rural crescent was a big help to the county. It gave the county time to get their act together after heritage hunt and to get things organized. And it really worked out. I thought very well that one per 10 acres. I think the county handled it extremely well. Well, of course, it's gone now. So that makes that land pretty much open, and you'll be dealing with it, pretty much open for future development of houses, townhouses, or data centers. Then I talked to the last board. I talk to the last board, Ann Wheeler and their group, to find out about data centers and about tax situation. Not to argue either point, I just wanted to know, because we were very much against data centers at the time. But then when I got to looking at the situation, I said, wow, the data centers, if they're done right, and I remember if they're placed right, and our chairperson on her campaign said something I really like. She said, as long as they're properly placed, You remember saying that? I don't know. And I like that. And that's a lot of the problems, a lot of the complaining that's been going on is because they're either too close to schools or too close to this or some of it's just talk, but sometimes it is a little close. But the nice thing is, I got to thinking about it, and gosh, data centers, data centers, they come in, if they're placed right, They don't require any employees for traffic purposes. They gotta keep employees there to keep the air conditionings and all that going. They gotta do that and that's a must. But it's not a great deal of people. So they don't generate traffic. They don't really need any infrastructure. I don't know how many schools those guys need. They don't need fires. They don't need anything except work about the water and the electricity. And a lot of that's been worked out by the Energy Commission and the electricity charging them for, oh, I'm out of time. I've got to go. But I'm voting for that. And thank you very much.

Next speaker, please.

My name is Dina and I have a property in Gainesville.

Would you please, I'm sorry, sir, address the mic and start over. We can barely hear you.

Okay, ma'am. My name is Dina and I have a property in Gainesville District and I'm living in Loudoun County. I strongly support the CP initiation for the Dallas South Innovation Center. Madam Chair and members of the Board of Supervisors, Loudoun County already hosts more than 200 data centres with over 100 additional facilities in various stages of development now. Pinsulam County should take the same advantage of similar opportunities to generate the additional tax revenue that can help address budget challenges and support critical public services, including our schools. This area is already surrounded by major infrastructure, including one electric substation and high voltage transmission lines. Sanders Glen is an ideal location for additional data centers development. I respectfully ask you to vote in favor of allowing the CP initiation to move forward. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good day. My name is Michael Jasmine. I have property in the Gainesville District as well. So Madam Chair, Supervisors, and fellow citizens, I'm a retired Army officer. I went from Private E1 to Colonel when I finally retired after 31 years of service. I also have five combat tours during that time. At the start of this At the start of this meeting, we stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Do those words still have meaning? Just days ago, we celebrated the 250th birthday of this great nation. That milestone reminds us of the courage, the vision that built America. Now we continue to innovate and advance. only so that we can continue to thrive. Today we have before us item 11D, a project that our own planning commission acknowledged would deliver substantial tax revenue and new employment opportunities to our county. Loudoun County alone receives over one billion in annual tax revenue from them, yet they recommended denial, swayed not by the merits of the project, but by the same misguided propaganda that has stalled data center development across the country. The AI race is not coming. It is here. And the central question to it is, will the United States lead the next industrial revolution, or will we surrender that future to the Chinese Communist Party? China understands that What many here still refuse to accept, AI leadership depends, above all else, on computing power. That is why they are rapidly building the energy, chip manufacturing, and data center infrastructure needed to dominate the 21st century. Meanwhile, America is tying itself in knots with delayed permits, moratoriums, and canceled projects, self-inflicted wounds at hands our competitors, advantage after advantage. A recent report from Bitcoin Policy Institute estimated that activist campaigns funded by a Chinese billionaire in Singapore have already delayed or blocked roughly $23 billion in proposed AI infrastructure investment. One reality is impossible to ignore. America could not win the AI race without building the physical infrastructure that powers it. History rarely gives nations unlimited chances to seize the next industrial revolution. We must stop treating critical AI infrastructure as optional and start treating it as the strategic national priority it really is. You have a unique opportunity to do something that is both good for the county and great for the nation. I urge you to approve item 11D. Show that our county stands with American innovation, American strength, and American leadership. Let us honor the words of the pledge we recited earlier. Not just with our voices, but with our votes. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Tim Seaman. Just a point of clarification. I do live here in Prince William County, even though I have to sign up as a non-resident. My work requires I literally split my time between here and another state. But I have a home here. My wife and my children live here. We've been living here for over 13 years. I'd like to thank the staff and the planning commission for the work already done on this comprehensive plan amendment. I'd like to offer a respectful perspective on why initiating the CPA study remains important. Planning staff identified concerns about infrastructure capacity, environmental impacts, rural character, and compatibility with nearby agriculture and forestry lands. These are all valid issues. I don't think anybody on the pro side is looking to destroy this county. But they are also exactly the kinds of questions a CPA study is designed to answer. Without initiating the study, the county cannot evaluate existing conditions. I know we've had a recent CPA, I think that was two, three years ago done. But this does not reflect our current condition, doesn't reflect our current culture, doesn't reflect our current economic status. So without initiating the study, the county cannot evaluate existing conditions, model future scenarios, quantify environmental impacts as of today, or assess compatibility using real and current data. The study will provide the factual foundation needed for responsible, evidence-based decision-making based on this new, different, and individual project. Listen, you guys are in a tough spot, and I don't envy your position at all. I've listened to the opposition, and they are passionate. They are fearful. And honestly, that's a concern. When your residents are scared to death about the potential for something based off past history, based off information given off Google, right? When your residents are scared, there's an issue, right? I'm gonna address, we're ruled in Catt Harpin, we're ruled by populace, and we're ruled by representation, right? We're stuck out in the western part of this county. There's a thousand, just over a thousand people, residents in Catt Harpin. Half of those residents have reached out in support and have asked the board, Over half of the populace of Cat Harbin has asked the board, please, just take a look at this. So I'm going to say we're all aware the CPA study is not an approval of any project. It's already been stated numerous times. However, it is simply a fact-finding process that supports transparency, good governance. If staff concerns are validated, the board will have clear evidence and a clear direction on which to go. If they are not, the study will clarify that as well. For those reasons, these concerns identified by staff are not reasons to avoid studying this issue. They are the very reason to study it and study it carefully. I respectfully request the board to initiate the CPA study so future decisions can be based on facts, analysis, and genuine community input. Thank you very much for your time.

All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to go on to remote public comment time. Supervisor Angry, if you can take it away.

Thank you, Madam chair. Uh, okay. I got a list of about 40, uh, about 20. Okay. All right. Well, let us proceed.

Good evening. Vice chair and the board. Uh, our first speaker is Daniel.

Hi Daniel. Go ahead.

Hello, Board of principal and kind of supervisors. There, Jefferson, I appreciate you taking the time to allow me to speak and having me speak virtually. I appreciate the accommodation. I wanted to speak out of out of significant concern related to the potential approval for the Dallas data center cell data centers. I urge you all to support the vote to not look into the CPA for. Numerous reasons. I am adjacent, relatively close to the development. I'm off Cap Harbin and Sudley. And I am very concerned about the potential for this to move forward or concerns over what this could do to well water. I'm on well. And we've heard stories about other data centers polluting well water and making well water run dry. My family relies on well water and this monstrosity of a development would absolutely threaten that continued well water that I rely on to live and that my family Elizon to live. I've got three young children. Also, the diesel generators, that 43 million square feet of data centers could potentially emit pollutants into the air. I moved out of Washington, D.C. to rural Gainesville to avoid pollution. With the increase in trips that we've seen, I think it's something close to 20 times the traffic that could go up the rural road. The traffic, the pollution, I don't want to live in LA. I could move to LA. I really prefer to live in Western Gainesville where it's clean, where it's quiet. And I think that moving forward on this project would absolutely threaten the environment that we live in. While in DC, I live near a project that was being developed as well. And there was an increase in my property, in my neighbor's property, rodents. infestations of rodents, absolutely, with a development this large. The neighboring communities of which I am one will be experiencing displaced wildlife and displaced rodent infestation, which is obviously something that nobody wants to or should have to deal with. you know, for the reasons of the infrastructure that we have not really accommodating a project like this and the amount of strain that it would put on our electric grid, on my well water, my neighbor's well waters, and of course the traffic, I just urge you to not move forward on this. You know, I've heard speakers talk about the AI fight. We have 48 data centers in Prince William County, most of them in my district and Gainesville district. We're doing our part. I don't understand why it's our God-given duty to take every data center that somebody wants to put down in Prince William County. I think we've done our duty there. And this is just too big. It's too large. You know, I don't think you can smartly place 43 million square feet. I heard the gentleman say that. i don't think it's possible that's a that's a lot of tetris going on there to try to smartly place that volume of data centers um in a rural area and not affect the neighboring communities so um with that i would just say um please you know i i support the the um those of you that want to vote against modifying the cpa let's not introduce another larger prince william digital gateway and uh please vote no on this initiative thank you sir all right next speaker please

Our next speaker is Alona Levine.

Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am. We can hear you.

Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks for this opportunity. I've been on the call for four hours listening and obviously it's a lot of you had spent a lot of time there in person listening. I think it was very important to make sure that I lend my voice in asking you to vote against initiating the CPA. I live in the Gainesville District, and again, my vote is, or my ask is that you both know. Just, I don't think I can add any more to what you already heard in the last four or so hours, but just maybe briefly tell you a bit about my personal story. So I moved here to Prince William about two years ago, and I moved here from Ashburn. We lived in Ashburn for 12 years when I moved to Ashburn from New Jersey 15 years ago It was a very different town and it was transformed right before my eyes in those 15 years Have you driven from that area lately? And if you have do you like what you see? About 150 to 200 data centers were built there during those years I've seen trees cut in front of my eyes I know about the polluted waters. I know about the constant industrial noise. I know that homeowners that bought their houses in Ashburn had no say in any of that. And as a matter of fact, we had no idea that the land next to our house was sold and was being developed for data center until the construction trucks pulled up. And when we've had enough and put our house that we owned for 12 years on the market near Route 7, it literally lost $100,000 in its value overnight. When that weekend, when we put the house on the market, we all learned that a beautiful area a few miles away from us broke ground for a huge data center complex. So we moved to Haymarket because we fell in love with its beauty and we wanted to move away from the data centers. What I've heard in the last few hours, especially from the Yes group, that they ask you to listen to facts and not to feelings. So here are the facts that I lived with when I lived in Ashburn. Data centers do bring environmental degradation. There is public health risk from air noise and pollution. There are massive strains on community resources. There is loss of farmland. And yes, a huge reduction in home value, as I found out the weekend we put the house on the market. As I mentioned before, I lived in New Jersey for many years, and when I go back to visit my in-laws in New Jersey, they have no idea what the data centers look like. Nor does my mom, who live in Manchester, United Kingdom. She's never seen a data center until she came to visit me here in Virginia. As the previous speaker just mentioned, I don't see how that should be our civic duty to continue putting data centers all around the places that we've invested in and we leave as our families. We should not allow this to continue. Please vote no to data centers in this area.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is, sorry, Chung Yi.

Go ahead, sir.

Yes, how you doing? My name is Chong Yi and I want to thank the board for their time. I live very close to the proposed.

I'm sorry, so you were cut off Chris. Is he still with us?

I apologize, he got moved into a different room. Excuse me when I'm bringing him back OK. Hi, can you hear me now?

Yes Sir, we got you back.

All right. Should I start from the beginning?

Yes. Will we start a restart? Okay. Yes. Start from the beginning. Yes, sir.

Okay. Hi there. Thanks for your time. My name is Chong Yi and I live very close to the proposed Dulles South Innovation Center project. I'm in the Gainesville district. I've lived in that location for 20 plus years. I'm here to ask the board to reject the comprehensive plan amendment 11D for the Dulles South Innovation Center. The folks that are in favor of data center, they're very well organized, have some very organized talking points, and I don't blame them. There's a lot of people that are opposed to make a lot of money. There's approximately 230 property owners. They showed up in full force, and just to aggregate a sale of their properties alone is estimated at $2.1 billion. But in addition to the property owners, they're supportive for the project, including project applicants, power companies, cloud service providers, data center developers, data center operators, engineering firms, data center equipment firms. And that's just to mention a few. A lot of money to be made outside of the property owners. And they're probably here representing today. The talk tracks that you've heard are in favor of the data center projects aren't by accident. There's a lot of, you know, confusion that's occurring today in an attempt to have the plan amendment pushed forward for review. So, for example, one of the common themes that we've heard are people in favor of the data, you know, Dulles South Innovation Center have concerns with traffic. But the application itself states that there will be an increase of daily vehicle traffics of 2 535 vehicles to 42 570 that's almost a 17 x increase if you look at some of the peak hours that's about a 27 or 27 x increase so this is confusing as to how traffic is tied to data centers and how data centers will resolve the issues We heard about doing more studies. Studies have been done. The applicant itself has done the studies and cited the increase in traffic figures. These numbers weren't made out of the air. This is from the applicant. So traffic issues are not data center issues. So let's eliminate that confusion. The folks that are concerned with traffic issues, I urge them to put the resources towards the petition, reduce speed limits, ask for a new bridge, speak to local representatives. But don't push the data center on us as if it will resolve the issue. I do empathize for them as the residents seem to have a legitimate concern with traffic. But again, the applicant shows a drastic increase in traffic opposite of what they wish. So if this goes through, the remaining homes will suffer worse than before. It goes against the principle of what they're arguing. Someone else mentioned water concerns with the houses and impact on the environment and comprehensive plan already lays out residential densities. The data center will have a greater environmental impact is cited by the planning staff. The impact to the data centers on the environment or.

Thank you, Sir. That's your time there. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Keith Snyder.

Go ahead, Keith. Mr. Snyder, sir. There we go. Okay, I got you.

We got you. Thank you, Supervisor Angery. Appreciate it. Thank you for this moment today. It is important to take into account that data center demand is being driven by AI pornography development. And now proposals have begun for data centers to be powered by small modular nuclear reactors. With talk of dropping small modular nuclear reactors alongside data centers, Dulles South on Sanders Lane is a prime target for small modular nuclear reactors. This will not be something planned. It will happen incidentally. Just this last week, the DOE ordered data centers to shift to emergency generators due to the grid not being able to support the data centers. Administration 47 has now fast-tracked small modular nuclear reactor development by removing safety standards and nuclear regulations, cutting 750 pages of nuclear regulatory code in order to begin using SMRs to power data centers. Small modular reactors produce the same types of nuclear waste as traditional plants. in significantly larger volumes of nuclear waste per unit of energy produced. Raising the risk of nuclear waste is not in our best interest. Small modular nuclear driven AI pornography developing data centers is not an ethically, morally, or spiritually sound idea for Prince William County. I am respectfully requesting morally and ethically responsible development. I appreciate you, Chair Jefferson, Supervisor Stewart, and all supervisors for voting mindfully, respectfully, and ethically. Virginia is for lovers. Vote yes to love. Vote no to nuclear-powered AI pornography storing data centers. Vote no to this Dulles South proposal. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Nils Buhl.

Go ahead, sir.

Greetings. Madam Chair and Board of Supervisors, that's Nils Buhl. I have lived with my family in the area for 60 years. I live on Sanders Lane, so theoretically I do stand to make some money. However, I would tell you that money is not a motivator for a lot of people. Some can't leave for health reasons. Some won't leave for familial obligations. Most live here because they like it. Yes, a woman pointed out very well earlier that a lot of people say that this is no longer rural. I disagree. It is rural. Traffic has increased somewhat, but it's not prohibitive. But I will tell you that the things that we value most, water, most of us are on wells. The stream that runs by my property, Little Bull Run, that has slowly dried up. So whether you believe in climate change or not, the fact of the matter is that the water table is changing somewhat. The trees are being pushed down. I live less than five miles from Jiffy Lube. There was a time when We still had quiet summer nights. Now, because of the trees that have been pushed down and the data centers that have come up in between Wellington and 29, you can still hear concerts pretty clearly. The issue simply is that these do not need to be put right here. So I'm asking you to reject the CPA amendment related to Dulles Cloud South. These data centers can be put out west. I know that the issue is that there is the backbone, the network. We're close to D.C., but the fact is that you're also putting these data centers right in the middle of residential neighborhoods. There's plenty of unimproved land far away, and these data center companies have the money to build them there. Run the cable. Bury that if you want. But we can't have all of these data centers right here. I do not want to be surrounded on three sides by these data centers. And I know many people have spoken before me far more eloquent than I. But at the end of the day, we all want the same thing, and that is these data centers to go away. We have enough already. Not everybody needs to mine crypto. We don't have to have all of our Amazon stuff the following day. We would like to live in an area that's calm, peaceful, raise the kids, not worry about air pollution, still be able to pull the tap and get a drink of water and not have to pay through the nose for our electricity. That's all I have to say.

Thank you kindly. All right. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Vida Carroll.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Can you guys hear me?

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Okay, great. Vita Carol, Brentsville District. And I want to touch on something that I don't really think I've heard covered tonight. And that is staff. As I'm sure you're going to hear later, staff is recommending denial of this CPA initiation. Not a study, a CPA initiation. and county planning staff is recommending denial and i think it's important to recognize county planning staff also recommended denial of the digital gateway rezoning so this is really consistent with what planning staff sees for this area but even more than that recommendation if the board moves to initiate the cpa there will be a massive amount of staff time and energy that will be required to go towards this project This project will likely become the full time job of a county planner or 2 immeasurable amount of planning staff time and other department time will go towards this CPA. And it's been 2 and a half years since the digital gateway and Devlin tech park, and this county is finally digging out from the backlog of cases that had to be delayed simply because there was not enough manpower. So just looking out for staff here, the county tax dollars that fund our planning department and other departments that intersect as the CPA goes through the process and respecting what staff is recommending, a denial just makes sense. And the second point I want to touch on is there's a sentence in the application which states that this parcel is, quote, particularly appropriate given the property's access to a natural gas line, end quote. Given what we've seen across our region, across the country, the drive towards fossil fuels and natural gas plants to power large scale data centers, I think it's safe to assume that LSI is marketing this parcel with the potential for a natural gas plant. And I shouldn't have to explain to any of you why a natural gas plant doesn't belong in Western Prince William County or frankly anywhere in Prince William County. The fact that there is a reference to a natural gas line as an ideal thing in the CPA request should absolutely raise red flags to every single person in this room. It's 2026, not 2021. It is five full years after the Digital Gateway CPA initiation. We know better. We must do better. This board is a new board. Y'all have got to do better. Please vote to deny the CPA initiation. Thanks so much.

Thank you, ma'am. And next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Donna Gallant.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Good evening. Can you guys hear me?

Yes, ma'am. We hear you.

Wonderful. Thank you, Supervisor Engre. Appreciate it. Madam Chair, members of the board, my name is Donna Gallant, and I've retired in the Brentsville District for the last 29 years. When I moved to this county, there was nothing out here but a 7-Eleven, Joe's Pizza, the Christmas Shop, and a few stores in Haymarket. Over the 29 years that have been a lot of changes to the area, which were welcomed, we got grocery stores, we got stores to make life a little bit better. Over the last six or seven years, things have gotten out of control and bad decisions have been made. As many of you know, I have spoken on numerous occasions. I live in Amberley Station and bad board decisions do ad hoc approve changes to the comp plan Two lands surrounding my development have left myself and my neighbors in a very bad situation. Now, I know some of the board members weren't there back in 2021 under the Wheeler regime, but there are others sitting on this board that graciously approved data centers surrounding my neighborhood on three sides. So I can tell you what it's like to be in basically an industrial zone 24-7, 365. I digress. The comp plan was designed after many months of studies, evaluations, input, and all the things that define and determine the future of this county. Tonight we're focused on an ask from a group of homeowners from Sanders Lane, which they say is just to look at the land to potentially allow for data centers. You've heard from many all the little hidden secrets in the application. Let's be honest. It's not really an ask for a study. This is really a path for data centers. Let's call it what it is. The study was done when the comprehensive plan was created. During that time and that process, if they felt this was a great place for data centers, I bet you it would have been identified as data centers, but fact of the matter is it was not. So there's a couple things that I think you guys need to really look at. Number one, this is not in compliance or conformance with the comp plan. Two, we have heard time and time again, there are four key issues that continue to come up. Water, power, air quality, and noise. Okay? Power's a problem. What impacts this area, and everybody says, oh, well, there's a substation. That's Loudoun substation. Oh, there's a quarry. The quarry's been there for years. You've been living in your house for years. It's not a reason to go. And the traffic. You know, it sounds to me like the main issue on Sanders Lane is the traffic. I lived on Linton Hall Road when it was a two-lane road. There was a study done, it's now four lanes. So a data center development is not going to fix a traffic problem on a road. Sorry, that's the bottom line. So maybe Supervisor Stewart, because this is a v.me.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Our next speaker is Rochelle Slotnick.

Go ahead, Rochelle.

Hi, Rochelle Slotnick, Gainesville District. I support a vote of yes to initiate the CPA study for Dulles South. Outright denying the application before a formal study can begin would be a disservice to the Cat Harp and residents who deserve to be heard. This is not page land, it's not the same parcels, despite it being Groundhog's Day for many professional attendees. They only say no, they have no solutions for smart growth. The applicants urge you to request what is suitable. As a business owner, I know the answer is never cut and dry. Yes and no in absolute without negotiation is foolhardy. Require environmental controls, require controls of air, water, runoff, noise. Require what is meaningful to you and your constituents. You can have both. Vote yes, please.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Our next speaker is Rebecca McDonald.

Go ahead, Rebecca.

Can you all hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

Rebecca McDonald, born and raised in the Gainesville district across the street from this plant data center. I'd like to say that I do not stand here as an enemy of progress. However, when I look at this plan, I do not see progress. I see a gamble where they get the gold and we put the bill. I would like to make something clear. This area, by most definitions, is still rural, despite an increase in traffic, which will be made exponentially worse during the building of this center. Additionally, for those who have touched on it, not being near neighborhoods, the battlefield or schools, it is near a park. A few miles from the battlefield and surrounded by neighborhoods. Just not the big name ones. Like, this project will not be contained to just get heartburn. It will impact all of Gainesville. We have seen time and time again just how destructive these centers can be. They compromise water systems, leach forever chemicals into the sky and ground cause intense light and noise pollution. And the list goes on. and the various studies that people look at to justify these projects are often funded by the very companies pushing these centers which is less science and more of a sales pitch tax revenue is not everything because there are always repercussions to consider what good is profit if we have no clean water the citizens who stay here are the ones who will suffer the burden of the increased electric costs drained water tables the constant noise and traffic that this project will bring In fact, just this past weekend, we saw news reports coming out of Virginia where teachers were being asked to scale back their electricity usage. Why? Because the grid cannot handle both our lives and sustaining these centers. A rural crescent that's already endangered, experiencing severe drought, and in an area with an energy grid demand that's increasing every day is not the place for a data center. And let's not forget Cat Harpen Park, a place where children often have baseball games, and a recent investment was made in the form of a new children's playground. Now, they want to build a data center a few 100 yards from that exact spot. Are you all comfortable allowing your children to play next to a hyper scale data center? The people that you represent in this area, the ones that will stay, we do not want this, which is evidenced by the years long legal battle. We just completed with another data center just down this road. As a community member, I fear that this will be what destroys our home. We keep talking about this center like it will bring so much innovation to the area, but when we look around at other communities dealing with these centers, they are not magically improved upon. In fact, many suffer the consequences of these centers daily. So, please consider what matters more, the people who have created these communities and invested their lives, money, and energy into these areas, or a faceless corporation. We want Prince William County to be the shining example of what Virginia can be. We can be better. We do not need these data centers to create the Prince William County that we all want to see. So let's invest in our children, in the land, in education, in small businesses, and in programs that support the elderly, disabled, and the less fortunate. Because at the end of the day, there will always be money to make, but it's the citizens of the land that we steward that make a community. And I truly believe that one drop of water for a child in Prince William County is worth 50,000 AI images. Please vote no on the CPA and keep our land protected. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Nick Ellis.

All right, Nick, go ahead.

Hi there. Can you hear me?

Yes, sir. We can hear you.

Yeah. Perfect. All right. Hi, I'm Nick Ellis. I live in the Gainesville district and we've lived here for over 30 years. Uh, chair Jefferson and supervisors, uh, please vote no to the Sanders dollar South data center complex. this application is for 43 million square feet as other folks have said of data center this is almost twice the size of the now dead prince william digital gateway 43 million square feet is more than the combined total of what is currently built what is under construction and what is under application prince william county residents are already seeing the consequences of what we have already said yes to and whether that's higher electricity bills or transmission lines and substations in their yards. We also have the facts of the JLARC study, which highlighted the concerns and the impacts. You can no longer say that we don't know what these data centers cause. This is in the Bull Run Watershed as well, and it's adjacent to the Bull Run, a tributary to the Occoquan Reservoir. Loudoun County is developing a watershed management plan for the Bull Run Watershed in Southern Loudoun. which is directly adjacent to this application. They state, in quotes, the purpose of the plan is to inform efforts to reduce flood risks, protect water quality, and support the long-term health of the watershed, unquote. A search of the county website, Prince William County website, notes that the last study of the Bull Run watershed was in 2010. We're still waiting for the results of the water study that was ordered in 2022. I'm asking you to stop gambling the future of all Prince William County residents for the financial benefit of just a few. Data centers don't really care about us in Prince William County. There is too much at risk. Our water, our air, our power grid, our natural resources in Prince William County. Please vote no to the Dulles South Sanders Lane project. Do not defer the vote. Vote no today, tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Georgia Ellis.

Go ahead, Georgia.

Hello, my name is Georgia Ellis. I live in the Gainesville District. Chair Jefferson and supervisors please vote no to the Dulles South slash Sanders Lane. As Miss Carol has stated, and I will also give more facts to what she has stated in a recent interview. In a recent interview, the director of Prince William County's Office in Sustainability stated, and I quote, so we define environmental sustainability by meeting the needs of our community today without compromising the availability and the quality of natural resources for our future generations. What we are mostly talking about is protecting our air quality, our water quality and availability, our ecosystems and our energies availability." The application of Ferdales South slash Sanders Lane is a total stark contrast to the vision and statement of sustainability for Prince William County. As a young college-aged adult, I want a county that is protecting our air quality, our water, our ecosystems, natural resources, and energy. I am the future generation. Please do something different in Prince William County to protect my future. Even, as Vida has said, even the county planning staff is recommending denial. That says a lot. Do not defer this vote. Vote no. Vote no to Della South in Sanders Lane. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Christian Ellis.

Go ahead, Christian.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, sir, we can hear you.

All right. Hello, everyone. My name is Christian Ellis, and I also live in the Gainesville District. Chair Jefferson and supervisors vote no to the Dulles South Innovation Sanders Lane CPA initiation. For years, I've watched this board prioritize the data center industry over other businesses and the residents. It is time to turn the page on this chapter. We are seeing the unintended consequences of what Prince William County has already said yes to and more are on the horizon. This application is outside of the data center overlay zone and there is not a nexus connecting it to any other projects. The power lines and substation noted in the application are already spoken for providing power for the Loudoun County only. I'm simply going to highlight this from the Prince William County Planning staff report. Staff recommends that the Board not initiate this comprehensive plan amendment. The request raises substantial concerns regarding infrastructure adequacy, environmental and rural character impacts, and land use compatibility with surrounding AF designated lands and adjacent Cat Harp and Hamlet. Respectfully, vote no on BellaSouth Innovation Sanders Lane CPA initiation. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Our next speaker is Mladen Bajic.

All right, go ahead.

Hi, do you folks hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Thank you for the time. My name is Mladen. I live in Gaysville District. I've decided to build my family here, build my home. Both of our daughters were born here. I've been listening to the comments pretty much from the beginning, and honestly, it's been a little bit eye-opening and informative. To maybe state the first, I do support the initiation of the CPA. If I were listening to some of the detractors about what they're saying about Loudoun County, if I've never been, I probably never would have gone because they described it as Mad Max Pier Road. uh which it certainly isn't but they do raise genuine concerns that i think we do need to address uh mitigations are possible for all of the concerns that are raised including the water including the noise including the power uh what this ultimately boils down to when we've had a lady i forgot her name speak earlier, is that we apparently have more than 40% of residents in Prince William County living with food uncertainty. That's been quite a shocker to me. But honestly, thinking about it a bit more, it shouldn't be a surprise. More than half of our budget comes directly by taxing the residents. Currently, that burden per capita on our resident is more than $7,200 per year versus for Loudoun, that's just over $4,000. The issue is that none of the people that have said no have brought up any other options for growing the commercial tax base. And of course, nothing's free. Everything has a cost. Data centers have a cost. We have to mitigate the traffic. We have to mitigate the noise and make sure that all of that is built in. But every other economic growth has similar or different issues that need to be mitigated compared to others like. commercial shopping, everything else is going to be a burden on both our roads, both the infrastructure like police and services, data centers have much smaller impact on those. So it's really what we need to see and what the staff's recommendation doesn't consider is the economic, is the financial impact. They mostly focused on environment and traffic. And sure, no surprise, the traffic's bad. We could use that process to build in the safeguards for that. Thank you for the time.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Kirsten Taguri.

Go ahead, Kirsten.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

All right. Hello, my name is Kirsten Tadigiri, and I live in the Gainesville district, and I support the Dulles South CPA. I've lived in Cat Harpin for the last six years, and when my husband and I first moved here, our neighbor told us that Sanders Lane had become so much busier in the last 20 years. I thought he was exaggerating because the road didn't seem too bad to me, but when we moved one street over, I realized he was right. This corner of Prince William County is growing and expanding, and one day Sanders Lane will become a four-lane highway, causing that road to be right outside Holmes, pretty much right on your steps. Data centers are needed for all of our technological needs. As much as I would personally love to throw my phone in the ocean, technology and the data it takes to maintain it is here to stay, and all of us with phones, laptops, or other technological devices make data centers necessary. I support this initiative because it is an opportunity to look into what is best for this corner of our county. We need facts and information to let us know if this is the right step. And the study will look at the water concerns, the impact on the environment, and all the other concerns that folks have raised tonight. Data centers might be able to bring in tax revenue that can be put into schools and other efforts that people care about. Please vote yes to initiate the Dulles South to gathering more information so we can all make the best decision for our future. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Jim Gregorian.

Thank you. Yes, Jim, go ahead.

Now, just start my video here. Good evening. I'm Jim Gregorian, and I live on Sanders Lane in the Gainesville District. My wife and I have lived in Cat Harp since 1993. It's where we raised our family, and we'd like to have a voice in deciding the future of the neighborhood that we call home. I'm hoping that if we as a community have learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we don't quickly jump to conclusions and tell ourselves we know everything we need to know about something when it's still pretty early in the game. The CPA process is robust and thorough, so let's use it to get all the facts we need, follow the data wherever it leads. and then, and only then, have an intelligent, objective, neighborly conversation about developments in the area. Please support the CPA. I'm a Cat Harp and landowner, and I approve this message.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Lisa Daigler.

Go ahead, Lisa.

Hi, good afternoon. My name is Lisa Dibler and I live in Cat Harton. I'm asking you to vote to initiate the CPA review for Dulles South to allow a real public process. This is not farmland. It's a residential community already being changed. Please vote to open the process. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Our next speaker is Scott Dibler.

Go ahead, Scott.

Yes, thank you. My name is Scott Dibler. I am a resident of Camp Harpin. I've lived there for 26 years on Sanders Lane. I've listened to the entire thing, what's been going on today, and there's been a lot of reasons thrown out to do this and not to do this. And there's still a lot of, I would just say, everything's clouded in all everybody's emotions about what we're doing here. People talk about water, they talk about power, they talk about noise, they talk about the air quality. On the one side, the worry about, the others, we talk about traffic, we talk about what's already happening to the neighborhood. and there's a third kind of big group of what i kind of lump all these things together with and that's money so there's money we have money problems as a county by putting the data centers in it could help us solve some of these other problems there's been some people who've spoken about all of the concerns about water and noise and all that and i've heard other speakers talk about mitigation as possible on all these right now we don't know what is planned exactly in this thing I don't want this to be a bill that are something that we have to just pass on and not know what's in it. We need to study it and move it forward. So I want to encourage you guys to just take the opportunity to possibly have a great answer to future money needs for the county and other developments. So I encourage you to vote yes and move this forward. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Our next speaker is David Peterson.

Go ahead, David.

Good evening, Chair Jefferson and county supervisors. Thank you for hanging in there today and listening to Prince William County's residents. I'm David Peterson from the Gainesville District. While I'm a member of the Prince William Historical Commission, the following observations and comments are strictly my own as a resident of the Gainesville District and do not reflect any position of the Historical Commission. After reading the revised application for the Doyle South Innovation Center, And the planning office report on this application, I respectfully request that you vote no on initiating the CPA. To explain this request, let me share just a sample of important additional considerations regarding this application. 1st, historical. This area of northern Prince William County has a rich indigenous and 18th to 20th century rural agrarian tradition whose story has yet to be told. This portion of Prince William County needs its past researched, documented, and preserved. In terms of environmental, per the US Geological Survey data, between 1985 and 2025, Prince William County lost 44.5 square miles of forest and woodlands and gained 27.1 square miles of impervious cover. According to the area or counties like this can expect to incur negative impacts of watershed quality. And this application would definitely impact the upper bull runs watershed health. health considerations. According to Dr. Michael Cork of the Harvard Business School, recent research, he says, we can't solve a problem we haven't measured. Permitting decisions for data centers are being made without any clear accounting of their public health costs. And there's nothing in the application that mentions about measuring health impacts. Community acceptance of data centers. The Gallup poll previously mentioned 70% of Americans oppose data centers in their local area. And infrastructure considerations. The application used outdated assumptions for assessing compatible land use cases and estimating traffic impacts. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today. Bottom line, I respectfully ask you to vote no, do not initiate.

Thank you, Sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Thomas Diefenbrock.

Go ahead, Sir.

Alright, can everybody hear me? Yes. OK, great. Uh, my name is Tom deep in Brock. I live in the principal district. I'm going to ask you to please vote no to this application. 1st of all, 90% of these applications get approved once they're initiated. So, for practical purposes. We're not just saying do a study if you open this up. 9 times out of 10, this thing through 90% chance is going to get approved. The study that you need to pay pay attention to was done in 2022. So county right now has 55 data centers, um, active up and running. There are now that digital gateway is, is done. There are 150 more still in the pipe. Um, PJ and dominion, they can't keep up with the 55. That we have now, uh, we saw that last weekend. Um, there is no plan to power the 150 more that we have in the pipe. And the Dulles Innovation Center is 43 million square feet. If it's double the size of what Digital Gateway was, we're talking about, what, 70 more data centers. That's just not, like, irresponsible. That's insanity. So this CPA benefits only a few people financially, very significantly. But the board needs to do what is best for the whole county. That substation to the north that people keep talking about, it is fed by power coming from the south. Getting power to that impacts the entire rest of the county. You have half a million people that you need to think about with that. This industrialization from data centers, it spills over into the residential areas when you need to put in the power infrastructure for them. or if they do onsite power the pollution from the generators or whatever it is they use. Previous boards were either misinformed about this or uninformed about it, but this board knows better. And as for that traffic problem, I mean, fixing a traffic problem by approving the CPA is like having a hangnail on your toe and then fixing that by amputating your leg. There is obviously a better solution. You don't need to do a study about that. You don't need to think too much about that. So you have basically one good choice in front of you. You have a bunch of bad choices, running power lines through neighborhoods. Nobody wants that. It damages the county. Generators onsite, nobody wants that. Onsite nuclear, nobody wants that. Just look to Ashburn for the bad experience of that. You have one good choice, which is to curtail your data centers. And having one choice is kind of the same as having no choice. The hard part is just accepting that that is the situation. That's what the board needs to do today. So the world is actually watching how Prince William County handles that. It's not just the county or the state or the country. This is the data center, epicenter of the world. And everybody is watching how we handle this. Deny this, don't defer it, and for sure, don't approve it. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Licha March.

Go ahead, Licha.

Hello, my name is Leisha Marsh. Thank you so very much for taking in the concerns of all of the constituents of Prince William County and beyond. I've been a resident of the county since 1980 and I have been an educator for Prince William County since 2001. The county has certainly evolved throughout the years and it is essential to thoughtfully grow. And as an educator, we need to do just that. We need to educate ourselves on the good, the bad, the ugly, and set parameters for all in between items as to what will be good for the county, what will be bad, to mitigate any sort of doubts and to Make sure that we are taking the best interests of those who live here and wish to thrive economically as we move forward. This is not 2022. Times have changed. Studies are going to be different. there is definitely opportunity for us to educate ourselves in moving forward. I am asking you to please vote yes to the research and review of the Dulles South area so that we can come up with a plan for our county and our country. Every single person that has spouted information, they've looked it up online. And how are they doing that? With the use of data centers. And just as everybody says, yes, we are at the epicenter for the world. And there are reasons behind that, geographic reasons behind that. And how did we all know that? Through the use of data centers. So please, let's take time to educate ourselves, to educate one another. And remember that we are all residents here and we all live together and we have to be neighborly about this. So thank you again for listening to all of our concerns, for all of our emotions, to support them, and for your service to Prince William County. Have a good evening.

Thank you, ma'am. You too. Chris, by my count, I have 20. Do we have any more?

We have three more speakers.

Three more. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, next speaker.

Our next speaker is Elizabeth Heminger.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Hemminger Gainesville district. And I've lived in Prince William county for 9 years. Now, I lived in cat harp and specifically for 4 to 5 years. In fact, I was married in cat harp and. My husband and I have chosen to put down roots and raise our 4 children here. We currently reside in Haymarket. I support the Dallas South innovation. I'm hoping it brings more funding and better parks and recreation to our county. so that I don't have to drive to other counties for activities and parks for my children. Please vote yes to do this study. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Jacob Hemminger.

Go ahead, Jacob.

Let me step back.

Sir, I think you hit mute. Chris, can you help me with that? There we go. There we go. Okay. Gotcha. Yes.

Hey, my name is Jacob Hemminger and I live in the Gainesville district. Chair Jefferson and board of supervisors 1st of all, thank you for all the hard work you do for the county. As my wife said, we've lived in the Gainesville district for 9 years. We were married in cat harpin and we're currently raising our 4 children. Ages 653 and 1. Our children play baseball at cat, harp and field. We're excited to start using the new splash pad there. We're sorry we missed supervisor Stuart. Stuart there at the grand opening, but we're excited to use it. We love living and thriving here in the Gainesville district and Lord willing. We will be here for many, many more years. We support and respectfully ask for your vote of yes to initiate the Dulles South Innovation Center CPA. The Innovation Center brings positive, impactful benefits to Prince William County, and that's to everyone in the county, not just the Gainesville District. Just one of those positive impacts is significant funding for schools, parks, amenities, public service employees, and infrastructure. To see this in action, look no further than our neighbors in Loudoun County. In 2007, some of the first data centers were built in Loudoun, and it was in 2008 that Loudoun County labeled itself as Data Center Alley. That same year, in 2008, Loudoun implemented a strategic plan to diversify its tax base to commercial, including data centers. For 18 years now, Loudoun has been data center alley, and it shows. Loudoun is consistently listed as one of, and often, the wealthiest counties in the United States. A major driver for this is approximately 900 million last year in data center tax revenues, forming the basis for outstanding schools, parks, and facilities, which then attract professionals and families with young children to Loudoun County. In fact, as my wife said, she often drives to Loudoun County for their parks, despite the data centers being there. Unlike Loudoun, however, with data centers dropped amongst the communities, the Innovation Center is concentrated ideally located away from schools, homes, and communities along the power lines and on the Loudoun County border. Please vote yes to the Innovation Center CPA. This is an incredible opportunity to study the opportunity for families, not just in the Gainesville District, but every single family in Prince William County. It's an opportunity to catch up with and compete with our Loudoun neighbors, to fund and build great schools, new parks and facilities, and attract new families with young children just like our own to help them grow here and thrive here in Prince William County. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker.

Here is Prakruti Anand.

All right. Thank you. Go ahead, Prakruti.

Hello. Can you all hear me?

Yes, ma'am. You want to speak up just a little bit more?

Yes. This is Prakruti Anand. My husband and I own the property on Bridle Lane right off of Sanders Lane. We bought our property in 2013. And I was pregnant then. My son was going to be born in 2014. After the birth of my son, I think, you know, just being a mother, I realized that I'm not living in this world for me. I'm living in this world for the future, for our future generations. I respectfully ask this board to vote yes on the Dallas South Innovation CPA. This is not a vote for rezoning. This is a vote to study. And why is anybody opposed to a study? it only brings light and educates all of us and if it is something that's not good for the community if it's something that's not right the study will tell us but to shut the door and not have any have no clue on what could potentially be there we are just going in the blind and eventually there is going to be development we are hemmed by Loudoun County on one side, Fairfax County on the other side. With the development that's going on, in five years, this place is not gonna look like this. But this board has an opportunity to at least take the time to study this area. Again, I respectfully ask you all to vote yes on the CPA study and think of this land that we live in today for our future generation not just for us or not for the past but for our future for our children for our kids who come 20 30 years from now that is what we need to look for that is who we need to live for thank you thank you ma'am chris uh that was our final speaker thank you okay all right thanks chris back to you manager

Thank you so very much. This now concludes public comment time. I'm going to turn it over to our CXO, Mr. Shorter, for agenda item number 11, and that's agency time.

All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm going to invite our Office of Planning to come up for item 11A. We are asking for the board's consideration with an initiation of a zoning map amendment.

Good evening Chair Jefferson and members of the board, Ahmad Bezod. WITH PLANNING OFFICE PRESENTING YOU THE ZONING MAP AMENDMENT DPA 2026-0007 E-COMMERCE OVERLAY DISTRICT. THIS IS A REQUEST TO INITIATE A ZONING MAP AMENDMENT TO INCLUDE 11 PARCELS TO THE E-COMMERCE OVERLAY DISTRICT WHICH INCLUDES TWO WRITE-OFF WAYS. THE E-COMMERCE OVERLAY DISTRICT WAS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING DISTRIBUTION AND FULFILLMENT CENTERS WHERE we have the existing infrastructure capacity to support these uses and also prevent adverse effects on the surrounding neighborhoods. This was adopted, the overlay was adopted on October 5, 2021 and to date the overlay was not amended or the text was not also amended as well as the map. So pursuant to the section 32-511.02 of the county code, the board has the overlay map or text can may be created or amended only by the ordinance by the board. That's hereby the staff brings this initiation request before the board with the recommendation of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism. And also... With this, staff recommends the board to initiate the zoning map amendment to the overlay district to consider adding the subject properties to the overlay districts. With that, I will conclude my presentation. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Any questions? Any yes? Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your presentation. The question that I have, should we expect any additional inclusion in the future as it relates to this?

As of now, we are only bringing 11 parcels. We are not thinking of any other parcel as of now, but that could be an opportunity in the future. But for now, we are only bringing 11 parcels, which is shown on the map, which are zoned M2 and includes two right-of-ways as well.

So only these, no additional removals or inclusions?

No, only these parcels.

Thank you. Mr. Schick.

Thank you. Supervisor Gordy.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. The parcels in question, granted, are in the Brentsville District. This was land that was on industrial decades ago. This land has been under construction for warehousing going back, I think now, probably since about 2022. And they are now continuing. to continue to build out the facilities that that have been approved for this site. And what this will do is this allow the versatility of of the kind of what they call last mile distribution of being able to provide that that whether it's to homes, whether it's carrying furniture to people's homes or it's appliances and those types of what's labeled as distribution. Outside of the economic... e-commerce overlay district um i think you're limited to what 40 000 square feet 80 000 square feet for distribution and anything above that you would need a special use permit so instead of having to go through all these special use permits what this would do was because it we extend the overlay then that allows these facilities to be used what they were intended for to be able to meet that demand within Prince William County for the businesses that are taking place here. And I just want to point out, this isn't data. A lot of people drive by here, they see the buildings, and they say, these are all data. None of this is data. None of it. It's warehouse distribution. That's what it is. So I appreciate the staff's work. Our economic development team has been working with our planning staff to help address this. And this is something, again, we've run into challenges in the past. on our economic development side, and this will certainly open up our ability to help recruit additional businesses to help grow our economy away from data. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. I don't see any additional speakers or any additional. Does anyone else have any questions? All right. Mr. Gordy?

Madam Chair, I move to approve item 11A.

Second. This has been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right, I'd like to go ahead and call for the vote.

Vote unanimous.

All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. With the approved deferral of 11B, 11C, we are asking for the Board's consideration for initiation for CPA. I will ask the Planning Office to take over. Good evening, Madam Chair and Board of Supervisors. Good evening.

I'm sorry, good evening. I am Supriya Chaivle with Countywide Planning here to present a request to initiate a comprehensive plan amendment for a property located at 4030 Prince William Parkway within the Occoquan Magistral District. So this request is to amend the comprehensive plan to change the long range land use for the subject site from office mixed use low rise and office mixed use mid rise to RN4. The subject site is approximately 6.8 acres and located to the northeast intersection of Prince William Parkway and Hellendale Drive. The site lies within a suburban area categorized by residential neighborhoods and industrial uses. To the east is the Jenkins Elementary School. To the north is Chin Aquatics and Fitness Center. And to the west is some master plan residential community. This slide shows you the existing land use designations and the requested land use designations. As you can see, the long range of designations surrounding the subject site are of mixed use. nature, which is leaning residential though. The property benefits frontage and visibility along Prince William Parkway, as well as convenient access to the transportation systems and nearby community amenities. This request is also accompanied by a concurrent rezoning application, which is requesting rezoning of the property from A1 Agriculture and R4 Suburban Residential to PMR, planned mixed residential. The request is to accommodate up to 70 Biplex units and 55 townhouse units. The proposed amendment could result in a moderate increase in overall activity density for the site upon full buildup. Changing the designation from OMU2 and OMU3 to RN4 would transition the property from employment oriented to residential setting. Though employment capacity will decrease, the amendment offers key benefits such as adding 50 to 165 new residential units, helps diversify our housing stock. It better positions this area for long term population needs. This site is within the Dale City small area plan parkway node. This request aligns with the small area plan focusing on smart growth that fits the neighborhood, better connectivity for pedestrianism and cyclists, sustainability by preserving existing trees and open spaces. With that, staff recommends initiating the comprehensive plan amendment to allow further study of the subject site within the Dale City small area plan. With that, I'll take any questions you may have. Supervisor Pote?

I didn't have any questions. Okay, Bailey.

I just wanted to highlight real quick that this is an example of when we talk about affordable housing, It's not affordable housing. As you said, it's diversified. And we need that in the county. And so I just want to applaud staff for bringing the variety that's in this project. And so that's all I want to say. And it's on the eastern corridor. That's all I wanted to say. Thanks.

Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a quick question. I might have missed it in the staff report, but I don't see anything in regards to school capacity. Where are we in regards to that?

We will bring that to you once we do more analysis after you initiate this.

But there's nothing preliminary?

No, we don't have anything.

Thank you.

All right, any other questions? If not, supervisor voting.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I will move 11C forward for approval. Second.

Second. All right, it's been properly moved, and second, I'll give it to Angry. Supervisor Bodie.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the presentation. If I'm not mistaken, this is your first CPA initiation before the board. Yes, it is. Great job.

Thank you.

Appreciate your work on it so far. Wanted to just address a couple things for folks who are sort of just tuning into this right now. As was stated before, it's currently planned sort of office mixed use, sort of these commercial office-type uses. And frankly... Folks have come to my office with some plans in the past. One was a 7-11. There's some other things that frankly didn't fit with right in front of an elementary school and sort of fits with this area. As was said, this is an idea that we would start the conversation. I know that Sycamore Ridge was the HOA right next door that the presenter mentioned. We will be in close contact with them throughout this process. have good community engagement on this, and ultimately, hopefully have a recommendation come forward that will help diversify the housing in this area. As was said, across the street, as far as our angry district, we have a lot of single family homes, the single family homes on this side as well, but we start talking about bi-plexing. I don't think the word bi-plex has been used in this chamber very often, and I've been talking through that and working through that with the applicant to have more diverse types of housing stock that we don't see. The last thing I'll say is on a major corridor, as was said, Prince William Park, we have a school right next door. We have a major Lake Ridge Park in that Chin Park Library Aquatic Center. We have a major shopping center just up the road. There's a lot of good synergy here. There's a bus stop right in front of where this place will be, hopefully. So we're really looking forward to the applicant coming forward with a concurrent rezoning, and we're looking forward to staff works on this. Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Supervisor Ingrid.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to echo what my colleague here said. This corridor is a residential corridor. It is. And I think this is a great move to initiate this study. As you know, the courts district is right down the street. We've got those apartments coming up right there on Elm on the corner. And this really completes out that corridor for housing. So I really like this move and excited to see what we bring back and see what's next. So thanks.

All right, we don't have any other speakers in queue, so let's go ahead and take our votes.

Vote unanimous.

All right, thank you very much.

All right, thank you, Madam Chair. And with item 11D, also asking for the board's consideration for an initiation of a comprehensive plan amendment related to Dulles South Innovation Center. I will turn it over to planning.

Good evening again. Ahmad Bezout with Planning Office, presenting you the now famous, or maybe I should call it infamous, Dallas South CPA initiation request. This is a request to initiate an amendment to the Complan long-range land use chapter for approximately 252 parcels totaling 1,940 acres in Gainesville district from agriculture and forestry to mixed use, hamlet to industrial I-3. A concurrent rezoning from agriculture to PBD would follow if the CPA gets initiated today. It's located in the Gainesville Magisterial District, generally bounded to the north to Loudoun County, to the east by Aldi Road, to the west Lockmill Road, to the south Sadler Road. The staff recommendation is not initiating the CPA for the reasons that I'm gonna present today. To the right, you will see the existing long-range land use designation for the property, which is agriculture and forestry, and it's also surrounded by the AF-designated lands, parks and open space to the south, and also a hamlet, Catthorpe and Hamlet. The requester's proposed long-range land use designation for the property is I3. The existing zoning designation for these parcels is agriculture, which is intended to preserve agricultural land, open space, and natural resources through low-intensity uses. Staff has significant concerns with this request. starting from the infrastructure, especially the roadway network, which the proposed build-out of 43 million square feet of industrial use generates an estimated 43,570 daily vehicle trips versus the existing Vehicle trips daily is 2,535. This is a significant increase in traffic volume. And according to the staff from Department of Transportation and Capital Construction, the Sanders Lane, which currently carries approximately 1,600 average daily trips, would likely need to be added to the Complan roadway network. and it may require a widening from two to four lanes if the CPA gets initiated today. Also, The transportation staff anticipates significant impacts to the Loudoun County Roadway network, as well as the downstream effects on the Pageland Lane, James Madison Highway, Katharpen Road, and also Lee Highway, which they also mentioned that there are currently no existing or planned public transit services near the CPA area. In addition, the Sudley Road was also reduced from four lanes to two lanes. However, if the CPA gets initiated, that change would likely need to be reconsidered. The other issue with this proposal is the lack of water and sewer infrastructure within this area, and also if we extend the public water and sewer to the AF designated land, that will conflict with our policy and action strategy within our water chapter, which is a command against infrastructure that promote density.

Well, .

The second major concern about this proposal is the environmental and rural character impacts. The area is now designated AFT0, which was designated on the first place to protect agriculture and forested land as an economic and environmental resource. And redesignation of 1,940 acres to ITD would reverse the both divisions set by this long-range land use designation and the existing character of this community, this area. We will witness loss of vegetations, tree canopies, pervious surfaces, which also doesn't align with the action strategies that we have within our land use chapter, which CAUSE FOR PRESERVATION OF THE AGRICULTURE FOR THE VISUAL RURAL CHARACTER INCLUDING THE HEDGE GROWS, MATURE TREES AND OPEN FIELDS. LAND USE ACTION STRATEGY 37.6 ALSO RECOMMENDS PRESERVING AGRICULTURE LAND WHICH IS NEAR HAMLETS WHICH WE DO HAVE A CAT HAMLET TO THE SOUTH AND based on this action strategy the complaint guides us to preserve that those agricultural lands. The last The last item is the land use incompatibility of the proposed proposal, which the property is almost entirely surrounded by the AF designated lands and lies, as I mentioned, in close proximity to the Cat Harp in Hamlet. The plan, the COMP plan describes hamlets as a compact, small scale centers with uses limited to one story buildings that complement rural character. And converting the 1,940 acres and having 43 million square feet of the data center buildings will significantly impact the visual, the viewshed of the area and is not compatible with the character envisioned for this area and the character that we have right now. We do have action strategies within our comp plan which discourage large-scale auto-oriented commercial uses near hamlets and villages. And continuous operation, mechanical cooling noise, industrial lighting, and transformer infrastructure are generally incompatible with the low-intensity uses such as those agriculture and forestry designated lands. With that staff, recommends the board not to initiate Comprehensive Plan Amendment CPA 2026-00012, Dallas South Innovation Center. With that, I will conclude my presentation and open the floor for any questions you may have. Thank you.

All right, before I call on the first person, I just want to say this is for questions. I would like to contain all discussion and all comments within the motion. So it doesn't seem like we have anyone for questions. All right, so no questions. Supervisor Stewart for the motion.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Make a motion that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby is declined to initiate the Comprehensive Plan Amendment CPA 2026-00012 Dulles South Innovation Center. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. So now if people want to jump in for comments. Supervisor, wait, Stuart, did you want to make a comment? Stuart and then Bodie. Stuart, Gordy, Bodie.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of things that I want to say. First of all, I want to thank everybody that came out to speak. And here's what I want to say about that. Because I've heard people say it, that this is supporters versus opposition. And it's not that. Everybody that spoke is a neighbor. Everybody that spoke is a neighbor. They're your neighbors, whether you are for this CPA or against it. They're your neighbors. I didn't run for this dais. I ran for my neighbors. I ran for my community. I served for my community. I've been doing it since I was 18 years old. 40 years ago last week, I joined the Navy two days after high school graduation. I served in Desert Storm because everybody in this country is my neighbor.

So I want to frame the conversation with that.

A lot of talk was said about doing a study. And I have a copy of a study right here. It's the comprehensive plan, 600 pages long. We did a study. Now, this isn't just, oh, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that. No, this goes into deep detail about why we're gonna do what we're gonna do. There's rules. We cannot pave over the headwaters for the Occoquan. We just can't do it. Eight million people depend on that. Your neighbors. 8 million people. That's number one. Number two, rule character. The rule character of the area is going to be disturbed. I don't see this conversation being had in the Plains. People talk about one way or another how this open space of land, just like the Plains, is going to be developed one way or another. It's either going to be data centers or high density housing. According to this, this land is already developed. How it is right now is how it is. How it is right now according to this comprehensive plan is how it needs to be and how it needs to remain. Any change to this book, to this work has got to be thoughtfully considered. People say there are no schools in the area. That's not true. I know of eight kids that are being homeschooled in that area. One is too many to be affected by this. The square footage is absolutely obscene. I did some math. We're dropping 15 Empire State Buildings into a rural area. Make it make sense. I can't. I can't. I was at a ribbon cutting yesterday for a splash pad and all I could think about was the view shed in Cat Harpin Park, that's where the ribbon cutting was, being ruined. And for what? We know now, today, in 2026 than we knew here in 2022 about data centers. They are a pernicious health threat to everybody in this room. And as far as this argument about, you know, it's the United States versus China, Loudoun County has more data centers than China. I think we're winning.

Guys, the quorum.

Prince William County is not a Formula One vehicle and this board is not a pit crew. It's not our responsibility to make sure that as a county, we beat China at anything except being good neighbors. At the end of the day, that's what this is about. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about, is just be a good neighbor. You don't have to be on this dais to be a good neighbor. You don't have to come and speak to be a good neighbor. You look out for the person to your left, to the household to your left, to your right, the house in front of you and the house behind you. And you make sure that those people are good. I want to commend staff for the amount of work that you did on this. And I want to thank you for your courage for saying that we recommend that you not initiate. I want to make sure that everybody here on the dais that can vote, we exercise that same courage. And with that, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Supervisor Gordy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Stewart. I know this has been a challenging case in taking on a massive issue in your district, although I can absolutely empathize. To staff, thank you for all your work. You've done an incredible job of looking at this fairly and holistically, and I am proud to say that we are looking at this according to the strategic documents that we have as a county. I can't say that's the way we've approached things in the past, but that's one thing that we've been committed to as a board is that we're going to be disciplined to follow our strategic plan and disciplined to follow our comprehensive plan because we put a lot of time, effort, and energy into those documents to make sure that we grow well and we grow smartly for the future. And so tonight, we're being asked to take on a comprehensive plan amendment out of cycle that doesn't align to our strategic documents in any shape, form, or fashion for today or for tomorrow. And while you say, well, this is one case, no, there's more coming. There's more coming. And it's this approach that has gotten us wrapped around our axles in development in this county for too many decades. Discipline is what is required to ensure that we grow well and we end up with the communities 25 years from now that our kids want to be a part of. Because we have not done that well, and we did piecemeal development, all you have to do is look around the areas that we are now trying to revitalize that were developed through piecemeal development, rather than looking at things in a holistic way. Now, I was presented the overall plan for everything that's happening in this corridor last week, and you know what? I felt like I was in a timeshare presentation. Um, because I felt like I was getting all these promises without anybody talking about all the cost and what was presented to me was not just data centers, but an entire rest in a rest in town center in this part of the county. So the 40 something thousand trips we're talking about, Oh, that's just scratching the surface. So when we take a look at what's behind this entire plan, the people who are behind all of this, this is just scratching the surface. This does not align to our plan, and oh, by the way, it will cannibalize the plans that we're working on today. It will eat up our redevelopment plans that we have in the Sudley corridor. It will work against the growth that we're working on in the Gainesville corridor. And the work that's happening in Gateway where we're seeing new and vibrant retailers coming in. When we have this just growth without a plan behind it, we end up cannibalizing other parts of the county and other locations. Now, about data centers. People try to compare us to Loudoun County. Right now, we have approved more data centers than what data that Loudoun has in operation today. We will be where Loudon County is in a few years if the power ever gets here. Right now we have data. You want facts right now? We have data centers that are not operating cause they cannot get power. And just because the power lines are running overhead does not mean there's power there. It reminds me when I worked in a bank in college, people would come in with their insufficient funds letter and say, and I don't understand this. I still have checks in my checkbook. And so the challenge is you can look at the power lines. It doesn't mean there's power there. And right now there's not a single data center company that has filed an application in this county in two years. Why? Because there's no more power here. They've left. All their staff are gone. So who's left? The speculators, the land flippers. That's who's behind this. The data centers are chasing power in other parts of the Commonwealth because it's no longer here. And as my neighbors in the Braemar know full well, that the impact of these data centers reach far beyond the area that's being rezoned. I'll leave it here for now because I've only got a few seconds left. So, my pal, keep the passion high.

I appreciate that. Supervisor Bodie.

Yeah. Thank you, Madam chair. Um, what did this just start by saying, thank you. Thank you to the residents who came out on both sides of the issue. Thank you to staff for your work on this. Um, we'll just sort of ditto the words of my colleagues on, um, um, the ability for folks to come out and speak to us about what they care about, what are they for against this? And as supervisor Stewart said, these are not folks that are on opposite sides of a warring faction. These are neighbors. Um, so I felt like that was worth repeating again. And I think staff again for all the work that they do, Again, looking at this objectively and having the recommendation as it is. I will start with sympathy for folks on both sides who said both in different ways that they are concerned about unwelcome change. You have folks who were for this that said they were They don't like this because of the unwelcome change of the traffic. A lot of the other things that have happened that have made this place not like when they first moved in. And so they feel like they have to be part of a change moving forward. And the folks that definitely do not want to see more unwelcome change because they don't want this to happen. I also agree with folks that don't want piecemeal development. I know that both Supervisor Stewart, Supervisor Gordy touched on that point too. piecemeal hodgepodge Frankenstein monster development is how we got into a lot of these issues that we see today. And just doing more of that's not going to get us out of this. That means, though, that data centers aren't the only answer to move forward in this county. That means that when it comes to looking at these areas holistically, we ask Supervisor Stewart, who has heart for his community. He expressed that very emphatically just now. He has a comprehensive vision that he's working on for this area and other parts of his district. And he has the ability to work collaboratively with all of their neighbors on both sides of this fence to come together and find something else to do here. There has to be a middle path forward that acknowledges that folks may see unwelcome change and want to change where they live and how they live. There's also folks that don't want to be left holding the bag when they move forward. Now, the big giant now dead elephant in the room, that is a digital gateway. The community, whether they sit here right now or they sit in other parts of the Gainesville district, they spent years under the uncertainty that is a digital gateway. This proposal leaned on the fact that digital gateways still exist. It does not. As of a couple days ago, it is dead. We owe this community time to pause, exhale, and work together with their supervisor to shape this area's future holistically. They deserve to have that conversation without another mega proposal looming over their heads. Far too often, these conversations get reduced to preserve every acre or pave every inch. Farmland or server farms. It doesn't have to be that way. I reject that framing. It's not rule anymore. It's used as a reason to say the only future is industrial scale data centers in these areas or super high density housing. I reject that too. There is room between those extremes. There is room in our comp plan to look at something else. And we have the ability to find that. It just takes time, effort, and energy. THE QUESTION IS NOT WHAT COMES NEXT. THAT'S A SEPARATE CONVERSATION. TODAY THE QUESTION IS WHETHER OR NOT WE INITIATE A CP THAT REDESIGNATES OVER 2,000 ACRES INTO WHAT WOULD BE LARGER THAN DIGITAL GATEWAY BY A MAGNITUDE OF TWO AT LEAST. IT WOULD BECOME THE LARGEST DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD. AND I FOR ONE WOULD NOT WANT TO SEE, I'M NOT INTERESTED IN 43 MILLION SQUARE FEET OF DATA CENTERS IN THE COUNTY. We are also called to look at this holistically, and we are asked to decide this with one hand tied behind our backs, right? Residents ask real questions. What are you going to do about the grid, the water, the air quality, the noise? Too often, the board in many of these cases lacks the state or federal authority to turn those questions into requirements. on energy, on clean energy, on sourcing, on water. So many of these things are finally starting to be unlocked a little bit for us, but they were not there yet. The CSMP that folks keep talking about, we've not adopted the comp plan amendment that actually handshakes that to the comp plan. So we're still, again, unadopted rules and regulations that could help us fight and put better guardrails around data center development. You know, in the past, on an ad hoc basis, case by case, I've pushed operators to do clean energy, waste heat reuse, or district heating, solar, offsetting grid impacts. Sometimes I've been successful, oftentimes not, because they are not requirements. But without the regulatory authority, we should not be looking at any kind of project of this size and this scale right now, and that's why I'll be voting no. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, just want to thank staff for all the time and energy that you put into really delving in and understanding this project and bringing back to us a reasonable recommendation. We really appreciate that. And what courage you have waiting all night to come and present it. We applaud you for that as well. You know, my colleagues have said the majority of what I want to say, but I've got three things that I just want to land on. The piecemeal development goes without saying, and we've been doing this not since 2021. We've been doing this since the 90s. So I just want to set the tone for that. And my colleague said, facts, the 1990s. But there was no vision when data centers came here. There was no vision. They just came. And nobody knew where they were. They came. It's a big box. What is it? And then 2021, it became more relevant as to what it is. And we've grown from that. I think we have to have a holistic vision. We must have a holistic vision. And that holistic vision starts right now, today. And we've learned a lot since the 90s. We've learned a lot with the compatibility of working with the community, not like brothers and sisters falling out, but falling back in. But we've learned a lot together. So we have to, as Madam Chair would say, we've got to name that. We've got to look at that. Because we're all neighbors, whether it's the east or the west. We're trying to get away from that too, y'all. We've all learned a lot. So we've got to acknowledge that and keep learning. The other thing is, When you talk about this quarter, this quarter is huge. It's huge. And so, when we talk about a holistic vision, it deserves time. Timing and making the right decisions. This is not the right time. It's not the right time. I spent four hours with the team, the developmental team, to understand this. Four hours. I don't need a pat on the back, because I want to understand what all this is about. And there is opportunity and potential for one reason. When I think about data centers, the reason why I wanted to even entertain the thought, it brings us a commercial tax base. And we need that. None of us as taxpayers in our communities need to have that on our backs. So we need to talk about and really understand what that commercial tax base looks like for us. And we are moving in that direction from the beginning when I came on the board, $1.3 to .865. It's not where we want it to be, but it has moved. And we have to name that. We have to acknowledge that. So for me, a holistic vision and making sure that the right time, and I said this to the developers, I said this is not the right time. because the big, bad, dead elephant in the room was not a pretty thing. 27 hours without lip gloss was not fun for me, y'all. I want y'all to know that. I want you to know. That was for you, Elena. It wasn't fun, but it was realistic for us to grow to where we are now. There is potential in a project like this, the magnitude and success of this, but how we do it is very, very important. That's all I got to say. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Supervisor Ingram.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll say it before, and I've said it every year I've been up here. I'm here to work with you all, and we're here to govern together. Public has a role to play in public comment time, public hearings. Every time we do this, I hear everyone address the audience. I'm here to address you, and I want to start by saying I believe we all have been compromised. We compromised by the media. We compromised by special interest group. We compromised by developers. We compromised by just about everyone. And I say that because this whole conversation has been about data centers. You talk about neighbors. We had 252 neighbors package their land together, bring it to the board to talk about a comp plan amendment. Wasn't there when we did this in 2022. We have this opportunity now. My one question I would ask this board is if you excluded data from that conversation, with this board initiate that CPA to look at everything I've heard much of both sides say about the next level of Prince him County and innovation that we can do. Data has clearly run its course and at this point we had an opportunity to look at over 1900 acres of land that 252 neighbors have wanted to come in this chamber and look at. I'm not here to question how much money they make. I'm not here to question who's giving it to them. I understand where we are today is because it's driven through a lot of what you just went through, we all just went through. I don't think that's functional. That's not functional. I would even ask the question, if it's a possibility, and I doubt it is, and I'm not even going to make any kind of secondary motions, we are where we are, that if that was not about data centers and we could initiate this comp plan and remove data centers. Is that possible? Just a thought, not a question. All right. But I think where we are right now today is very disturbing for me. And there's been a lot that has gone on in this process to get here. We've got the vote. We've got the motion. That's it for me. Thanks, manager.

Supervisor LaCroix.

Well, first I'd like to say I'm really impressed, and I'm impressed with both sides. You all have spent a lot of time and a lot of energy coming here, and this has been a constant thing for your communities, and I am impressed. And when I ran, I ran knowing that I was going to try to listen to everyone. And then you sent me a thousand emails. Made it a little bit harder, but I did try to read a lot of your emails. I do also want to say thank you to George. George has taken a lot of heat and he has been steadfast and just really good character. You know, he wants everyone to vote their conscience, but he has, you know, this is a tough issue. Every application that comes in, I know my office looks at it as though it has fresh eyes, because I think that's my job, to look at everything. Then I hear the public comments, and I think it's really important to really, really try to listen to each and every person, and then at the end of the day, I have the hard decision of making one side happy and one side sad. I just want you to know that it's still very impressive and very important for your voices to be heard because I listen. And I thank the planning office. for having the courage of going against and getting the flack too. I know that you have. And you did a good job, and you tried your best on this one, and I really appreciate your effort. And so with that, I just thank everybody for taking the time. I mean, this is a huge commitment to be here, and I thank you all.

Supervisor Vega.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First off, I'd like to thank county staff for their time, their due diligence, and for meeting with all of us. I know that it's not an easy task presenting to eight minds that think differently and that oftentimes pull you in a different direction. I also want to thank the applicant for their level of professionalism. and for being forthcoming and honest with this proposal. I want to thank members of the community, the groups that advocated on their behalf also for meeting with my office and for sharing your concerns. These are not easy decisions that we make here. I know what it's like to have sat through that 27 hour meeting on the digital gateway. I'm actually the only member on this board right now that voted against that project. And it was a tough battle. It truly felt like we were never going to overcome it. But all things that are good and great take time. And the time has arrived. And of course, we wait to formally hear from the Supreme Court on that order to make it official. And I'll have more to say about that later on. But I really just want to focus my comments and I hope that the papers report on this, that the media reports on this, because this is a very important component that it is left out of the conversation. At a time where there is so much political divide, working together, reaching across the aisle still matters. And we have two groups with two different perspectives, and that is what makes this country so great, that we can have a difference of ideas and opinions, but we have an opportunity to voice those differences while still loving our neighbors and respecting each other. This might come to a shock to many of you, but I want to thank Supervisor Bailey for her leadership. It takes a lot to sit down and to have conversations about very difficult decisions that we have to make. The level of bipartisanship that has gone on from this governing body should make every single resident of Prince William County proud despite your position on this issue. When you get elected, you don't get elected to serve or to represent a party. You get elected to represent everybody. I am the Kohl's district supervisor. I don't care what your political affiliation is. It doesn't matter to me. I was elected to represent your interests. And boy, have we gone through a lot. Andrea, Kenny, Victor, we've gone through a lot. And I named you guys because we are the OGs. All right, we've gone through a lot. But this is a moment that should make this county very proud. It's what I call growth. And while the result may be different, you know, for some folks here tonight, I remain committed. I've said it from the very beginning. It is not prudent to put all of your eggs in one basket. I remain committed to expanding and growing our commercial tax base while attracting other businesses and still engaging with the industry because that is our job. But we must never lose sight of our why and why we are here today. So Supervisor Bailey, thank you for the conversations. Kenny, thank you for the conversations. Victor, thank you for the conversations. I know that I connected with Supervisor Gordy, who has also done a lot. And while this is not my district, my open-door policy remains. that I will do everything in my power to ensure that whatever project is presented to us as a board, we have a say that makes the project better, that it has a good impact for the betterment of this county while also being mindful of the people that we represent. Again, if you keep anything that I said here tonight is this, despite where you fall on this issue here tonight, you should feel very proud of your public servants. Thank you, Madam Chair.

All right. Thank you, Supervisor Vega. I will make a few comments and then I'll call for the vote. This isn't your district, but it is your county.

All of us have a say in what happens in this county.

And the decisions that we make touch everyone. And I want to be very mindful of that. I took a lot of notes. I was listening to what people were saying. And someone asked, I respectfully asked what fits in our area. We haven't had a chance to really have that discussion because people came to us with the CPA that was already fully baked. And a CPA stands for a comprehensive plan amendment. It is not simply a study. It is to revise what is found in that document right there. So it's not just a study. It is initiating something.

It is initiating a change.

I also want to note, someone mentioned that we're listening to a small, loud group of pretentious people. I don't know if you were talking about the opposition or us on the dais or whoever, but I'm a proud member of that small, pretentious group of people. I was once a professional attendee, and I guess I still am because I am chair. I have always made my views known on this. My vote should not come as a surprise to anyone. I don't believe that data centers are the answer to all of our problems. And I am worried, I am very worried that we're putting all of our eggs in one basket. And I'm worried about the opportunity cost of voting for every data center that comes before us. I would have liked to have a discussion about what could have been in this area. I did an agritourism directive. That's not something we're looking at or talking about. We're talking about data centers, so let's be clear. We're talking about data centers. There are people with competing ideas and competing visions, but we're not talking about that. We are talking about data centers.

So I have to name that. I have to be very clear about what it is we are talking about, because this is not an open-ended study.

And you're right, we have four OGs who have been through the digital gateway, which was a really tough decision. Was that 27 hours, 29 hours? It was a long, long time. And thank you that this is not gonna be as long as that particular meeting. I cannot get on board with this. And I know that's going to disappoint some people, but I cannot get on board with this. And Josiah, I remember when you came to my office and you asked me for my vision. I told you I don't have one because I haven't had a chance to think about it. And I think we should have worked with transportation economic development and done a holistic study of this area. And a lot of what we're talking about would have tied into the digital gateway, but that We really don't know which way that's going to go. Actually, we do know.

I'm just trying to be mindful of what the county attorney always tells me.

We have so many comprehensive plan amendments coming before us and it is piecemeal. It doesn't make sense in the area in which people want to build. And I understand the landowners. I understand that you see an opportunity. I understand that you're looking around the county and you're seeing other people assembling land. You're seeing us vote for more suburban housing developments. And maybe you don't want to be left behind. And as much as I hate it, I am going to give Mr. Looney his credit because we actually had a really strong conversation about that. And he made some points while I disagree with them. It did cause me to look at things in a different way. But this CPA is for data centers and the county is ready to move beyond that. We are ready to move beyond that. It's time. And I want to thank everyone because a few months ago I said, you know, we can just say no to things. And in order for us to get better things, we have to be willing to say no. We have to articulate not just what we want, but what it is we don't want. And I think it's pretty clear where a lot of people stand here. I'm not anti-development. I'm tired of piecemeal development. I'm tired of development that doesn't match the area, that doesn't leverage the land. I'm tired of looking at development that is not moving us forward, that is not placemaking. We really have to think about what it is we want in this county. And I do think we're gonna have to review the comprehensive plan. But I don't think it should be something that we do during an election year because this is too important for it to be a political issue. How we grow, who we choose to be, and our identity is too important. And with that, I'd like to call for the vote.

Yeah, just for clarity. Denial. Yeah.

Would you like to repeat it, Supervisor Stewart?

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I make a motion that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby declines to initiate the comprehensive plan amendment CPA 2026-00012 Dulles South Innovation Center. So what that looks like is if you want to say no, you have to vote yes.

It's already been moved and properly seconded, so we're going to take a vote. All right, thank you very much. I'm going to give people a moment to exit board chambers, and then we are going to go into supervisors' time.

We need more dogs.

Swiss.

Folks, I'm going to give us a 10-minute recess, and I mean 10 minutes. Don't make me come find you. 10 minutes. And we are back from our recess. We are going to move into supervisor's time. Now we're going to start with directives. We have a new system. And I'll be honest with you, I went a little crazy because I wasn't sure if I would get a chance to do them all. But everyone should have received the emails that were sent about doing directives because of a change, yes, because of a change in state law. we have to publish things. So we will no longer be reading our directives out loud in their entirety. What we are going to be doing moving forward is please continue to email everybody what directives you want to have. And having the hard copies given to us on the day of is also great. But... And, you know, people are going to be doing a notice of intent for their directors just to give us all a heads up. So... When we go around the horn, I am going to, you know, if you would like to give your notice of intent for a directive, please, you know, please do so. Supervisor Vega, you have a quick question?

I do. I just want clarity because in, I think it was the email that you sent. Yes. It also referenced handing a hard copy.

Yes, I had just mentioned that. So what we're going to do is I have a directive, let's just say, to declare cats the county animal, the county pet. Cats are the most popular, but just suppose I wanted to do that. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to work with Chris and Michelle, as I've always done, to get the directive language. I'm going to email everybody my directive, and I will have a hard copy for you to look at. Thank you. I'm sorry, Jeannie, can you please show that to the camera?

It's cats.

It's cats.

But the hard copy is needed when?

I would appreciate, and we can discuss this. If people do not want to give out the hard copy in addition to sending out an email, we can talk about that. I'm fine with it. I think it's helpful for some people. And just so everyone knows, this is a process. We are going to see how it works. And we may amend it. We may say that this is a little too much, it's a little too extreme. I'm open to that. But going back to my directive on CATS. So when the day comes, we also need to make sure that we give it to the, it's sent around. How many weeks do you need, two weeks to get it on the agenda? Or roughly, what's a good practice?

The prior board meeting.

PRIOR BOARD MEETING. SO WE GET THE DIRECTIVE TO DECLARE CATS THE COUNTY PET ON THE AGENDA. SO IT WILL BE PUBLISHED, AS YOU SEE, UNDER DIRECTIVES. AND WHEN WE GIVE OUR DIRECTIVES, WHICH I'M GOING TO DO TODAY. SUPERVISOR BAYLOO WILL GO FIRST. WITHOUT OBJECTION, I WOULD LIKE TO ISSUE 12D, FOR EXAMPLE, THE PROPOSED DIRECTIVE. IF ANYONE, AGAIN, WE'RE GOING TO TREAT IT LIKE WE'VE ALWAYS DONE. IF PEOPLE HAVE AN OBJECTION, THEN WE ARE GOING TO TURN IT INTO A MOTION. I ALSO THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD PRACTICE FOR US TO SAY A LITTLE BIT. I'M GOING TO TAKE EACH OF THESE INDIVIDUALLY SO YOU CAN SAY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO DO. I'M GOING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT AT LEAST ONE OF MINE MAY BE A LITTLE CONTENTIOUS BECAUSE IT IS AN OFF-CYCLE BUDGET REQUEST. SO I'M READY. IF IT GOES DOWN, IT GOES DOWN. BUT I DO WANT TO GIVE PEOPLE AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO A LITTLE BIT, NOT LONG, ABOUT WHAT THEIR DIRECTIVE IS. IF THERE'S ANY DISCUSSION, WE'LL HAVE IT OR ANY OBJECTIONS. SUPERVISOR BAILEY.

Madam Chair, just for clarity again, you don't want us to read the entire directive. Nope. Understanding that we would have socialized it with our colleagues one-on-one before we get here and before it's on the agenda.

You said socializing with our colleagues one-on-one. That is not necessarily something we've always done.

No, what I mean is, I was saying that in terms of we can't, it's only two of us that can talk. So in other words, we will explain, pick up the phone and explain. That's what I meant.

I think that's a great idea because we don't always do that. And I think if people have questions about a directive, they should actually call that member.

That's what I mean.

Yes, I think that's great. If someone has a question... I would really, truly encourage you to call the person who's giving the directive. Now, I have sent mine around a while ago, and everything will be on the agenda. It needs to, at this point, be published on the agenda.

Just a brief summary, though, when we're...

Just say a brief summary. Please don't go five minutes, three minutes. It shouldn't take that long because we should be familiar with everything on the agenda at this point. Any questions, comments, or concerns? Cats are the best. Victor Angry.

I actually have a directive, and I thought I knew this process, and I didn't email it, so I just asked my staff to email it to the board, but I have hard copies. And so it's not here. So do I tell us tonight?

You can just give us, you know, when you're doing your supervisor's time, next week I'm going to give a directive on X, Y, and Z.

Okay, and then this will be on there for next week.

And it will be on next week's agenda. And you can pass it around to all of us. Okay. Any questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, questions, cats? I know people are allergic. They're still cute, but that's okay. All right. If not, I'm going to go to Supervisor Andrea Bailey for 12A.

Okay. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, without objection, I have two directives. One is House Bill 257, which addresses the Comprehensive Plan Social Determinants of Health, and this is from the General Assembly Session 2026, and it's to amend the county's Comprehensive Plan, the Board to pass a resolution to initiate... the interest in adopting a plan that will impact the locality's overall public health and access health care services. So that's my first one. House Bill 257.

Hold on. Chris did send around some sample language. So let's just do one at a time. So are there any objections? Without objection, I would like to issue 12A, the proposed directive. Okay.

That's the language to use moving forward.

Does anyone have any objections to 12A? Madam Chair.

Supervisor Vega.

A little more excitement. It's like you already know. Supervisor Vega, we are so bipartisan. I love you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I object, and that will be my position, just giving you all a heads up on these directives. And I wasn't sure, Madam Chair, when you wanted us to talk about the directives because I feel a certain way about the way that this Board is handling directives. I feel that they're being issued left and right without any need. And my position has always been why continue to add more work to staff when we are already getting what is being asked via directives through other avenues. And so while I understand Supervisor Bailey's request in her directive, I believe based on what we already have in place through the comprehensive plan, the strategic plan, community health assessments, and other adopted plans that we can already get this information without the need of putting more work on the plates of staff and getting the answers that we need. And so for those reasons, Madam Chair, I object because I believe that this is redundant.

All right, let's go ahead and turn this into motion.

Okay. I move that we approve House Bill Directive 257.

Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Any additional discussion? Seeing none, let's go ahead and take our votes.

Motion passes seven to one supervisor Vega voting.

All right. Supervisor Bailey. Okay. Madam chair, uh, without objection, I move. Oh, excuse me. Without objection. I'd like to, uh, uh, move forward. House bill five nine four, which is again, was in the general assembly for 2026 and is entitled expedited approval for certain certain housing projects. This is June 2nd, 2022. The bill was passed with the understanding that ZTA isn't working through a public hearing process for the planning commission and then for a public hearing with the board.

Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I object because this board has already initiated a zoning text amendment to implement House Bill 594, and that process is currently underway. Staff has already been asked to provide recommendations, a legal review, and supporting information through the established public hearing process before the Planning Commission and the board. Again, directing staff to prepare a separate update and additional recommendations duplicates work that is already being performed. Again, Madam Chair, the redundancy.