Prince William County, Virginia, has surrendered its legal fight to build a massive data center corridor near Manassas National Battlefield, potentially killing the project after spending $1.72 million on court fees.
The eight members of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted unanimously after a closed-door session on Tuesday to stop defending the PW Digital Gateway from irate residents and preservationists who sued them in January 2024.
Their resolution directs the county’s attorney to comply only “with the court’s order or direction” if judges require additional legal material.
The withdrawal leaves the project’s fate uncertain, as the two data center companies involved could still appeal the March 31 ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court.
“While the Board has directed county staff not to appeal the lawsuit, Digital Gateway is still in litigation and therefore we cannot provide additional comment,” Allison Greenday, a senior aide to board chair Deshundra Jefferson, said Wednesday in an email.
Supervisor Victor S. Angry, a Neabsco District Democrat who previously supported the project, referred questions to the data center companies.
Compass Datacenters declined to comment. QTS Datacenters did not respond.
Northern Virginia has become ground zero in a growing conflict between revenue-hungry public officials and homeowners as artificial intelligence increases the national demand for data storage hubs.
The gateway project would build 22 million square feet of data centers on 2,139 acres west of the battlefield — the largest such corridor in the world, with 37 centers the size of 144 Walmart supercenters.
Under then-Chair Ann Wheeler, the Democrat-led board narrowly approved rezoning the land on a party-line vote in December 2023. Homeowners and preservationists filed separate lawsuits a month later.
Virginia Circuit Court Judge Kimberly Irving ruled in August that the board failed to provide homeowners the legally required timely notice of the vote.
She ordered supervisors to redo the grueling 27-hour public hearing, but they went to the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
On March 31, a three-judge appeals court panel unanimously upheld Judge Irving’s ruling in favor of the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association and 11 residents.
Their order rejected the county’s argument that residents heard about the vote and attended anyway, plus blocked construction pending any further appeal.
The panel also unanimously overturned a circuit court ruling that rejected the other lawsuit brought by the American Battlefield Trust and a coalition of homeowners, clearing the way for a circuit court trial.
The plaintiffs in that case are challenging the project’s impact on the grounds, which commemorate the two Civil War battles of Bull Run.
Chap Petersen, an attorney and former Democratic state lawmaker representing the American Battlefield Trust, said he considers the gateway dead after Tuesday’s vote.
“In my opinion, this is the end of the appeal,” Mr. Petersen said. “Yes, the developers can conceivably proceed forward, as they have their own standing to appeal. However, without the county, they have no ability to raise these issues.”
He called on the county to adopt “strict regulations, or even a moratorium, on new data center applications in residential or agricultural areas.”
Ms. Jefferson, a project critic, became board chair in January 2024 after defeating Ms. Wheeler in a Democratic primary. She has joined Republicans in opposing the project, making a redo of the rezoning vote unlikely to succeed.
The Coalition to Protect Prince William County, a group that formed to oppose the data centers, praised Tuesday’s board vote.
“The Coalition to Protect Prince William County is forever grateful to the residents and to this board for stepping through the door that we worked so hard to open,” the coalition said in a statement.
