It’s been nearly three years since Prince William County, Virginia, supervisors voted to build data centers on private land next to Manassas National Battlefield Park, but litigation and political changes have stalled construction.
Two lawsuits filed in January 2024 have halted QTS Realty Trust and Compass Datacenters from building the Prince William Digital Gateway on 2,139 acres of rural land west of the battlefield, which commemorates the two battles of Bull Run during the Civil War.
Meanwhile, at-large Democratic Supervisor Deshundra Jefferson has joined Republicans in opposing the gateway since defeating former Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler in a 2023 primary. Ms. Jefferson, who ran on a platform criticizing the project, took office in January 2024.
Former Democratic state lawmaker Chap Petersen, an attorney representing the American Battlefield Trust and local homeowners in one of the lawsuits, said he expects the Virginia Court of Appeals to overturn a circuit court ruling that dismissed his case last year.
“This case may end up lasting as long as the Civil War,” Mr. Petersen said Thursday. “Data centers should only be sited in industrial areas, not next to schools or residential areas.”
In the other case, Prince William Circuit Court Judge Kimberly Irving has pledged to issue a ruling this month, triggering an appeals process that will postpone construction on the 37 data centers for up to two more years.
Mac Haddow, president of the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association, which filed the lawsuit, said a provision in contracts with local landowners requires all legal challenges to be resolved before the site can be rezoned.
“That is why the appeal period, no matter who wins the case at the Circuit Court level, has suspended any construction,” Mr. Haddow said in an email. “The only remedy we are seeking is for the Board of County Supervisors to re-advertise, hold a properly noticed hearing, and re-vote.”
The Washington Times reached out to the county and the two companies building the data centers for comment.
Virginia Douglas, chief of staff for Ms. Jefferson, said the county could not comment on pending litigation.
Supervisor Victor Angry, a Woodbridge Democrat and proponent of the data centers, also declined to comment.
The data centers would occupy 27.6 million square feet of privately owned battlefield sites in a rural strip of the Occoquan Watershed. County officials estimate they would generate $400 million in annual tax revenue.
The Democrat-led Board of Supervisors voted along party lines in November 2022 to redesignate the land for data centers after a contentious, all-night public hearing.
Critics insisted the data centers would increase their living expenses, damage the environment and disrupt undiscovered historical artifacts.
Developers have pledged to preserve any artifacts they uncover.
Two earlier lawsuits filed in November and December of 2022 failed in court.
In the newer lawsuits, area residents and battlefield advocates argue that the Board of Supervisors cut corners to rush the project into development.
According to court papers, the data center companies and the county contend that the plaintiffs have no standing to sue because they cannot identify the “particularized harm” the project will have on them.
Ms. Jefferson’s opposition to the data centers has made more recent votes on the project closer, but her fellow Democrats have continued to advance the project.
The Manassas lawsuits come as Northern Virginia has become ground zero in a growing conflict between revenue-hungry public officials and homeowners concerned about property values.
As of December, The Associated Press reported that more than 300 data centers already lined the hills of the area’s westernmost counties.
Several lawsuits have also been filed to halt more recent Prince William County plans to build data centers in Bristow.
In the Gainesville District, where Republican Supervisor Bob Weir died of cancer last month, two candidates for the seat, Democrat George Stewart and Republican Patrick Harders, have pledged to oppose data centers if either wins a Nov. 4 special election.
The district includes much of the area affected by the Prince William Digital Gateway.
“The Prince William Digital Gateway and many other data center developments approved were both reckless and irresponsible,” Mr. Harders said in an email. “It was perhaps the worst case of developer greed and political corruption in our county’s history.”
