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The Prince William Board of County Supervisors this week gave a developer permission to construct taller data centers near Independent Hill than was previously allowed.
The property, known as Parson’s Business Park and on 90 acres at 14237 and 14209 Dumfries Road in the mid-county area, is located within the county’s data center overlay zone, which permits development of the technology hubs.
The site was already mostly zoned to accommodate data centers. But the new allowances approved by the board permit the developer, Parson’s Business Park LLC, to construct data center buildings that are up to 85 feet tall to accommodate additional space for computing. Previously, only buildings up to 75 feet tall were allowed.
In the past, over half of the property, Parsons Farm, was for a garden center and landscaping service operation. In 2019, the property was rezoned to develop as an industrial business park with a variety of potential uses, but nothing was built.
The board amended the zoning designation of a land bay within the property to allow heavy industrial uses, and rezoned an adjacent 6-acre property at 7901 Six Towers Road from agricultural to heavy industrial to allow fulfillment centers and data centers. The Six Towers Road property also falls within the data center overlay district.
Despite the company seeking greater allowances for taller data centers, Parson’s has not confirmed it will be building them.
But county planning staff suggested there is good reason to believe they will be constructed.
“We don’t know if it will fully be a data center,” county planner Scott Meyer said during Tuesday’s meeting. “But in our opinion, if they’re doing this, then why would it not be potentially a data center?”
The developer also didn’t offer specific site layouts, making it unclear where on the property heavy industrial uses would be built.
The application was initially rejected by the Prince William Planning Commission over concerns about the buffer between the proposed development and Dumfries Road. But staff said the setbacks subsequently offered by the developer brought them to recommend approval.
The changes were approved with the support of Democratic Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye, Chair Deshundra Jefferson, Woodbridge Supervisor Maragret Franklin and Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry, as well as Republican Coles Supervisor Yesli Vega.
Both Vega and Jefferson, who often oppose data center development, voted in favor because the project is within the overlay district.
“I am comfortable to say that this application checks all of the boxes,” Vega said.
Gainesville Supervisor Bob Weir opposed, saying he’s concerned about continued strain on the power grid from data centers and the developer’s lack of commitment to plans.
“People are really starting to understand the grid, the demand and the kind of power issues we’re dealing [with],” said Weir, referencing Loudoun County’s recent rejection of a data center partly on grounds it would suck up too much electricity.
Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy, a Republican, and Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey, a Democrat, were absent from the meeting and didn’t vote.
Gordy said he had a previously scheduled work commitment but would have cast a “reluctant” yes vote on the proposal. “I would have preferred to see a viewshed analysis to determine the true impacts before rendering a decision, something I requested and recommended take place before coming to the Board,” Gordy said in an email.
Bailey did not return a request for comment on how she would have voted.
