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The Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday approved a data center rezoning in the Brentsville District of Prince William County, Virginia, that will feature an African American historical trail on its premises.
The board voted 6-1 in favor of the rezoning from agricultural to planned business district, with Gainesville District Supervisor Bob Weir casting the lone dissenting vote. Potomac District Supervisor Andrea O. Bailey was absent for health reasons.
Two separate sections of the proposal were discussed at the board meeting – the rezoning request, which involves 3.28 acres and three properties on the south side of Wellington Road, nearly 500 feet south from the intersection of Freedom Center Boulevard and Wellington Road, and a proffer amendment to extend the land use application to 37.4 acres at the southeast corner of the same intersection.
The proposal contains specific instructions for the preservation of historical African American cultural sites on the location, notably the Manassas Colored Horse Show – which was established in 1903 when Jim Crow laws prohibited African American participation in white horse shows.
Jonelle Cameron, an attorney with Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley & Walsh – which is representing the applicants, SI NVA05A, LLC and SI NVA05B, LLC (both falling under data center developer STACK Infrastructure’s corporate umbrella) – said the earliest evidence of the Colored Horse Show dates to 1906, with recorded activity and meeting minutes rising to their highest level between 1927 and 1950.
“In the Manassas Museum, we were able to find additional information regarding the Colored Horse Show,” Cameron said. “The applicant did a Phase I [environmental site assessment] and also did a metal detection on the site – they were unable to find any archaeology that linked to the Colored Horse Show or to grandstands on the site [circa 1927].”
Cameron continued, “But what the applicant is trying to do by these proffers is preserve the actual history – so part of that is to make sure the history can be told and it can be available to the public.”
The former horse show grounds will be an integral part of the forthcoming historical trail.
According to the board’s Sept. 17 agenda packet, “The applicant shall construct an on-site historical trail in the general location shown on the Interpretative Trail Exhibit … Along the trail, the applicant shall provide signage and/or other historical features (including, but not limited to, historical markers or monuments) that creates a historical interpretation of African American History along the corridor, including, but not limited to, history of the Manassas Colored Horse Show/Manassas Horse Show and Fair Association, and specific historical African Americans with associations in the area.”
Descendent pushback
During the public hearing on the proposal, Manassas resident Joann Gaskins, whose family owned the horse show grounds through 1940, when its lease was renewed for the last time, complained to the board that she was “being lied to” by county planning officials.
Earlier this year, Gaskins was also adamant about data center-induced damage caused to the local Gaskins-Sevinson and Gaskins cemeteries, where her relatives are buried.
“They did put a fence around the cemetery; however, the stones are still laying on the ground, they’re not fixed,” Gaskins said at the microphone during Tuesday’s board meeting. “If they’re going to do these things, I would appreciate if they didn’t lie to me all the time about what’s going on … they told me they were going to put in a trail like they have at the National Harbor, that was a lie as well.”
County officials have not been able to say with specificity what led to disruption at the cemeteries.
Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy credited the project’s archaeologists and consultants as “critical” to the site’s preservation moving forward, addressing Gaskins directly.
“My personal commitment to you is that we’re going to do this,” Gordy said from the dais. “I hope that you and I will continue the dialogue … to tell your family’s story [and] the story of all the other families involved with what took place here for centuries – it’s an incredible story.”
Board Chair Deshundra Jefferson closed the meeting by expressing fatigue vis-à-vis continued data center development and the need for repeated board approval thereof.
“Your family has deep roots in this county and has done amazing things in this county,” Jefferson told Gaskins.. “We want to honor and recognize that, we don’t want it to be lost.”
Jefferson continued, “I am so done with data centers – I’m sorry, I’m just going to say it … I don’t want to be a one-industry county … I am begrudgingly going to vote for this [project], but I also want to be very clear – when I vote for projects, it’s because there really isn’t a good reason not to vote for it … with this project in particular, Supervisor Gordy has worked with them, and Ms. Gaskins, we’re all going to work with you to make sure that you are involved every step of the way, and that what was promised will actually happen.”
