The Prince William County Planning Commission voted 4-3 earlier this month to recommend the board of supervisors approve a new data center right on the edge of George Mason University’s campus.
At 577,000 square feet and 80 feet tall, the facility planned for the corner of Prince William Parkway and University Boulevard would be one of the largest data centers in the county.
Northern Virginia is ranked the world’s largest data center market, according to real estate firm JLL’s quarterly report on global data centers. With more than 300 facilities in the area, that area of the Commonwealth handles roughly 70% of global internet traffic, according to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission.
“All of the data center applications that are envisioned for Prince William County (will) be over 88 million square feet of data center development. How much of this stuff is enough?” said Bill Wright, a Gainesville resident who’s been independently tracking data center applications in the area. “Western Prince William County is looking like a science fiction movie.”
Wright said to power the facility, the county will have to build a substation and multiple transmission lines in the area as well.
The proposed site, which currently houses a data center less than 25% of the new building’s size, is across the street from planned George Mason University student housing, commercial development and a recently announced innovation district.
“The idea of just having this thing across the street from student housing, it’s completely at odds with the county’s vision for that area, and yet, the planning commission goes and rubber stamps it,” Wright said. “It’s going to look like a spaghetti factory.”
Energy costs and environmental impact
Other community concerns include how the facility may impact air and noise pollution as well as energy use.
In April, Dominion Energy proposed base rate increases of $8.51 per month in 2026 and $2.00 in 2027 for the typical residential Virginia customer. Under the proposal, Dominion recommended a new rate class for data centers and other customers that use large amounts of energy.
Elena Schlossberg is the executive director for the Coalition to Protect Prince William County. She said energy costs aren’t the only concern regarding the amount of power the data center would use.
“Our grid can’t handle these really hot days. So, what happens is, the data centers remove themselves from the grid and they rely on their diesel generators. And I’m talking about diesel generators the size of tractor-trailers,” Schlossberg said. “The region, in general, is reaching 9,000 diesel generators. We are building this 21st (century) technology that’s relying on diesel generators for power on hot days. And so … then the people who are the closest will smell it, breathe it, hear it.”
Last month, County Supervisor Victor Angry accepted a $20,000 donation from Chuck Kuhn, who has ties to JK Holdings, the developer looking to build the facility, according to the Prince William Times. The donation was for the county’s first ever large-scale Juneteenth celebration.
“They do all these little enticements to get some of the supervisors to do their bidding. It’s really brazen. It’s not very well hidden. It’s right out there in plain sight, and nobody seems to care,” Wright said.
Both Wright and Schlossberg said public officials haven’t done enough to keep track of the booming data center industry in Northern Virginia.
“Everybody will be impacted by this kind of unprecedented growth that seems to have no guard rails and no adult keeping track of these cumulative impacts,” Schlossberg said.
WTOP has reached out to Planning Commission Chair Juan McPhail, who voted in favor of recommending the data center’s approval, for comment.
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