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Data center developer QTS’ petition to appeal the March 31 Virginia Court of Appeals ruling reaffirming the cancellation of the PW Digital Gateway data center campus still needs to clear procedural hurdles before being heard by the state Supreme Court.
The Digital Gateway near Gainesville at full buildout would be the largest data center campus in the world. It would include over 22 million square feet of data centers spread out across 2,000 acres along Pageland Lane.
The legal cases hinge on the December 2023 county rezonings intended to pave the way for the data center campus’ development.
Next up, a “writ panel” consisting of three Virginia Supreme Court justices will hear a 20-minute session in late May or early June with two brief arguments from the defense, QTS, for each of the two legal challenges to the Digital Gateway, according to people familiar with the proceedings. The challenges were spearheaded by plaintiffs Oak Valley Homeowners Association and the American Battlefield Trust.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys do not appear before the writ panel, which will take place in Richmond and be open to the public, attorneys said. The writ panel schedule is available on the Virginia Supreme Court website.
The state Supreme Court’s decision whether to hear the appeal is entirely discretionary, Mac Haddow, president of the Oak Valley Homeowners Association, told InsideNoVa. There is no set timeline as to how soon after the panel the Supreme Court will make a decision.
The plaintiffs in each case have until May 21 – three weeks from QTS’ April 30 petition for appeal – to file opposition to the QTS petition.
Fellow Digital Gateway developer-defendant Compass elected to end its appeal of the Digital Gateway lawsuits on April 28 before QTS opted to move forward. That move followed Prince William County’s decision to end its legal challenge alongside the developers. The county spent over $1.7 million defending the rezonings for the mammoth data center campus.
