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This article was written by WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
A group of Gainesville residents is asking a Prince William County judge to overturn approval of the PW Digital Gateway.
Roger Yackel, Roger Miller and Gainesville Citizens for Smart Growth filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Board of County Supervisors, Chair Ann Wheeler and Supervisor Pete Candland.
The lawsuit focuses on the board’s Nov. 1 vote to approve an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan to create the data center complex.
“[T]he desire of the County to reap funds from the data center industry does not justify the overreaching scope of the [Comprehensive Plan amendment],” the lawsuit says.
The project, which proposes 27.6 million square feet of data centers on 2,139 acres along Pageland Lane, is the most controversial and contentious local land-use proposal in decades. Opponents and proponents have launched personal attacks against each other, and it has spawned recall efforts against Candland and Wheeler and a federal lawsuit between landowners and the developer.
The project would firmly put Prince William County on track to dethrone Loudoun County as the data center capital of the world.
The board voted to approve the guidelines for the project after a more than nine-hour public hearing and a roughly 14-hour meeting.
