In Virginia’s Data Center Hub, a County Fights to Reclaim Control
Prince William County helped build Virginia’s data center economy by allowing server complexes in designated areas without another discretionary vote from elected officials. Now it is trying to narrow that invitation.
Supervisors are scheduled to consider restrictions on Sept. 22 that would subject more projects to individual review while preserving development rights for qualifying properties. The debate centers on how much construction can retain those permissions—and how close it can stand to homes and schools.
Coming after two enormous projects collapsed this summer, the decision tests how much control a community can reclaim once an industry has become a substantial source of investment and public revenue.
The stakes extend beyond Prince William. Virginia’s economic development agency promotes the state’s fiber networks and connectivity as foundations of the world’s largest data center market. Yet the communities hosting that infrastructure are reconsidering the terms of its expansion.
Who gets to decide
Prince William created its Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District in 2016 to steer facilities toward areas with supporting infrastructure.
Now, the proposed overhaul would shrink and redefine the district. Qualifying properties would retain “by-right” development, meaning construction permitted under existing zoning without a new discretionary land-use approval. Permits and technical reviews would still be required.
Outside the revised boundary, new data centers in designated commercial and industrial zones would need special use permits, giving officials another opportunity to impose conditions or reject proposals.
Developers argue that applicants who have already spent money deserve predictable treatment. County staff summarized industry concerns that rigid deadlines and narrow protections could strand investments and create legal disputes.
Opponents see transition periods as opportunities to preserve the development they want reconsidered. The Coalition to Protect Prince William County has criticized allowing additional time for qualifying applications.
On Sept. 9, the Planning Commission recommended extending the eligibility window from 90 to 120 days after adoption. It also recommended a 500-foot separation from existing homes and schools for projects qualifying through that provision—not a universal setback for every data center.
The compromise exposes the central tension: greater public control over future construction, alongside protections for development already being pursued.
Political and legal reversals
The conflict has already reshaped county politics. Deshundra Jefferson defeated incumbent board chair Ann Wheeler in the 2023 Democratic primary, with Wheeler’s support for data center development a prominent issue.
Later that year, the outgoing board approved rezonings for Prince William Digital Gateway, a project involving QTS and Compass Datacenters near Manassas National Battlefield Park, after a roughly 27-hour hearing.
Residents and preservationists challenged the approvals. A circuit judge invalidated them in August 2025, and an appeals court upheld the result in March 2026 over failures to satisfy public notice requirements. The county and Compass withdrew from further appeals in April. QTS followed on July 2, withdrawing its petition and terminating the project.
The case demonstrated how organized opposition could overturn approvals through the courts. It did not establish a general prohibition on data centers.
Days later, supervisors voted 8–0 to reject a comprehensive-plan amendment for Dulles South Innovation Center, a proposed campus covering about 1,940 acres with 43 million square feet of data center space.
Supervisors first rejected a requested deferral, asserting control over the timetable before deciding the project’s fate. Supporters emphasized tax revenue and road improvements; opponents challenged its suitability.
Benefits here, costs elsewhere
The fiscal argument remains powerful. Prince William’s data centers generated approximately $293.7 million in taxes in 2024, up 77% from the previous year.
Restricting future projects would not erase revenue from operating facilities. Nor did Digital Gateway’s collapse automatically create a corresponding budget hole: S&P said in October 2025 that the county’s five-year forecast excluded the project. Still, the ratings company warned that falling data center equipment valuations could pressure revenue.
Electricity presents a different distribution of benefits and costs.
Virginia’s legislative research agency found in December 2024 that data centers were paying their allocated electricity cost of service under the rates examined. Their growth could nevertheless raise other customers’ bills through additional infrastructure and higher energy prices.
County supervisors do not determine those rates. The State Corporation Commission has approved safeguards, including a 14-year minimum electricity-service obligation for new large-load customers contracting from January 2027. It is also developing rules for assigning certain direct-connect transmission costs to large users.
That division of authority limits what a zoning vote can accomplish. A county can restrict construction without resolving how the wider grid is financed.
Neighboring Loudoun County has also required greater review of data center proposals. Meanwhile, Prince William’s application schedule lists roughly 229-acre Madera Farm in Nokesville under review for industrial rezoning and data-center permissions outside the existing overlay.
The next test therefore extends beyond projects already defeated. Prince William must decide how much authority to retain over those still coming—and how much development its new restrictions will allow.
