Prince William traces data-center policy from by-right overlay to new noise rules and possible removal of overlay

Prince William County planning staff on Wednesday recounted the county’s decade-long approach to regulating data centers — starting with a 2016 overlay district that allowed data centers by right in certain industrial corridors, adding design standards in 2019, expanding environmental and siting scrutiny in 2021, and moving in 2023–2025 toward new noise controls and possible elimination of the by‑right overlay.

The county’s presentation showed why the subject matters locally: Prince William County, “We're Southwest of of DC, about 25 miles out, and we we stretch from the Potomac out to the Bull Run Mountains in the West. We have a population, right around 500,000,” said Mr. McGettigan, the presenter for Prince William County (Presenter, Prince William County). He told the task force the county now has about 40 operating data centers and roughly 20 more approved or under construction.

The county explained that the overlay district, created after a 2016 utility/transmission routing controversy in the historic town of Haymarket, limited new sites to areas with existing transmission lines and planned industrial uses. That approach speeded approvals inside the overlay — “by right” development — and prompted rapid land purchases and taller, denser facilities. In response, Prince William adopted architectural guidelines, screening requirements for mechanical equipment and substations, limits on fencing types,…