Residents, commenters urge pause on data center approvals as board hears technical concerns

Public comment at the Prince William County Board of Supervisors’ June 9 work session focused heavily on data centers, with residents warning the board about the scale and resource demands of modern “hyperscale” facilities.

Christopher Grove, an online speaker introduced to the board as Christopher Grove, told supervisors that today’s largest data centers are driven by compute loads and artificial intelligence workloads that demand “enormous amounts of energy” for processing and substantial water for cooling. He urged the county to consider the full lifecycle impacts when evaluating land-use applications for these facilities.

Jessica Grove, who identified herself as a Gainesville District resident, said the county’s repeated approvals of developer-driven land-use cases have eroded local sense of community and called for Prince William County to “put the no vacancy sign up immediately.” Her remarks cited growing opposition in neighboring jurisdictions and a wave of state-level consideration of bans or moratoriums on new data centers.

Staff said a state law (discussed with regard to site-assessment requirements) is prompting county review. Deputy County Executive Wade Hu described the staff action plan in response to provisions of recently enacted legislation and said staff will assemble public works, planning and legal teams to determine what site-assessment requirements the county can adopt administratively and what changes would require legislative action. "We felt like we didn't really need to pull that into the planning office to take care of," Hu said, describing material already obtained through permits and DEQ communications, but he added staff would return with clearer options for the board.

Supervisors pressed for clarity on how enhanced assessments might apply near historic resources and on opportunities to regulate power and water impacts. Supervisor Tom Gordy, who later brought a separate zoning-text-amendment initiative tied to the data-center overlay, emphasized that power demand and substation needs have escalated with newer facilities.

Next steps: staff will pursue the cross-departmental analysis Hu described and return to the board with recommended changes or requested direction; Supervisor Gordy also moved a separate zoning-text-amendment initiative during the meeting to revisit data center regulations.