SPORTS: Kettle Run sweeps Fauquier in basketball; wrestling, track reports. PAGES 21, 22, 23 January 18, 2023
Our 206th year | Vol. 206, No. 3 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2021
Council puts off vote on Amazon data center as public hearing set to continue Feb. 14 Questions remain about town’s ability to enforce noise ordinance By Peter Cary
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
FAUQUIER TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ROBIN EARL
Chuck Cross cast doubt on the possibility that Amazon’s occupancy permit could be taken away if Amazon failed to meet the town’s noise ordinance.
The Warrenton Town Council postponed, for at least a month, a vote on the data center proposed by Amazon Web Services for Blackwell Road. While there was no formal vote, council members reached a consensus at a seven-hour meeting and public hearing on the matter Tuesday night, Jan. 10, where scores of people registered their opposition to the project. The public hearing — and
a potential vote — was set to continue at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at Fauquier High School. The postponement was prompted by a request from Amazon, whose representatives said they wanted more time to consider new conditions the town wanted to impose. The new language in the conditions would require Amazon to test noise levels from the data center daily at every phase of its expansion, and if the levels did not meet town ordinance requirements, Amazon would have 48 hours to resolve the issue, or the expanded section would be shut down. See VOTE, page 6
Churches gather for MLK Day worship service By Coy Ferrell
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
Members of Fauquier County churches gathered at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Warrenton on Monday to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a revival-like atmosphere featuring rousing music and fiery speeches. “If you ain’t here to praise the Lord, go home,” Mount Zion Pastor Keith McCullough told the 150 people assembled in the church’s sanctuary. Keynote speaker Monica Sparks, a local government elected official from western Michigan, urged Christians to become more directly involved in politics. “It seems like See MLK, page 11
FAUQUIER TIMES STAFF PHOTO/COY FERRELL
Deaconess Paulette Garner of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church (Warrenton) reads a poem Jan. 16 during the 34th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration in Warrenton.
FAUQUIER TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ROBIN EARL
Councilman Brett Hamby said he has heard from constituents who fall on both sides of the Amazon data center question.
Town council members share thoughts on the Amazon data center By Peter Cary
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
At the end of a six and onehalf hour meeting packed with contentious debate and commentary from nearly 100 citizens, some Warrenton Town council members spoke their minds about the proposed Amazon data center. Newly elected at-large councilmen Paul Mooney and David McGuire said little about the events of the evening, as did Vice Mayor James Hartman. But others talked at length, and some of their remarks may provide a window into their thinking about the proposed Amazon data center. Paul Mooney: The pointed questions Mooney asked of Amazon representatives in the Jan. 10 morning work session were perhaps more revealing than his comments that night during council members’ time. In particular, Mooney asked Amazon officials, “Why Warrenton?” He wanted to know why the Blackwell Road site was so attractive when a data center could be located elsewhere without scrutiny. See TOWN COUNCIL, page 7
Jim Mitchell announces run for supervisor. See page 4.
It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com