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January 4, 2024 | Vol. 23, No. 1 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Deshundra Jefferson sworn in as new county board chair
Jefferson, 47, is the first Black woman to take the helm of Prince William County government By Shannon Clark
diverse and populous eastern Prince William County, where voters were eager to elect the first Black board chair and where data centers are less of an issue because they have not yet spread east of Hoadly Road. Despite Jefferson’s win, the board of supervisors will retain the same partisan and geographical split it had under Wheeler. The board will keep its 5-3 Democratic majority, as eastern Prince William County voters reelected Supervisors Victor Angry (Neabsco), Andrea Bailey (Potomac), Kenny Boddye (Occoquan) and Margaret Franklin (Woodbridge), all Democrats. Three Republicans were elected in more conservative western Prince William County. Newcomer Tom Gordy (Brentsville) joins the board with returning Supervisors Yesli Vega (Coles) and Bob Weir (Gainesville).
Times Staff Writer
As the first African American woman to take the helm of Prince William County government, Deshundra Jefferson is breaking new ground. But she’s also stepping onto a board of supervisors that’s increasingly divided over politics, geography and whether welcoming explosive data center growth is the right decision for the county’s future. Jefferson, 47, of Montclair, was sworn into office on Tuesday, Jan. 2, alongside the county’s seven other recently elected supervisors during an evening ceremony at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Jefferson unseated fellow Democrat and former board chair Ann Wheeler in the June 2023 primary after campaigning against Wheeler’s moves to abolish rural crescent zoning rules and to open agriculturally zoned land to data centers. They were positions Jefferson shared with her Republican opponent in the general election, former Brentsville supervisor Jeanine Lawson. Still, Jefferson managed to win the countywide race with 52% of the vote. While Lawson did well in western Prince William County magisterial districts, where a revolt against large-scale data center developments drove voter turnout, Jefferson prevailed in more
County at a ‘crossroads’
PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD
Deshundra Jefferson was sworn in as chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday, Jan. 2.
The Democratic and Republican supervisors have been at odds for much of the last four years on most of the county’s major issues, including abolishing rural crescent zoning rules, opening more acreage to data centers, allowing collective bargaining for county employees and the 4% meals tax in place since 2022. See JEFFERSON, page 2
Residents challenge ‘Devlin Technology Park’ in court By Cher Muzyk and Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writers
Several Bristow residents are joining forces to fight the controversial Devlin Technology Park data center rezoning in court. Through a new nonprofit dubbed “Devlin Defend Corporation,” residents of neighborhoods along Linton Hall Road have raised more than $15,000 in recent weeks to sue the Prince William Board of County Supervisors over
its decision on to allow construction of as many as nine new data centers on about 270 undeveloped acres along Devlin Road. The Nov. 29, vote came during the board’s post-election “lame duck” period despite intense opposition from Bristow residents, about 80 of whom voiced their near-unanimous disapproval of the Devlin Technology Park during a meeting that lasted more than nine hours.
The board’s five Democratic supervisors voted in favor of the rezoning, while the three Republicans — including Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, whose Brentsville District includes the development — were opposed. Stanley Martin Homes, a residential development company, sought the rezoning. The land had been designated for up to 516 new homes. See DEVLIN, page 4
FIRST BABY OF 2024 is born to Culpeper couple in Manassas, page 3
PHOTO BY JOHN CALHOUN
Brentsville Supervisor-Tom Gordy speaks in support of residents rallying against the Devlin Technology Park — a controversial rezoning to allow up to nine new data centers on 270 acres in Bristow.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: 39 pets find new families in shelter’s ‘Santa Paws’ event, page 5
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