Prince William Times - 02/22/2024

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SPORTS: Darryl Overton leaves Freedom to coach football at Hayfield. PAGE 9.

February 22, 2024 | Vol. 23, No. 8 | 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.

Prince William set to be world’s data center hub By Peter Cary

Piedmont Journalism Foundation

Virginia’s Loudoun County is widely recognized as the “data center capital of the world,” but it looks like Prince William County is poised to wrest away that title. Loudoun County has more than 160 data center buildings, with floor space totaling 31 million square feet. That’s about the size of New York’s Central Park. County officials say they expect to top out at 40 million square feet in the next decade. But an analysis by the Prince William Times finds Prince William County will overtake Loudoun County in data center development and go well beyond those numbers. Today, Prince William County has at least 44 data center buildings totaling 8.3 million square feet. Adding what’s under construction, already approved or otherwise underway, the county could have more than 80 million square feet of data center space. That’s enough to make Prince William County the data center capital of the world twice over. The question is, how long will it take? When Prince William County will go to No. 1 is hard to gauge. In recent years, the county has been building about a million square feet of data

PHOTO BY JOHN CALHOUN

The Village Place Technology Park, under construction behind a townhome complex in Haymarket, is an example of data centers gobbling up land intended for other uses. The area was once planned to be a shopping center. center space annually, and power availability could become an issue. It will take huge amounts of electricity to power that many data centers. But already, the county has its own data center alley, located mostly inside the county’s “data center opportunity zone overlay district,” an area that comprises more than 10,000 acres designated for data

center development. And construction appears to be on the upswing: The county’s finance office says 4.6 million square feet of new data centers are being built right now. “Some would say, ‘That’s great; that’s wonderful,’” said newly seated Supervisor Tom Gordy, a Republican who represents the Brentsville District,

where much of the data center growth is concentrated. “But with that also comes all the power line infrastructure (and) the development issues, such as blasting rock, vehicle noise, light pollution — things that we’ve been experiencing in my district with current projects under construction.” See DATA CENTERS, page 4

Supervisors pitch big tax hike on data centers By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Data centers could collectively pay about $50 million more in local taxes next year, after a 72% hike in the data center tax rate the Prince William Board of County Supervisors tentatively approved Tuesday for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The board voted 7-1 on Tuesday, Feb. 20, to potentially hike the county’s computer and peripheral tax rate, informally known as the “data center tax,” from $2.15 to $3.70 per $100 in assessed value.

That’s the highest rate the board could approve without raising the “car tax rate,” which is also set at $3.70 per $100 in assessed value. The car tax or “personal property tax rate” is the same as the computer and peripheral tax rate. The latter is paid by all local businesses on their computer equipment. Because data centers are essentially huge warehouses filled with computer servers that support the internet, the industry pays the bulk of the computer taxes in Prince William County. See TAX HIKE, page 2

Senior Living: Jim Rankin, 93, featured in new biography, page 13

The supervisors’ vote, however, is only tentative because they have not yet approved a budget for the new fiscal year. The board voted only to advertise the $3.70 rate ahead of the board’s April 9 public hearing on the budget. By law, once a rate is advertised, it can be reduced but cannot be increased. TIMES STAFF PHOTO

Prince William County Board Chair Deshundra Jefferson, left, and Supervisors Victor Angry, center, and Kenny Boddye listen during the supervisors’ meeting Feb. 20.

Manassas Ballet to perform Carmina Burana, page 7

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