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NEWS
Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | March 23, 2023
Brentsville planning commissioner announces run for supervisor’s seat By Anya Sczerzenie Times Staff Writer
Tom Gordy, who represents the Brentsville District on the Prince William County Planning Commission, announced Monday his candidacy for the Brentsville District seat on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Gordy, 52, is vying to fill the seat that will be vacated by current Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R), who also announced on Monday her bid for board chair. Lawson, 53, is vying for the Republican nomination to run against current Board Chair Ann Wheeler, D-At Large—or Wheeler’s Democratic challenger, Deshundra Jefferson. Lawson is not planning to run for her Brentsville district supervisor seat again. In addition to announcing her candidacy, Lawson endorsed Gordy, a fellow Republican, to be her successor, saying that she believes he is committed to protecting rural areas and keeping data centers away from homes and schools. “Tom has served his community and his country for many years, in many ways, and I am proud to support his candidacy for supervisor,” Lawson said in a statement shared by Gordy’s campaign. Gordy released a statement announcing his candidacy and saying that his campaign would officially begin in April. “For 16 years, my family has been proud to call Prince William County home,” Gordy said in the release. “However, our neighborhoods, schools and rural places are being threatened by unrestrained industrial development, and Brentsville
Tom Gordy is the epicenter of this challenge. “As supervisor, I will protect our communities and rural open space by advocating for commonsense, smart growth principles that keep industrial activities away from our homes and schools and makes space for small businesses to thrive in Prince William County,” Gordy said. Gordy said that he wants to protect the county’s “rural crescent” and opposes projects like the Prince William Digital Gateway, a 2,100-acre data center corridor proposed directly north of the Manassas National Battlefield Park, that would al-
low industrial development in the rural area. “We need to protect our rural areas like the assets that they are,” Gordy said. As a planning commissioner, Gordy voted in July to recommend that the county board approve the proposed Devlin Technology Park, a controversial data center project in the Brentsville District. But Gordy voted against the Prince William Digital Gateway, after an all-night meeting in September. In an interview Monday, Gordy said he now opposes the Devlin Technology Park because of its impact on nearby neighborhoods and the community backlash. “What I have learned made me change my mind,” Gordy said. Gordy is the president of the Armed Forces Marketing Council, which is a business league of firms that supply consumer products for military resale. He also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve for more than 20 years and was an active-duty sailor during Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to his release. Gordy also represents the Brentsville District on the county’s Veterans Commission. No Democratic candidates have yet announced a campaign for the Brentsville District seat on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. The Brentsville District is located in a Republican-leaning area of Prince William County. The district has been represented by a Republican on the county board since at least 2003, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. Reach Anya Sczerzenie at asczerzenie@fauquier.com
Republican Jeanine Lawson announces her bid for Prince William board chair LAWSON, from page 1 In a news release, Lawson was critical of current Chair Ann Wheeler, D-At Large, and the board’s five-member Democratic majority, all of whom were elected in 2019, saying they have pursued “reckless policies” that “put families last.” Among her criticisms, Lawson listed tax bill increases over the last three years, the rising number of homicides in the county and “a prioritization of a multi-billion-dollar data center industry over residents.” “Enough is enough. Our local taxes are through the roof,” Lawson said in a statement. “Unchecked development is rampant while conservation and concerns about our local environment have been tossed aside.” Over the past two years, Lawson and Wheeler have been at odds over allowing increased residential and industrial development in the area of the county formerly known as the “rural crescent.” Lawson fiercely opposed both the county’s recent comprehensive plan update, “Pathway to 2040,” because it allows more dense development in parts of the rural area, as well as the “Prince William Digital Gateway,” which would open more than 2,100 acres in the rural area to new data center development directly north of the Manassas National Battlefield Park. Last November, the supervisors approved a comprehensive plan
amendment paving the way for the digital gateway in a 5-2 vote, with both Lawson and Supervisor Yesli Vega, R-Coles, voting in opposition. But the board has not yet rezoned the land to allow for the massive new data center corridor. In an interview Monday, Lawson said she hopes the Digital Gateway rezoning won’t come before the board until next year and said she would continue to fight it. “I am fully committed to defeating the Prince William Digital Gateway, and I certainly don’t support Ann Wheeler’s comp plan,” Lawson said. “And I would absolutely like to return to the preservation of the rural crescent.” Lawson vied unsuccessfully last year to seek the Republican nomination for the 10th District congressional seat, a race she lost to Hung Cao, who ultimately lost to U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat. Lawson said she only recently decided to run for board chair. She said her move was prompted in part by Wheeler’s lack of support for raising the county’s tax rate on computers and peripheral equipment, commonly known as the “data center tax” because data centers pay the bulk of such taxes. The county’s current rate of $1.65 per $100 in assessed value is well below that of surrounding jurisdictions. The board proposed raising the tax rate to $2.15 in fiscal year 2024,
which begins July 1. Wheeler voted against the proposal along with Supervisors Victor Angry, D-Neabsco, and Supervisor Margaret Franklin, D-Woodbridge. Lawson has noted that she previously opposed efforts to raise the data center tax rate too high too quickly and has been generally supportive of bringing data centers to the county’s industrial areas because of the tax revenue they generate. The facilities paid about $101 million in local taxes in the current fiscal year, according to county budget documents. But Lawson said Monday the county has made mistakes in allowing its data center overlay district to come too close to residential areas, which has prompted a backlash from western Prince William County residents. The proposed Devlin Technology Park, a plan to allow 14 new data centers behind neighborhoods near Devlin and Linton Hall roads, resulted in resident protests over the summer and earlier this year. The plan is currently on hold. “I think we’ve learned from the errors of our past, and I’m willing to accept that and acknowledge that,” Lawson said. “One thing we’ve learned is we need to do a better job of mitigating (data centers’) impacts on neighborhoods.” Lawson is the first Republican to announce a campaign for chair of the board of supervisors. Wheeler is
already facing a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Deshundra Jefferson, who announced her candidacy in January. Jefferson also opposes the Prince William Digital Gateway as well as what she calls general “overdevelopment” in the county. Wheeler responded to Lawson’s announcement Monday with a sharply worded news release that called Lawson “an extreme MAGA Republican who is dangerous for our county.” “Prince William County is the most diverse county in the commonwealth and the 10th most diverse county in the country,” Wheeler’s statement said. “We do not need a Trump-style celebrity politician who likes appearing on right-wing radio shows and aspires to higher office.” Lawson said she rejects Wheeler’s efforts to bring national politics into a local race but said she would call herself “a proud Ron DeSantis Republican” or “a proud Glenn Youngkin Republican,” references to the Florida governor and the current governor of Virginia, both of whom are Republicans. “I reject any type of partisan labeling,” Lawson said. “People don’t expect their local leaders to engage in hyper-partisanship, especially at the national level.” Reach Jill Palermo at jpalermo@ fauquier.com
