SPORTS: Colgan girls soccer makes states after downing Battlefield 3-1. PAGES 10, 11
May 30, 2024 | Vol. 23, No. 22 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $2.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Amazon buys former Parsons Farm for $218M Data center campus will be the 1st in mid-county By Peter Cary
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
It’s official: Data centers are moving into Prince William County’s mid-county. Amazon has purchased the former Parsons Farm landscaping outlet and the surrounding acreage for $218 million. The sale, first reported earlier this week by the Washington Business Journal, confirms the fears nearby residents expressed at public hearings before the Prince William County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors earlier this year: that concrete buildings up to 85 feet tall would soon be on the horizon for sleepy Independent Hill.
Rachel Ellis was among several residents who attended a supervisors’ hearing March 19 to speak against changing a 2019 rezoning agreement to allow buildings taller than 45 feet on the 90-acre property. The change was sought by Parson’s Farm Business Park LLC, the parcel’s owner at the time, to make the acreage more attractive to commercial users. Ellis and other residents told the planning commissioners and supervisors they feared the new buildings would be data centers. They worried about their noise, the glare from their security lighting and the view of their slab concrete walls from their homes. “When the data center opportunity zone overlay district was created, it was not designed with
See PARSONS, page 2
STAFF PHOTO
Ninety acres on Va. 234 formerly owned by Parsons Farm landscaping outlet, which is now closed, was recently sold to Amazon Web Services for $218 million.
Dumfries mom named ‘foster parent of the year’ Linda Cheeks’ specialty is caring for teen mothers By Alissa Jones
Contributing Writer
PHOTO BY MIKE BEATY
Valor Awards 2024: More than 200 local first responders were honored with Valor Awards during a May 21 ceremony, including several members of the Prince William County Police Department led by Chief Peter Newsham, center. STORY ON PAGE 4
88 DULLES, VA
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1st Digital Gateway lawsuit dismissed, page 3 News
When Linda Cheeks takes in a new foster child, she starts with straight talk about life. By the time they arrive at her home, they’ve been labeled in lots of ways — disadvantaged, troubled, learning disabled — but Cheeks aims to help them let go of those labels so they can begin to know who they are going to be as adults. “I speak life into them, and I tell them that if they want to make a difference in the world, they have to start by loving themselves,” she said. “It’s hard to love yourself with a label attached.” Cheeks, who lives in Dumfries, was recently chosen as Prince William County’s foster parent of year for 2024 by Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. It came as a big surprise.
Linda Cheeks, with her daughter Daisy Cheeks Ihezue. SUBMITTED
“A lot of people do good work and are never honored,” she said. “I was just doing what I do, but I am grateful.” A native of Texas, Cheeks came to Virginia with her then-husband. They both served in the U.S. Army. After working in cosmetology, she launched a salon in Arlington and operated the business for 25 years. It was one of her clients who had served as a foster parent who nudged Cheeks to look into the program. She knew Cheeks loved kids. See CHEEKS, page 2
Occoquan Riverfest happening this weekend, page 7 Scan below to check out The JAM