FIVE MORE PRINCE WILLIAM TEAMS CAN WIN STATE TITLES, Sports, Page 10
June 24, 2021 | Vol. 20, No. 25 | 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.
More residents offer their land – and homes – for data centers By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
Last month, a dozen western Prince William landowners asked the county to re-plan 792 acres of mostly vacant property to allow for data centers near Manassas National Battlefield Park. Now, 12 residents who live nearby are offering most of their upscale neighborhood for the same thing. Nine homeowners who live in the 12-home Dominique Estates subdivision on Pageland Lane, and three homeowners on land adjacent to the subdivision, are banding together to form an unofficial, 143-acre assemblage to request that their land be replanned for data centers. All the properties are between five and 15 acres. Each landowner filed an application with the county in May requesting their properties be re-designated for data centers in the county’s updated comprehensive plan, accord-
ing to documents made public on the county’s website earlier this week. At least one of the properties directly borders the larger, 792-acre data center proposal known as the “PWC Digital Gateway,” which aims to offer up to 21 million square feet of data centers along Pageland Lane. All the properties are currently zoned for agricultural uses and are located in the county’s rural crescent, an area that generally limits development to single-family homes on 10acre lots or larger. Some other uses are allowed by-right, but not industrial facilities, such as data centers. Kenn Knarr is the Dominique Estates homeowner leading the effort to re-plan the subdivision for data centers. Knarr moved into his home in 2008. But since then, he said increasing traffic and encroaching development has made the area less rural. See DATA CENTERS, page 4
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/DANIEL BERTI
A view of one of the upscale homes in Dominique Estates, where 12 homeowners are banding together to offer their homes for future data centers.
School board mulls plan for $87M in federal aid By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
PHOTO BY JEFF MANKIE
Inaugural Juneteenth Parade: Spectators and marchers greet each other during the inaugural Juneteenth Parade, which began at the Dumfries United Methodist Church and ended at the Dumfries Slave Cemetery with a ceremony and candlelight vigil. More photos on page 6.
Prince William County schools are expecting to receive another $87.9 million in federal funding tied to coronavirus relief by next fall. Now, the school board and school division staff must decide how to spend it. The amount of federal COVID-19 relief money flowing into local schools this year is unprecedented. The school division has already received about $93 million in federal dollars since the pandemic began. The additional $87.9 million will bring the total to more than $181 million – more than four times the annual funding local schools typically receive from the federal government. The school division used earlier allocations to buy more than 50,000 computers for students and staff, fund hazard pay for staff and cover numerous other pandemic-related expenses. By law, the school division must draft a plan for spending the additional $87.9 million and release it to the public by Aug. 1. The plan must then be submitted to the Virginia Department of Education by Sept. 1. See FEDERAL AID, page 2
The Blue Ridge Wildlife Center’s new wildlife walk offers an up-close view of recovered animals. See Page 8.
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